A dad-of-five who suspected his long-term girlfriend was cheating on him swapped her medication for laxatives.
He was caught creeping into the kitchen on a CCTV camera the couple had installed at their Dover home.
Also in today's podcast, a Marden dad shares his near-death experience as part of the Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex Buy if for Life appeal.
Warren Porritt had just minutes to live after he was involved in a near-fatal crash on Father’s Day in 2016.
Commuters have expressed their delight at the return of a “priceless" park and ride - although critics still believe it is a waste of money.
The KentOnline Podcast has spoken to some of the people who have been using the service since it was reinstated.
A traffic-free zone is to be set up around another school as part of a trial aimed at making streets safer for children.
It follows “volatile and aggressive” exchanges outside the primary school in Dartford.
And in football you can hear from the Gillingham boss ahead of their make-or-break match against Bradford City.
The Gills need to win all of their remaining fixtures to have any hope of making it to the League 2 play offs.
– Kent Online News. – News You Can Trust. This is the Kent Online Podcast. Kate Faulkner. Hello, it's Friday the 5th of April. Hope you're OK. And thank you for downloading today's podcast. Our top story today is Dova Mann, who thought his girlfriend was cheating on him as thanks to court after swapping her medication for laxatives. Richard Black was caught on a CCTV camera the couple had installed at their home. Lucy's got the details for the Kent Online Podcast. Lucy, this seems like a bizarre story. What can you tell us? Yes, well, it all started last June when Richard Black's partner started to feel unwell. She described at first feeling light-headed and then faint. Her symptoms then got progressively worse and she began to suffer from sickness and diarrhea. Two days later, she checked the CCTV footage from their kitchen and spotted Richard tampering with her medication the night before she fell ill. She'd confronted him about it, but he tried to blame the sickness on poorly prepared prawns. And there were accusations from Richard that his partner had been cheating. That's right, a court heard how Richard had checked the same CCTV footage and saw something that led him to believe his partner was being unfaithful. The 51-year-old who lives in veil view said he was remorseful of the way he handled the situation and it was very out of character for him. He pleaded guilty to a charge of administering poison with intent to annoy. During the proceedings, the judge said it was a relatively unusual offence, not often seen in the crown court. So how was he sentenced? The judge said Richard's actions had a significant psychological impact on his victim and that he took a wholly inappropriate route. However, it was taken into account that he hasn't intended to cause actual bodily harm. He was handed a five-year restraining order, banning contact with his now ex-partner and mother of his children. He must also undertake 180 hours of unpaid work over the next 18 months and paid costs of £535. Thanks, Lucy. Kent Online News A murder investigation has been launched after a Chatham assault victim died in hospital. The man in his 30s was found in a property in the High Street on Monday, but police he may have been assaulted earlier on Magpie Hall Road. A 43-year-old man has been taken into custody. A second person, who was arrested, has been released without charge. A person's been taken to hospital after a van overturned on the M2 between sitting born in Faversham. Three fire engines, police and paramedics were called to the coastbound carriage way just after six this morning. There were delays on the motorway for several hours. A Chatham man has been cleared of murdering, a convicted pedophile. Simon Brown, who lives in Snowden Close, admitted the manslaughter of the 71-year-old in Bristol in September last year, but said he never intended to kill him. The 28-year-old is due back in court for sentencing in June. A Kent dad's been telling the Kent Online podcast about the moment he almost died when his moped crashed head-on with a car. Warren Porat suffered serious injuries in Martin in 2016 and spent 12 weeks in hospital. He's been speaking to Oliver from our colleagues at KMTV. It was Father's Day, beautiful summer's June day, and I thought I'd take my beautiful scooter out for a quick ride. Unfortunately, a quick ride turned into being away from home for 12 weeks. I'd had a head-on collision with a car on a blind band on a single track country lane, which resulted in me breaking all of my ribs on my right side, and fragments of my ribs had darted through my thorax, lacerating my spleen, kidney and liver. I'd lost nine points of blood internally, and also I was able to breathe in, but I couldn't breathe out, so my lungs had collapsed under the pressure, and it was also put in extra strain on my internal organs. The KSS team turned up, and they were able to perform major roadside surgery on me, transfused blood, and put me asleep with an ascetic. Take me back to the base, work on me further in the helicopter hangar, and