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Catch up on all the latest news from across the county with Nailah Mahomed.
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00:21Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight live on KMTV. I'm Naila Mohamed and here are your top stories
00:27on Monday the 27th of July. Only one year old, an investigation opens after a baby fell
00:33from a window in Gillingham. And I'll be here in Gillingham giving you all the latest information.
00:39Challenging the status quo, a Canterbury couple urges more young people to foster children.
00:44It's a shame not more people do it because there's a lot of children that do need it
00:48I think that they don't get it unfortunately.
00:57And a sea of red. Folkestone Harbour welcomes hundreds of Kate Bush fans for Wuthering Heights
01:03Day. Folkestone has got, since I've been here anyway and recently it's got a lot of creative
01:08people here.
01:19A warning for this story, it contains mature themes that may not be suitable for young
01:24people. A one-year-old baby was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries after falling
01:3014 feet from an upstairs window in Twiddle. Police cars were spotted by the best one shot
01:35this morning as an investigation opened into exactly what happened while the baby had been
01:40taken to London Hospital for treatment. Finn McDermott joined us earlier.
01:44So Finn, tell us about the incident itself.
01:50Sure thing. So I'm here on the cross junction between Cornwallis Avenue and Woodlands Road.
01:57This is the best one store here in Twiddle. And just above it, you can see here behind me
02:01some of those windows. A one-year-old baby fell out of one of those windows a distance
02:06of about 14 feet before hitting the ground. That baby is now in a London hospital receiving
02:12what has been described as life-threatening injuries. They're receiving treatment for those
02:16injuries. CCTV was later seen by some of our colleagues over at Kent Online that showed the
02:24moment where the young child fell hitting the pavement. There were even two drivers here
02:29at these traffic lights just behind me, who actually got up out of their cars to make sure
02:34that everything was okay. The CCTV later showed one man actually cradling the child in his arms.
02:40An air ambulance was then later sent right here to the scene. It flew the baby to a major trauma
02:46centre in London, as I mentioned. And a police investigation has now opened into exactly the
02:52circumstances of what happened. And from reports we've been hearing on the ground, detectives are out.
02:57They're knocking on doors, trying to get more information as to exactly the circumstances
03:02of this incident. And what do we know about the incident so far? What have police said has been going
03:08on?
03:10Well, a spokesman for Kent Police said they took a call from South East Coast Ambulance Service. That
03:16was around 10 past six on Sunday evening. That was to notify officers that paramedics were treating
03:22a one-year-old boy who was reported to have fallen from a window of a property. Officers attended and
03:28the child was taken to a London hospital with life-threatening injuries. They heard at the end that
03:32inquiries are still ongoing.
03:35And talk to us a bit about the atmosphere down there. I can imagine it's quite shocking for the local
03:40community.
03:43Absolutely, Nayla. I think for people who don't know this part of Gillingham, the area of Twiddle,
03:48it's quite quiet aside from a lot of traffic at this junction here. Lots of houses. Only just up the
03:54road
03:55there is a playground where there's plenty of children playing in the sun for them. And there's also a
04:00school just opposite as well. For anyone who might have been passing by or heard of what's happened,
04:05this would be extremely shocking. As you can see, there's lots of traffic going by as well. And as
04:10I mentioned earlier, there were two drivers who helped when they saw what happened to this baby.
04:17So yeah, I think an extremely shocking and impactful incident that's happened in what is a very quiet and
04:23small, close-knit community. Everyone here will know this best one, shock, because there aren't many
04:29around this area. So I think this is definitely something that will have impacted the local community
04:33massively. Well, thank you, Finn. We'll be giving updates as they come.
