There’s been another fatality on Kent’s roads – a motorcyclist has died following a crash involving three vehicles on the M25 near Sevenoaks.
Emergency crews were called to the clockwise carriageway just before 12.30pm yesterday where a man in his 40's was pronounced dead at the scene.
Also in today’s podcast, a coroner has found a Tunbridge Wells man who was in financial difficulty murdered his wife before killing himself.
Their bodies were found at their home in February – it’s thought he’d strangled, stabbed and hit his victim with a hammer before taking his own life.
You can also hear from a Maidstone man who’s told the KentOnline Podcast raw sewage spills across his drive every time there’s heavy rain.
He says he’s been complaining to the water company since 2019 but so far nothing has been done.
Two more pubs in Kent are set to close as bosses warn it’s no longer financially viable to keep them going.
The venues are in the same street in the same village near Faversham and are expected to shut by the end of the year.
And it’s going to be a cracking fixture in league two this weekend as top of the table Barrow make their way to Priestfield.
They’re managed by Stephen Clemence who Gillingham sacked in the summer – you can hear from current boss Mark Bonner ahead of the game.
10. Kent Online News. News You Can Trust. This is the Kent Online Podcast. Kate Faulkner. Hello. Happy Friday. Hope you're okay. Thank you for downloading today's podcast on September 27th. Coming up today, we'll hear from a Canterbury woman living with MS who's taking on an amazing physical challenge to raise money for a Kent treatment centre. We'll also hear from the current Jill's boss as he prepares to welcome his predecessor to Priestfield. But first taking a look at our top story today, investigators are trying to piece together what happened in the moments leading up to a fatal collision on the M25. Nicola has been following this story for the Kent Online Podcast. She's got more details for us. While Kate, emergency crews were called to the clockwise carriage way of the M25 between Junction 5, which is for the A21 and M26 and the Clacket Lane services just before 1230 yesterday afternoon. Now, the crash involved a blue Suzuki motorcycle, a silver Toyota Corolla and a lorry which had a white cab and a blue curtain-sided trailer with yellow sign writing. The motorcyclist, a man in his 40s, died at the scene and his family have been informed. Officers from Kent Police's serious collision investigation unit are now appealing to anyone with information to contact them. They've also released an image of the lorry which left the scene as they continue to establish the full circumstances. Now, detectives say the driver may not have been aware of the severity of the collision and they're urging them to come forward. They also want to speak to anyone with dashcam footage. Kent Online News. An inquest into the death of a young woman whose body was found in undergrowth on folks and sea fronters heard she died of cocaine toxicity. 24-year-old Leah Daly was reported missing in May this year but was found at the Warren 12 days later, close to where she'd last been seen. Cocaine toxicity can occur within minutes to hours of excessive cocaine use. Symptoms include rapid heart rate, high blood pressure, hyperthermia, excessive sweating and agitation. Police have confirmed her death is not being treated as suspicious. A man who tried to smuggle two Vietnamese people into Kent in the boot of his car has been jailed. The 14-year-old girl and 20-year-old woman were discovered by Border Force at the Eurotunnel entrance in France in April last year. A 39-year-old from Birmingham has been sentenced to three years following a hearing at Canterbury Crown Court. A woman who followed a pensioner home from a supermarket and robbed her outside her home in Swanley has been jailed. Danielle and Nikolai tricked the victim into giving away her address then snatched a necklace while she was unloading bags from her car. The 31-year-old from Edmonton in North London has been locked up for two years and eight months. A coroner has found the deaths of a husband and wife in their home in Tundbridge Wells was a murder suicide. Police were called to Montgomery Road in February and found the couple in their first-floor bathroom. Investigators now believe 63-year-old Richard Parks strangled, stabbed and hit his wife. 53-year-old Sir Rachani Parks with a hammer before taking his own life. They're satisfied. No third parties were involved. Kent Online News. A new image has been released in the hopes of identifying a man found dead in a Margate hotel almost 30 years ago. He checked into a guesthouse in September 1996 and was discovered in the room a few days later. A forensic artist has created a picture of what he would have looked like. You can see it at Kent Online. Shop owners in Gravesette have revealed how they're determined to fight back against a rise in shoplifting offences. They recorded more than 1,400 incidents in the 12 months to March 2023 and 1,300 in the last financial year. Now they're kids are out with radios and an app to share info on suspects and warn fellow traders. It's an initiative called G Safe, Gabriel Morris, spoke to Tracy Seville who runs a boutique. The town used to be amazing. It used to be like you dress up, you come down on a Saturday, it was buzzing and it's just become