then fly me off to Kings, where I was re-sussed for about three hours, put into an induced coma, lots of operations, and spent 12 weeks there. So for you, what was it like, what were the things with the air ambulance team when they arrived? How did it feel to know that they were there supporting you on the scene, doing all those major work that you wouldn't normally expect from a paramedic team? Yeah, so obviously I was in quite an alien situation, I was laying on the tarmac for a start in the middle of the road staring up at the sky, and I remember being really calmed and reassured by just these normal people dressed in red. They were so calm, reassuring, matter of fact, and I just felt so relaxed. It was, yeah, it was just overwhelming really, but keeping me calm, which I guess was really important for my recovery, and I'd say they worked on me immediately, and I didn't suffer any pain at all, and just felt really, really well looked after and reassured. Do you think you'd be here today if it wasn't for the air ambulance team that came to help you after the accident that day? Absolutely not. I was told that I had literally seconds to minutes to live after they arrived at the scene. There were three procedures that they had to take immediately, and have they been done in a different order? I might not be standing here today. Fortunately, they made instinctive decisions at a time, and the life-saving interventions they made saved my life within minutes to stabilise me and get me breathing again and relax some of the pressure that my internal body was being blown up. What was that the aftercare from the air ambulance team? Do what was it for you to receive afterwards? So, after I came out from a very traumatic, long stay in hospital and lots of operations, my head was really scrambled. I had very strange insecurities, highly vulnerable, invite down to the base to meet the team, and that was a life-saving experience on its own. My kids were really young, they came along with me, they were able to sit in a helicopter and put on the helmets, and all of a sudden I'd got this new family and it was KSS, and we referred to that whenever I speak with the KSS team, and they really are another forever extended family. She's sharing his story as the air ambulance charity Kent Sarri Sussex launches an appeal to raise £1 million to buy their helicopter. Kent Online News A Kent company has been fined £175,000 following the death of an employee. Graves N. Mand, Liam McCardle was killed while working for eerith plant services limited in 2021, an investigation found failings with company practices led to the 24-year-old's death. They were also ordered to pay nearly £40,000 in costs. A man's been sent to prison after drunkenly threatening a delivery driver with a knife in Graves N. Jimmy Lee demanded a lift from the vehicle in London Road last November before assaulting the driver and stealing his wallet and gloves. The 36-year-old from York Road in North Fleet has been locked up for six years. Two men have been charged over an assault and robbery in Whitstable, three people wearing Balaclava's broke into a house in the Warren in February. They still cashed before fleeing in a black BMW. The suspects are both from Hearne Bay. Plans to house teenage asylum seekers at a care home on Sheppy have been scrapped. The owners of ocean heights in minster have pulled out of a deal to sell the building to the council. It follows a huge backlash and protest from people who live in the area. Now, there's been a mixed response to the reopening of a Kent park and ride, with some saying it's a priceless service, but others say it's a waste of money. The site in Starry Road, along the A-28 in Canterbury, was shelved by the city council in 2022 due to dwindling numbers. It's now been brought back at a cost of around £230,000 as part of the local administration's plans to adopt a bus first strategy. Our reporter Millie has been speaking to people at the park and ride, including Dora Kelly. How often do you use the park tonight? Every day when we come to work. I know you seem to see it reaper. Very pleased to see it open. We're halfway home when you come to Starry Road because obviously we live in Margate and my friend lives in Ramsgate. We car share to come in. So this is absolutely priceless. Before this happen, how was your journey into work? Absolutely awful, because obviously you'd have to trade all the way across Canterbury and if you're trying to cut down emissions and at the end of the day, that's not really a good shout because you're travelling all the way into Canterbury just to come all the way back. Sometimes when the traffic's really bad, when it's coming down, Reams Way can take you over an hour to get through there, let alone get the rest of your journey done. Lois Barker also uses the park and ride to get to work. She says it's a really useful service. All the other ones are very, if you're coming from Dover, they're very hard to get to. I've tried the Dover park and right, you have to go all the way through sort of country lanes, there's this one's an ideal situation for us. Do you think it's a good decision that they've reaping there? Yeah, definitely. Transport into