04:39A teenage teenager has been charged with murder following the death of an 18-year-old motorcyclist
04:44after a collision outside a pub. The teenage biker died at the scene shortly after 8.15pm on Friday,
04:50after the motorcycle he was riding was involved in a collision with a white Mercedes A180. His next
04:56of kin have been informed. 19-year-old Connor Todd is due to appear before Margate Magistrates Court
05:02tomorrow in connection with a fatal crash near Whitstable. Floral tributes have been left at
05:07the scene where the teenager died. Detectives are continuing to investigate the circumstances and
05:11are appealing for witnesses to come forward. Several parts of the county are currently experiencing
05:18water outages or interruptions. Linton Hill in Maidstone, Rochester Road in Rochester,
05:24Cranbrook Road in Cranbrook and Olcone are facing low water pressure or no water at all. This comes after
05:29Southeast Water have said they will be investing £2.1 billion in infrastructure to strengthen the
05:35county's water resilience. The fire service urges people to shut their windows after six fire
05:42engines have been sent to a blaze in a barley field in Throwley near Favisham. The fire service was called
05:47shortly before 1.30pm. Six fire engines, a bulk water carrier and an all-terrain vehicle are on
05:53site and crews are working to extinguish the fire. They're urging people nearby to close windows and
05:57doors and to share this advice with anyone in the area who might not have access to the internet.
06:01Fires today and yesterday both come as an amber heat health alert has been issued by the UK Health
06:06Security Agency. A man and two children remain in hospital in stable condition after getting into
06:14difficulty in the sea of the Kent coast. Emergency services arrived in Margate Main Sands at about 4.30pm
06:21on Saturday following reports of three people struggling in the water. A multi-agency response was launched,
06:27including an air ambulance and a Coast Guard helicopter both landing directly on the sand
06:31near the town's tidal pool. All three were airlifted to the hospital for further treatment
06:36and this morning it was confirmed that they remain in hospital. No criminal offences have been reported.
06:42Kent Fire and Rescue gave us some advice on how to stay safe in the water during this heat.
06:46It's really important to recognise that whilst you may be hot and indeed some water may not feel too cold
06:55at the surface, cold water shock is prevalent in these conditions. So where we have deep bodies of water
07:01they get very cold very quickly and that can cause and be the start of drownings if people do jump
07:10into
07:10water to cool off. So we really encourage people to do that in the safest way possible. So we're lucky
07:17in Kent
07:17we've got many leisure centres where we've got swimming pools that the public can access and then also patrolled
07:24beaches on the coast. So we would always encourage people to go to areas where there are lifeguards,
07:32where the RNLI and the Coast Guard are present to keep it safe as possible. Rivers inland water can have
07:40hidden hazards underneath the water as well. So things like tree roots, branches etc under the water
07:46which is quite easy to come trapped in if you're not aware of the conditions and also the speed of
07:52the
07:52water and more significant rivers, the Stour and the Medway. The water can be moving at a real pace
07:59and swimmers can quite easily get into difficulty. New statistics reveal that 417 school-aged children
08:08with an EHCP do not currently have a place in school. Parents have described feeling drained and
08:13some have even had to quit their jobs during their struggle to get their children with special needs
08:18into schools. Isabelle Graham joined me earlier to discuss this story. So Isabelle what is an EHCP?
08:25An EHCP is an education health and care plan, a legal document that sets out the additional support
08:30needed by a child from the local authority for special educational needs. How long is it taking
08:36families to secure a placement for their children? A Freedom of Information request revealed that out
08:41of 417 school-aged children, 310 were waiting for a placement for over 90 school days
08:47as of June 15th this year. You can see the data here on the screen. According to a spokesperson,
08:53Kent County Council manages 22,500 active EHCPs and the FOI figures account for only 1.4% of pupils
09:02with an EHCP. And how is the number of children without a placement being handled at the moment?
09:08What's been put in place for them? Well, according to a KCC spokesperson, they aim to ensure that no
09:14child is left out of education and recognise the difficulties that delays can cause and are making
09:18every effort to resolve placements. Alternative arrangements are made as quickly as possible,
09:24however, but these are not always perfect. One of the things the KCC can offer is the education,
09:31other than in school or EOTIS package, though these are not always properly implemented,
09:37with aspects in the case of one mother who says her child's package was never properly implemented,
09:43with aspects never having materialised. According to the KCC, the pressures that are being
09:48experienced are part of broader national challenges across the SEND system that are the focus of ongoing
09:55reform. How are parents responding to Kent County Council? One parent, Amy, whose child has been
10:01impacted by this has now become an SEND advocate, supporting families in getting EHCPs for their
10:07children. Amy believes that there are many children who are missing from the FOI figures,
10:11who may have a school named on paper but don't access school or are in one that cannot meet their
10:17needs. Amy talked with our sister station, Kent Online, earlier about her experience.