emptier. I don't know whether it's because of the undesirables that are now blatantly like sitting up camp. I know what by Tesco's. They sort of like calls a lot of travel up there etc. We're quite lucky here in the high street. We don't get too much trouble to be fair. It's a really nice area and but we did have some undesirables that were sort of like drinking and maybe a little bit of drug taking which put people off coming in the shop. They decided to sort of like set up camp outside. So not a good look. Obviously we've got some nice items in here. We've got some great customers. Yeah so not good but hopefully what they have moved on and also the G Safe radio keeps us really kind of light in touch. That's an amazing thing because we can see what's going on in town and who's about etc and yeah so all good. How often does that go on? I tend to turn it down a little bit. Sometimes it is quite a lot. Obviously now I've got customers and I need to chat with them and they don't want to hear about you know who's about and stuff like that. Don't want to put them off. So yeah there's always sort of like some chat go on but obviously we've also got an app on our phone which is great so we can log into that and just familiarize ourselves with like who's about and what they're up to and etc. But luckily here at Toxic Angel we have only had a couple of thefts that we know of in the last couple of years. It's quite a small shop which is great you know and we have got like the cameras as well so we are happy to name and shame and you know sort of like straight on the G Safe radio as well. So yeah it's good. I feel quite safe in here. I don't feel you know like intimidated or anything. Sophie Jordan is a G Safe coordinator. The shop's unfortunately having to cut back with having staff on the shop floor so they're the lesser of a deterrent. It seems quite easy and also the criminal justice system. There's no actual consequence either for people who are committing shoplifting. No pleasing crime commissioner can please just started the retail prime board. Is that going to make any difference? Yes it absolutely will because it's bringing together the right people in the room to work together. I do sit on that retail prime board and we've had the first meeting and it was really good to get the right people in the room to start these conversations to make a difference. And I mean how are we going to bring your numbers down? What needs to be done? What can police need to do? What do G Safe need to do? What does community need to do to drive this number down in shoplifting? It's very difficult because there are so many wider societal problems but I think by working together and making sure that the police have the correct information certainly for shops in a submitting CCTV promptly helping the police to do everything that they can to bring a successful prosecution about. And also everybody working together join your local business crime reduction partnership be engaging share that information look at what the current threats are and just be more alert in your area. Very great one last question. I mean why do you think some shops are reluctant to join G Safe report evidence to companies? I know you've seen some of the smaller newer shops and I'll have that reluctant to see. It's sometimes perception as well. They might think they have enough things to do already rather than get involved but it is really beneficial if they could join on a trial even and just see what is available and how it can help. I think we certainly win a lot of people over and people also look at cost as well but with the cost of G Safe for a big company it's about 480 pounds a year. What single security measure can you spend 450 pounds on in a year that's going to deliver more benefit than joining a local business crime reduction partnership? Gabriel also spoke to Councillor Jordan Mead from KCC. They were joined by Kent online reporter Simon Finlay. Our businesses are the eyes and ears on the grounds. They're the ones working in these challenging environments. We need to be there and we need to listen and then we need to act for too long. Our businesses have been a lone voice in this area and the councils both the county council through my role and also the borough council here need to play a better coordinating role in getting all of the partnership agencies around the table so that we can solve some of these societal issues. Is there a willingness to do that? Yes, I think there is definitely the willingness and I think today we've seen the strength of the business community turn out in force for this AGM and that that in itself should be a sign that there is a willingness certainly from the business community and volunteer partnership agencies to come around. Now the councils need to step up and play a better role in supporting them. Can the councils afford that? Well, I think there are different ways of working, aren't there? So I'm seeing what I can do through my member grants. I know that the businesses are looking at ways that they can restructure to provide additional resources to security staff. But also, how can we support our voluntary sector more? Simon, is there anything you would want to ask? Yeah, I just wanted to ask, Jordan Mead, can you just tell us the effect that shoplifting, violence and anti-social behaviour has on the local business community? It's absolutely