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Catch up with all the latest news from across the county with Finn Macdiarmid.
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00:27Hello and welcome to Kent Tonight live here.
00:31I'm Finn McDermid and here are your top stories on Wednesday 5th August.
00:3544 years on, fresh hope for convicted businessman to clear his name after decades of fighting.
00:42Hopefully the CCRC will see the merits of the case and then what will happen is they will
00:47put it forward to the appeal court to clear us.
00:50Food bank surge.
00:51Canterbury sees increased demand for emergency children's donations after school meal vouchers
00:56axed.
00:57As a result of the action, children are going to bed hungry and that needs to be stopped.
01:03And a victory for parents as a bus for an isolated school outside Ashford has been secured.
01:09It's just amazing isn't it, it's what we've wanted, it's what we've campaigned for and
01:15now we've got a safe way of getting our children to school.
01:27And for our top story tonight, more than four decades after being sent to prison over money
01:33from a Raynham sub post office, a Kent businessman says he's finally been given hope.
01:38The Criminal Cases Review Commission or CCRC has confirmed they've been looking into
01:43Simon Edgecombe's conviction after new evidence was submitted thanks to a Kent online reader.
01:49Kristen Hawthorne met him where the story began.
01:52I'm hoping that the hurt is all over at last.
01:56For 44 years, Simon Edgecombe has insisted he should never have been convicted.
02:01Now, after decades of dead ends, he's finally got hope.
02:05He's been notified that the Criminal Cases Review Commission, CCRC,
02:09has begun a screening process regarding his claims of innocence.
02:12The independent body has powers to obtain evidence and decide whether the conviction should be
02:17referred back to the Court of Appeal.
02:19The CCRC are looking at it simply because it's a massive case for them.
02:24There are so many reasons why it all went wrong.
02:27It's a bit like the judge and the jury.
02:29I can't, well, we can't blame them.
02:32They only went on the evidence they were presented with.
02:34And the evidence they were presented with was manipulated by post office
02:38because it suited their cause.
02:40Simon was jailed for 10 months in 1983
02:43after being convicted of theft from a Raynham sub post office,
02:47which is now a one stop.
02:48A young shop worker, Jane, was also sent to prison.
02:51The thing is she hasn't been aware of what I've been doing in the background
02:55and I want to get vindication for her.
02:59Simon says the postmaster authorised £750 to be taken from the till
03:03to pay for a van he was selling, promising to replace the money later.
03:07So the young shop worker at the till handed over the cash.
03:11But when an audit the next day found the cash missing, both were convicted of theft.
03:16Post office prosecutions people, barristers, suggested that it was coercion.
03:22That what I had done is coerced the girl in there to give me the money.
03:27But the ridiculous part of that was, even if that was true and it wasn't, she was a victim.
03:36But they imprisoned her as well.
03:38The post office have said they have no papers regarding this matter as it's over 40 years old.
03:44It's not even been established that post office limited was the prosecutor.
03:48He appealed the case in 2016, but it was rejected due to a lack of evidence.
03:53But a new witness account gathered in recent months have prompted a fresh application
03:57to the criminal cases review commission.
03:59The last time I was stood here, we heard from Michael Baker.
04:02He gave his recollection of events which entirely backed up Simon's memories.
04:06What he says in that article is true.
04:10The significance of Michael Baker's testimony is astounding.
04:13As Simon is now almost certain that his case will end up at the Court of Appeal.
04:17It is a big development for them to get involved.
04:20They have lots of powers and they will investigate it.
04:24And I'm sure they will see from the 26 points that I've put forward, which are all legal points,
04:30they will see there is a case to answer there.
04:32But Simon says this isn't just about clearing his own name.
04:35So is urging anyone who remembers the rain and post office
04:38or its payment practices in the early 1980s to come forward.
04:42Any information is useful. Anything. Doesn't matter what it is, it's useful.
04:46The impact this case has had on Simon's life has been ongoing.
04:49But now, after more than four decades, he says it's the closest he's felt to being able to clear his
04:55name.
04:56And hopefully for others as well.
04:58Kristen Hawthorne, KMTV, Raynham.
05:02Commuters captured the moment.