10:22I'm the first person to say, like, what I do as a job should never be a job. It should
10:26never be
10:26something that parents have to pay for support for, but ultimately they're not getting any support from
10:34the local authority. There is the organisation I Ask, which is a free service for families.
10:42It's an independent service that they can access for support around EHCPs and appeals and what their rights
10:49are. But they're so inundated with people needing support that you either can't get hold of them
10:56or they can't see you or speak to you in the time frame that you need them to speak to
11:02you,
11:02in which case parents are essentially forced to pay for support. And with Kent, they just don't engage
11:13with you. As a parent that's been through that system and knowing how they responded to me as a
11:19parent, to now being an advocate and communicating with them as a professional, it's no different.
11:25Now it's time for a quick break, but don't go anywhere because coming up we'll take a look at
11:30how two young foster carers who are urging for more young people to foster children, as there were nearly
11:352,000 children in care in Kent at the end of last year. We'll also take a quick dive into
11:40the latest
11:41sporting news from around the county. All that and so much more. We'll see you very soon.
15:10Hello and welcome back to Kent Tonight Live on KMTV. The latest government statistics show that nearly
15:162,000 children were in foster care at the end of last year, but agencies say they urgently need more
15:22foster carers. Most people who foster are in their 50s, but one KMTV couple decided not to wait and
15:28are hoping to encourage more young people across the county to step forward. Let's have a look at the report.
15:34Nearly 2,000 children were in care across Kent at the end of last year.
15:39But agencies say there aren't enough foster carers to look after them all. And while the average foster carer is
15:4555 years old, India and Ryan did it in their late 20s.
15:49I think if you speak to a lot of older foster carers as well, they kind of all say like,
15:53oh, we wish we would have done something like this sooner.
15:55So I think our friends as well, maybe some of them were a little bit shocked as well because most
16:00of them are child free and like living sort of a different life to us at the minute or very
16:05career driven.
16:05I think they were like, oh, OK, that's something different. Like, not really heard of people our age doing that.
16:12The former teachers from Canterbury welcomed their foster son two years ago, who cannot be pictured due to safeguarding reasons.
16:19They say many of their friends were surprised by the decision because fostering is often seen as something people do
16:25later in life.
16:26India and Ryan are no strangers to the fostering process. In fact, India's parents were foster carers for about 20
16:33years.
16:34And Ryan says since knowing India and her family. Apologies, there's a technical issue there. Let's have a look at
16:40that piece now.
16:44The average foster carer is 55 years old, but for India and Ryan, the story looks a little different.
16:50The couple have been foster carers for two years and are urging more young people to consider this path as
16:56there is a lack of foster carers in the county.
16:59Nearly 2000 children were in care across Kent at the end of last year.
17:04And agencies say there aren't enough foster carers to look after them.
17:07I think if you speak to a lot of older foster carers as well, they kind of will say like,
17:11oh, we wish we would have done something like this sooner.
17:13So I think our friends as well, maybe some of them were a little bit shocked as well, because most
17:18of them are child free and like living sort of a different life to us at the minute or very
17:23career driven.
17:24I think they were like, oh, OK, that's something different. Like, not really heard of people our age doing that.
17:29The former teachers in Canterbury welcomed their foster son two years ago, who cannot be pictured due to safeguarding reasons.
17:36They say many of their friends were surprised by the decision because fostering is often seen as something people do
17:42later in life.
17:43India and Ryan are no strangers to the fostering process.
17:47In fact, India's parents were foster carers for about 20 years.
17:51And Ryan says since knowing India and her family, his perception on fostering has changed.