Canterbury is really difficult and it's quite expensive, but this is the cheapest alternative and it means that you don't have to go and park in Canterbury. The Council Line podcast visited the site during the week. It's got enough space for almost 600 cars. At about 8.15 am, there were seven vehicles in the car park. Within the next hour, 19 more arrived. Kent Online News Plans to bring a second nightclub to Ashford have been rejected for the third time. The latest proposals would see a long, empty restaurant in Park Street transformed into a live music venue, but the Council fear it'll be too noisy and disruptive. Despite the rejections, business partners behind the ID say they're not giving up. Kent MP Tom Tuggenhal has paid tribute to his cousin Adrian Schiller, who's died at the age of 60. It was a TV and stage actor who starred in Death in Paradise and Victoria. The Tundbridge and Mollie MP says he'll miss him deeply, but his memory is a blessing. The school streets initiative that was rolled out in parts of Medway is now going to be trialled in Dartford, a traffic free zone where we set up around Holy Trinity Primary on Chatsworth Road when children go back after the Easter break. It's hoped it'll cut pollution and improve safety for children. Head over to Kent Online to see drone footage of work to repair a land slip on a Kent railway line. No trains have been running between Tundbridge and Red Hill since Good Friday. Engineers from Network Rail are working to stabilise the embankment and aim to reopen the line by the 15th of April. As an Airbus A319 has found a new home at a school in Maidstone, the former Air Portugal plane was craned into five acrewood school in Baughton Lane, which specialises in the education of children with autism and learning difficulties. The cockpit and part of Fusilage will be turned into a new library. Kent Online News Now with a look at some of the events and activities taking place across Kent, here's our what's on editor Sam Lori. Welcome back. After a long weekend and an Easter break, I hope you're feeling somewhat refreshed and ready to get stuck into a fun field weekend. If you're not too full of leftover chocolate and hot cross buns, that is. Now the bank holiday might be over, but there's still another week to squeeze out of the school holidays. If your kids are getting restless, our guide to the Easter break is still up online and there are plenty of fun activities going on all over the county. Spend the day at places like Leeds Castle, Kent Life, Dover Castle, Bettshanger Park, Heaver Castle, Howlitz and Port Lim, the Chatham Dockyard all pens has place. All of these attractions are keeping up the Easter festivities for another week, so you're sure to find something the whole family will enjoy. For something a little different, why not head to the Heritage Transport Show at the Kent Event Centre this Saturday, entered by over 1,000 vintage vehicles. The Retro Car Show, which also features buses, motorbikes and military vehicles, also boasts a food market, merchandise stalls, free bus rides and a fairground. Tickets can be bought on the gate, so it doesn't matter if you haven't booked in advance, just head down to the debt link showground and see where the day takes you. And look, I'm still happily making my way through this stash of chocolate, but if you're looking for a way to burn off some of those Easter eggs, Canterbury's Step Into Spring Walking Festival takes place this weekend and it's a great chance to get some exercise while exploring one of Kent's most historic cities. There are lots of different walks taking place, from literary tours linked to Christopher Marlow and Jeffrey Chaucer, to following the footsteps of Kent's royal visitors throughout the centuries. There's also a ghost hunt, wildlife walk and art trail to name just a few. All walks cost £14 per person and can be booked online. Now don't worry, I won't leave you without a few cracking theatre recommendations for the weekend, so listen up. The award-winning Blood Brothers is currently touring the UK and is at the Orchard West Theatre in Darford until Saturday night. But don't worry if you miss it, as it's also at the Assembly Hall Theatre in Tambridge Wells later this month. Agatha Christie's Edge of Your Seat Who Done It and Then There Were None is also still playing up until Saturday night. You can catch that one at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley. And finally, strictly sensational dancer Gratziano Di Prima is putting on a Latin and ballroom extravaganza at the Granville Theatre in Vamsgate on Saturday. The show includes dazzling routines and stories from Gratziano and his wife and dance partner who also competes on dancing with the stars, Strictly's American counterpart. That's just about everything for this week, so I'll wrap up here and I'll let you get back to enjoying what's left of the Easter holidays. I'll also keep my fingers crossed that we start seeing some of that lovely spring weather over the weekend. Thanks Sam. Ken's on line, sport. Football Now and the Jillingham Box says their future is on the line as they face Bradford City and League to this weekend. They suffered a heavy 5-1 defeat away at