devastating for our business community in Gravesend. It's stopping people coming into the town centre which is impacting upon the viability of those businesses to survive and particularly as we now approach the winter period in Gravesend where we see a reduction in football to our town centre, it's all the more reasons that councils need to step up and support those on the front line. Earlier this month, Kent's Crime Commissioner held the first retail crime board to tackle the issue. A woman has paid tribute to her dad who'd lived in Favisham all his life after he lost his battle with cancer. Brian Carlos was 69. The former mechanic and grandfather of four was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer in 2022. His daughter Louise revealed the last words he spoke to her were "I love you" and she plans to have him buried in the town. A Canterbury woman living with MS is on a mission to raise money for a centre in Kent where she's been receiving treatment. After receiving her diagnosis, Anne-Marie Bundock says access to the Kent MS Therapy Centre helped her regain strength and improve her fitness. She's now taking on the Lake District 10 Peak Challenge. I've been speaking to Anne-Marie about why keeping fit is so important. Since being diagnosed, my activity levels have just gone all out. I've tried to increase my strength and my stamina and everything to try and help me and I find it. It really does. I did read that you sort of determined to keep up the physical activity and make yourself as physically fit as you can. How does that help you combat MS? Yeah, so over the years I've suffered with weakness in my right arm and my right leg, which should be my dominant side, but it no longer really is. So a couple of years ago, a few years ago, I started doing a lot of strength training, lifting weights and things like that, and it's really helped strengthen that side of my body and my whole body really. Drawing the COVID years, 2020, that's when I really really got into running because I have no time work as all of a perlo. So I was able to push myself and I started running decent 5Ks, I then challenged myself to run a 10K, and then I challenged myself to run a half marathon and did that. Last year, around two half marathons raised money for charity, which were a really good fun. And how about mentally? What does the physical activity do for your mental health? So yeah, it helps. It does an amazing thing. So yeah, mentally I feel more focused, gives me something to do, something to think about, it gives me time to think, process the days for some of that kind of thing. Now, what can you tell me about the latest challenge that you're undertaking to raise money? So I'll be doing the 10-peak challenge up at the late district. It's going to be good fun, but very, very challenging, especially since I've never climbed a mountain before. So to do a whole 10 peaks, it's got to be quite something, and I'm very looking forward to it, and I'm doing it with a very good friend of mine, Kim. First of all, how much money are you aiming for? Do you have a goal in mind? So we were aiming, first of all, for 600, which I'm pretty sure we've done that now. So we're going to up our total and try to aim a bit more. So see how much we can do. She's taking on the challenge this Saturday, in the hopes of raising more than 5,000 pounds. Kent Online News. Her maidstoned man says southern water are doing nothing about raw sewage that runs across his drive every time there's heavy rain. The waste is coming from a domestic drain outside the property in Old Tovel Road. He's been making complaints to the water companies since 2019. Meet Goodrich. He's been telling the podcast just how bad the problem can be. We moved into the property in 2019, not long after that. We started getting problems with drainage overflowing into our drive, got in touch with southern water. Initially, they did decide to come out and do something, but the things that they've done have not alleviated the problem. It's ongoing and I try to explain to them that it's a combined system, which takes the rainwater and the sewage and their adamant that it's not, either know their engineer has been out and seen it. The problem is ongoing and it doesn't matter what I do, I can't get a resolution from southern water and we keep trying and nothing happens. The result of this problem is the fact that every time we get torrential downpours, which happen quite a lot lately, we end up with other people's sewage all down our drives. So they come out and clear it up reasonably quickly, but as far as it goes, it gets pushed up to an escalation unit and then it stops. Southern waters say they are willing to install slow release water butts to help ease the problem as soon as the owner gives his consent. It comes as a no swim warning remains enforcing the sea at Dover after a sewage release. Tests show water quality at Shakespeare Beach is still below the required standard. The port of Dover say they're working with the environment agency and southern water to make sure the cause of the leak is dealt with. Two pubs in one Kent Village, near Favisham could both close before the end of the year. Bosses at both the white horse and the queen's head in boughton underbleen say it's not financially viable to stay open. The two sites are on the same street. Justice stones throw away from each other. It's not yet clear what