17:56I was worried about what sort of behaviours I might see.
17:59And I thought I'm inviting someone showing those behaviours into my home.
18:03It's a bit of a, yeah, it was a bit of a hard concept to wrap my head around.
18:06But after seeing you and your family and how they've managed it and the support that they receive when dealing
18:11with those behaviours,
18:12it made me realise that actually this is like a sustainable thing to get into.
18:16It's not something, you know, you're not dealing with it all on your own and struggling.
18:20You know, you have got people that you can talk to and you can put things in place to sort
18:25of make things easier for you.
18:26Foster carers work with a lot of professionals like social workers, therapists and schools to ensure the placement goes well.
18:33India and Ryan want more young people to consider fostering as they believe the younger carers can offer children something
18:39different.
18:40It's a shame not more people do it because there's a lot of children that do need it.
18:43I think that, yeah, they don't get it, unfortunately.
18:47I think different children suit different foster families.
18:51I think for some, maybe they prefer being with an older couple.
18:54Maybe they might have even had a bad experience with a grandparent in the past.
18:58So it might be actually better for them to sort of be with someone completely different to what they've been
19:03with before.
19:04The couple hope to foster more children as their family grows.
19:07And they say if more young people in Kent considered fostering,
19:11then more children can grow up with a stable home.
19:14Nayla Mahamud for KMTV in Chatham.
19:17An overflowing skip has been left outside one mum's Weedswood home in Chatham for over a year.
19:23The tenant, Sarah Stiles, maintains that she has tried to have the skip removed, having made numerous calls to her
19:28landlords and Medway council.
19:30The volume of waste has continued to grow throughout the year, as passersby have dumped furniture and household waste into
19:36it.
19:36The executive director of customer experience at MHS Homes says they were first made aware of the unmarked skip on
19:4223rd June.
19:44And whilst the company did not place it there, arrangements have been made for it to be removed.
19:50And now it's time for a quick look at the weather.
19:58Having a look at the weather now.
20:00It's partly cloudy skies, nice some clear skies.
20:03We've got lows of 21 there into tomorrow morning.
20:06Lows of 15 clear skies, a bit of clouds across the north of county.
20:12Into the afternoon we've got 26 degrees in Maidstone.
20:15Lows of 23 degrees there and your outlook for the coming days.
20:18We do have an amber heat health alert for Wednesday and Thursday, 32 degrees and 27.
20:24And a nice sunny cooler 23 degrees on Friday.
20:34And we'll also take a quick look at our latest sporting news.
20:48Gillingham boss Gareth Ainsworth has said he's looking forward to their last friendly matches before the start of the season.
20:53The squad will have two more warm ups ahead of their first league game against Walsall on the 15th of
20:58August.
20:58Having just lost to Brunford B, they'll have another behind closed doors game at Preesfield and an away match against
21:04Ebsfleet United.
21:04Ainsworth has added that he isn't worried about wins or losses during pre-season and that as long as his
21:09players were fit, he was happy.
21:12And staying with football and a familiar face to Gilles fans is taking charge over at York City.
21:17Former Gillingham player and Chatham Town boss Scott Lindsay was given the job after the surprise exit of Stuart Maynard.
21:23Lindsay last managed Crawley Town while Maynard led York to promotion from the National League, winning with 108 points to
21:29bring them back to the Football League.
21:31The former Gilles man made 12 appearances for the club before playing for non-league clubs like Dover, Sittingbourne, Gravesend
21:36and Maidstone United.
21:38In Canterbury Rugby Club's head coach Matt Corka says his team has to improve ahead of the next season.
21:44The team finished last campaign fifth out of 14 sides and Corka said he was happy with some strong performances
21:50and a growing defence.
21:51He did add that the difference between his squad and some of the best in the league were the small
21:55gaps in points that the team needed to learn to close.
21:58He said part of it is consistency and part of it is about the coming out on the right side
22:02of some of those tighter games.
22:04Ten players from Kentish Tennis Clubs will head to Wimbledon's courts after winning their categories at the Play Your Way
22:10to Wimbledon County Finals.