Harrogate last time out. It means the Jills will have to win all of their remaining fixtures if there to have any hope of making it to the playoffs. Head coach Steven Clemens says there are lessons to be learned. There's been a lot of hurt in the camp. Obviously there was a lot of anger after the game. We then came in the next morning and we had a karma chat amongst everybody in our lecture theatre. A few things got people's chests and we move on now. Eventually you have to draw a line under it and we have to move on to the next game. That's what we've been trying to do since then. We've had some really good away performances haven't we? I was expecting no different and it was looking that way for a large part of the game. Now momentum shifted and we made some mistakes. As I say we're out of character. I've not seen before. It can happen. Look I've been beat seven before in an FA Cup court final by Liverpool. I've been beat six at St James's part by Newcastle and I've told the players this. Everybody's had a bit of a doing at some point in their careers but what you can't do is let it ever happen again and it only ever happened in those teams I was involved in once. It never happened again and we had to talk about how that doesn't happen again because there will be times in games where momentum shifts and you're up against it. What you can't do is go under like that. The boys know what to do should that ever happen again. Hopefully we're not in that situation where we can see goals quickly. Look we've got a big game to look forward to at the weekend and that's where my focus is now and that's where the players focus is. Obviously there'll be a big crowd, big stadium, the pitches and great. That'll be a challenge so I'm sure that Graham's not too happy with his pitch at the moment. It's happy with his home pitch at the moment so that'll be different. Obviously they've got some good players and we know we've got a good idea how we think they will play and we've got to go and take them on but no it's always a challenge going to graduate away isn't it? They're a big football team probably arguably the biggest supporting club in the division, aren't they? It's going to be a tough game but it's one that we should be looking forward to after what's just happened on Monday. The good thing in football is you get knocked down a lot but you get up to get up to get back up and go again very, very quickly and that's what the boys and myself were looking to do on the weekend. Kickoff tomorrow is at three and a paralysed man from Maidstone has been telling us how his disability led to him becoming a British shooting champion. Bill Wilson broke his neck while on holiday in 2018. He took up shooting while going through rehab. The 61-year-old says he even set up a range at home which involves him firing his air rifle through the hallway and kitchen and into the conservatory. He spoke to Bartholomew Hall from our colleagues at KMTB. I always would live outside shorts, t-shirt and flip flops. I was a scuba diver instructor, trainer with Paddy and I've all around the world and almost up to ski, FIS ski instructor, advanced skier, took my son, took several people and my daughters to ski. Advanced motorcyclist, toured the world, you know, Europe, take the boat to Holland down to south of France and so yes, and all those things came to a very abrupt end on the 1st of May 2018 when I had an unfortunate accident in Holland, fell down some stairs and I was taking my mother out to see the Tulep Festival and yes, in a blink of an eyelid, your world has changed. And rather, I'm always one to sort of like push myself. I'm one of these people to sit in a horseshoe looking out window. I had to find something else that would keep me motivated, particularly as I'm sitting in a wheelchair and it's literally, yeah, this is my biggest enemy and also my best friend, so I had to find something which would keep me going. And I found that, obviously, whilst I was at rehab at Stoke Mandible, I was there for four months and had an opportunity to try out several different sports. It's a good stadium, which is now called Stoke Mandible, which was the home of the 2012 Olympics and try the wheelchair rugby, that was pretty mental. Basketball, volleyball, table tennis and I came across the shooting and thought, yeah, I could sort of like rekindle my shooting skills and the secretary there, Damon Henschliff, said, "You've got a good eye." When you leave, join a local club, which I did, Tufts Lake, just outside Cranbrook. I also join the Disability Shooting Club for GB, which is one of the hub centres that goes into Paralympic team. It really started to sort of enter competitions in 2020, 2019, 2020 and I was doing quite well, actually, doing quite well. I've spoke to my tally now, I think I've got 11 gold medals, four silvers, three bronze. Bill One Gold at the British Open Air Gun Championships and has his sights set on the Paralympics. That's all from us today, 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 via the briefing to sign up, just head to Kentonline.co.uk and while you're there on the website, why not take a look at the latest review from The Secret Trinker. [MUSIC PLAYING] [BLANK_AUDIO]