will happen to them. A petition has been launched to save a much-loved church in Folkestone. St Joseph's in Cheriton closed in 2023 due to a broken boiler and has remained shut ever since. The archdiocese of Sothec has announced plans to sell off the site despite previously promising it would reopen. The congregation say they feel like it's been stolen from them and are doing whatever they can to stop it going on the market. Kent Online News. The Duchess of Edinburgh has been in Kent to open a new winery. Sophie visited Domain Everamond which was founded 10 years ago. They're working with Tattinger. It's the first time a major champagne house has invested in land in the UK. Patrick McGraw is the founder. My company represents Champagne Tattinger in the UK so we work very closely together and probably in the last 10, 10, 12 years ago I started tasting some English barking wines with Pierre Manuel and his daughter, Italy and son Clovis. We thought, "Why don't we do a project together?" They love Kent. They love England. The very strong bond between the two countries. Pierre Manuel's father was responsible for twinning Razz and Canterbury as twin cities when he was mayor of Razz. We thought, "Let's look at the project." We started looking around for Kent. Focus was on Kent because it's drier, it's warmer, it's the Sunnies County. It's where the best fruit is growing in the UK. Now we regard it as the wine garden of England. We bought some land here just outside children working with a local farmer, Mark Gasking. On his land, we bought some land from him. He helps in our work. He looks after the vines with Christel from Tattinger. We bought the land in 2015. We planted the first vines in 2017. 20 hectares. We now have 60 hectares, nearly 150 acres of vines. Spread the value you can see behind me. How does it feel? Could you tell me the story of when you found out that there was going to be a royal visit for this? Unfortunately, I have a personal connection with her Royal Highness. She's very close to English barking wines and she grew up in Kent, which is fantastic. Therefore, she was delighted to come and help support us, but also help the industry, the viticulture industry, in Kent. I think her presence today is a real endorsement of the exciting future for winemaking in Kent. Can you talk to me a bit about that future? I know Kent's very known for winemaking as some wine masters in Kent. How do you think that this new facility is going to add to that? I think it will draw the attention to it. We have a group of vineyards also working together in Kent, under the umbrella of the wine garden, promoting tourism. Kent, we have very fast communication, whether it's on the high speed of HS1, or down from London, promoting tourism in Kent. I really believe that Kent will be seen as the go-to destination if you want to taste high quality sparkling wines, still wine, but also visit some amazing wineries, be educated, walk around the vineyards, have a picnic in the vineyards. It's going to be a fantastic new addition to the very strong tourist offering that Kent offers. The first wine will be released next spring. Jessica Hines has received an honorary doctorate from Canterbury Christ Church Uni. The Royal Family and Paddington Star has been recognised for her acting career in promoting drama and arts in schools. Kent cricketer Tammy Beaumont was also recognised and conservationists are celebrating as a wild chick of a rare bird species has been born in Kent for the first time. A total of 19 red-billed chuffs have now been released as part of efforts to restore numbers after a 200-year absence. The first nest was discovered at Dover Castle in May. Laura Gardner is the head of conservation at Wildwood Trust. I'm delighted to say that we've had the most amazing year with a red-billed chuff reintroduction, intercents. We have seen the species return after an absence of 200 years. To see the species not only survive but actually thrive. This species reintroduction has driven all sorts of conversations with landowners closely linked to habitat restoration and looking at improving biodiversity across all of the farmland and landowners as well. The Kent reintroduction is the first in a series of reintroductions to restore the species across the south coast of England. What we've achieved to date is so exciting. We've got such expertise on the team and that's really paying dividends. It's brilliant and I'm just, if ever you get the chance to go to Dover and see the birds, we've got 19 flying over the white cliffs at the moment and it's just incredible. 200-year absence and the back. There's hope numbers will continue to grow. Liz Corrie is the chuff release supervisor at Wildwood. It is really early on for this project because these birds are still sort of like teenage years really for them. So it was great that they actually got to the stage of having a chick. Moving forward, we're hoping that next year the fact we've got more males in the group, the birds will be slightly older. We'll have more pest monitor, more work for us and we'll no doubt be asking for help from the public to be keeping an eye on looking for those birds. But it means that those numbers will just keep on increasing which is great. So we have another three or so years of looking at releasing the birds that we've captive read but hopefully we'll be able to stop at that point because the