22:12The country's biggest mass participation tennis competition sees players of different ages and abilities play to eventually get the chance
22:19to serve at Wimbledon's courts.
22:23Players from clubs in Canterbury, Maidstone, Ginningham and Horsemunden will make the trip up to London for the finals which
22:29run from 2nd to 8th of August.
22:32The Canterbury duo Theodore Marks and Kai Peng manage to claim the 18 and under doubles title while Gabrielle Laverick
22:38and Sofia Maria Patricchi who play in Maidstone and Ginningham won the girls doubles.
22:43And that's all for your sports news.
22:56And finally hundreds of people dressed head to toe in red gathered in Folkestone to recreate Kate Bush's iconic Ruthering
23:04Heights dance.
23:04It's all part of an annual event that's become a global phenomenon and as a reporter Kristin Hawthorne discovered it's
23:11about much more than fancy dress.
23:13Here is her recount of the day.
23:24It's possibly the most wholesome story I've covered as people from across the world dance in Folkestone dressed in red
23:32to Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush.
23:42The event is called the most Wuthering Heights day ever. Being there and seeing how much fun everyone was having
23:48was actually quite emotional.
23:50I spoke to some of the attendees before and after the dance which by the way was done three times
23:56because everyone was having so much fun.
23:59It may not be the best dance but we give it all of the effort.
24:02Most?
24:05You know I have a huge cake with my children.
24:07It's good fun.
24:08Yeah.
24:09It's good fun.
24:10And I think it's good to see something like this.
24:12It's different in culture but I think it's nice as you get older as well.
24:16So yeah.
24:16It's fun.
24:17Yeah.
24:18Yeah.
24:19And it's amazing to see all the men that participated in the red.
24:24Not only just in red but in dresses as well.
24:27It's fun.
24:29And hearing men come around and say oh I'm wearing a dress and it's fine and no one cares.
24:34Because no one does care.
24:35Everyone should be able to have fun and look how they want and be how they want.
24:38This is not the first time this event has happened in Folkestone but it's also not the only place it
24:44happens either.
24:45So the most Wuthering Heights Day ever is an invention of Shambush who are an arts collective based in Brighton.
24:50They did the first one in 2013.
24:53From that other people picked up on it and it went global.
24:56There were others in other parts of the world and in other parts of the country.
25:00A friend of mine saw that and then bought it to Folkestone in 2018.
25:05So we did it then, 2019.
25:07We had a bit of a break during the pandemic and then I picked it up in 2023 and I've
25:12been doing it since then.
25:13It's clearly a very popular event both to watch and take part in.
25:17I can see why it works.
25:19Kay Bush is an iconic artist.
25:21It's not just great songwriting and great songs.
25:24It's great video, great storytelling, great choreography.
25:27She's an amazing dancer.
25:28She's like an all-round artist and that's why someone like Kate Bush works for this sort of event.
25:33Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Kate Bush and her music has clearly left a huge impact on people in Kent.
25:41Authenticity and freedom definitely sighing through the crowds.
25:46Kristen Hawthorne for KMTV, Folkestone.
25:51And Kristen joins me now. Kristen, we saw the end there.
25:55What was your favourite part of the day?
25:58Oh, honestly, I just think it was looking around and seeing just how happy people were.
26:02You can see there the amount of people that were there and mostly women, but as of course we had
26:06some men in dresses as well and children and everything.
26:09So people of all ages just dancing to this song.
26:13Smiles across the place and you know, we're reporting on different news stories all day, every day.
26:17So going to something like this was a bit of a change.
26:20And yeah, like I said in the piece, I think I got a bit emotional because I was just thinking,
26:26wow, this is something quite special.
26:28I've never heard of before.
26:29Amazing. Well, maybe I'll consider going next year for a bit of change.
26:33You really take part in the dances as well.
26:34Yeah.
26:35Thank you so much, Kristen.
26:38That's all we have time for today. We'll see you again tomorrow evening. Goodbye.