birds in the wild will be doing their own thing and taking over which is really great. Kent Online News. Football now and it's going to be a cracker of a game at Priestfield this weekend. Second place Jillingham take on top of the table Barrow in League 2. The visitors are managed by Steven Clemens, the man that Jills sacked in the summer. Claret Boss Mark Bonner has been chatting to the club's media team ahead of the game. Really looking forward to the game. I thought last weekend was a really good test as we mentioned going into it and we played over so well. So we were delighted with the outcome of that and now we start a three game week which is important. Two games at home against another team that fly in and going really well. So I think we've played a lot of teams they're in good form and they've been a tough game for us and we've been a tough game for them. We expect this weekend to be no different. So looking forward to getting back here can feel as an excitement about the game and I think there'll be a big crowd for the game which is good and the players certainly some that have been rested this week and go into the game a little bit fresher hopefully hopefully we get the benefit of that at the weekend. As you said I'm proud and is expected here at Priestfield. What kind of game are you expecting? Well they've started over so well and they've been defensive records equally good at the same as ours. So I think it'll be a game where they'll make it difficult for us to create chances. They've got some very good attacking players in wide areas, fall back to get forward and join attacks well. They've got some threats throughout the team as you'd expect. We know that their top scores from set plays at the moment in the league so that's another area where they're strong and they'll make it hard for us and you can never predict exactly what the game looks like which is why I think we have to try to prepare and develop a bit of flexibility in the way we play so that in any given day whilst we might have an idea of what the game looks like whatever twists and turns it takes we can cope so we'll need a bit of flexibility in the way we go about our work whether that's players and personnel throughout the game with substitutions or just the way in which we play but we want to be a team that gets right on top of the game early and tries to have a dominant day where we can but equally we're planning to get a team that like the ball as well so yeah it should make for a really good game. And here's our Jill's reporter Luke Cordell. He's set with a bit of a cracker really top versus second. The leaders are managed by former Gillingham boss Stephen Clements who were sacked following a disappointment in end to the last season. Clements had hoped to get a summer at Gillingham to put his own team together for a challenge but the board decided to make a change and hand mark Bonner the opportunity and while Bonner has made a great start Clements and his Clements has enjoyed and even better first two months having taken charge of Barrow. Seen as a bit of an unfashionable team at this level. Many thought he might struggle but some shrewd signings have led them to the top of league too and in the week they even had a league cup game at Chelsea they lost the game 5-0 but nobody was expecting them to come away with anything but but happy memories of going to a big club and a bit of a day out for them. Both have had similar records in the league Barrow sitting top courtesy of scoring one extra goal in their opening seven games. There's been mutual respect shown by both managers leading up to this one and in fact Mark Bonner and Stephen Clements were both together at preseason for a manager's meeting where they were joined for lunch by Neil Harris the manager in charge of the duels before they were so there's definitely a lot of respect between managers and and there is hopefully going to be some respect shown towards Clements from the crowd as well. Both sides are in good form yet the duels have a hundred percent record at home so they'll be looking to keep that run going. They won three near last time at Priestfield against Tramia and even though they've finished the last two home games with ten men with sendings off they still managed to get the wins and get clean sheets as well. Last weekend Gillingham won at Nott's County. It was another top versus second game that afternoon. Nott's were top Gillingham won one nil but Barrow went to the top of the table courtesy of their own win. They've only lost once this season against Carlisle so it's two teams with very similar records going against each other very little in it. See how much is in it when they play each other on Saturday. Briefly to cricket Kent will be hoping for some play on day two of their final championship game of the season. No action was possible yesterday because of rain in Durham Kent have already been relegated from Division 1. That's all from us today and for the week. Thanks ever so much for listening. Don't forget you can follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and threads. You can also get the details on the top stories direct to your email each morning by the briefing to sign up just head to Kent online.co.uk and while you're on the website why not check out the latest review from The Secret Drinker. News you can trust. This is the Kent Online Podcast. [BLANK_AUDIO]