05:03A balaclava-wearing group of around 50 young people were dressed in black,
05:07storming past Chatham station.
05:09They were left shocked as the crowd ran through Railway Street in Chatham on Saturday 1st August.
05:15It's understood they had been trying to chase and attack a separate group of boys unprovoked
05:20who had been leaving the station at the same time.
05:23Kent police arrived soon after following those reports of a large group causing a disturbance.
05:28The spokesperson for the force said that officers had spoken to a teenager
05:31who reported being assaulted and having his phone stolen by the group.
05:34Adding an investigation is underway to identify and locate the suspects.
05:40The family of a man in Gillingham left in a coma for more than a decade.
05:44A pleading for answers following his death.
05:46Denby Collins was left critically ill after five people held him down
05:50after entering a home in Gillingham 12 years ago.
05:53Now this year, on the 15th of April, Denby's life support was turned off.
05:57Now an inquest into his death found that it was caused by a hypoxic brain injury
06:03following cardiac arrest following an altercation.
06:06Police had also reviewed the case but found it was not appropriate to relaunch an investigation.
06:12Meanwhile, Denby's father, Peter, says he still does not really know what happened the night that changed his family's life.
06:19We can hear more from his father now.
06:22Well it was back in 2013 in December, just before Christmas.
06:27We'd come up to bring Denby back to his flat and we left him there.
06:34When we came back the next day, the flat was empty, the door was unlocked.
06:39A bath had been half run but not used.
06:42There was half a glass of beer on the table.
06:44Obviously he'd left in a hurry but we didn't know where.
06:48So we eventually found that he was in hospital.
06:51He'd been in A&E and he'd been moved into ICU.
06:54And he'd been the subject of an assault which has left him unconscious in a coma.
07:02Footage taken in Sturry has shown drivers ignoring flashing warning signs as they drove across the level crossing.
07:09We can see some images from that footage here.
07:12It shows an incident on the 20th of July when motorists were seen driving over the Sturry Hill crossing
07:17when the barriers were raised but the warning signals were on.
07:21The barriers have failed on several occasions over the past month, sparking long traffic delays in the area.
07:27Southeastern Railway's Safety, Planning and Performance director condemned the incident,
07:32saying while they may think they're saving time, ignoring or missing warning signs can put both themselves
07:37and others in serious danger and it is never worth the risk.
07:43Canterbury Food Bank says demand for emergency food for children has soared after Kent County Council
07:49scrapped its school holiday food voucher scheme.
07:51The charities say they handed out 30% more parcels for children last month,
07:56warning more families are being forced to seek help over the summer break.
08:00Let's have a look at the report.
08:02As a result of the action, children are going to bed hungry and that needs to be stopped.
08:08Canterbury Food Bank says emergency parcels for children
08:11have increased by 30% in the last month, following Kent County Council scrapping its school holiday food voucher scheme.
08:18This comes at a time when the charity says the cost of living is putting pressure on both of those
08:23needing support
08:24and those able to donate food.
08:26The Food Bank distributed enough food to make around 5,000 meals for children in June this year,
08:32one month after KCC stopped their scheme.
08:35The charity saw an increase in over 1,000 emergency meals compared to the same time period last year.
08:42So it's a direct correlation. It's an action which has a consequence.
08:46There is only one reason why our emergency child parcels will have jumped so high, so quickly,
08:53and that's because food vouchers have been scrapped.
08:56All this stock from the charity does get donated primarily through these donation points found in supermarkets.
09:02But a lot of the donation and the stock do also come from charity pockets themselves,
09:06over concerns that there may not be enough food or resources if they relied solely on donations.
09:11Until this summer, families with children received free school meals were given £10 a week during the holidays to help
09:18buy food.
09:19The vouchers funded through the Household Support Fund have now been scrapped as KCC says funding has changed.
09:25And the charity is concerned that the responsibility of filling that gap has been put on food banks.
09:31It's difficult for us.
09:32People, voters, rely on government, local and central, to look after the people who are most vulnerable.
09:41It shouldn't be the case that those organisations, those authorities, those governments hand over the responsibility to food banks.
09:48Volunteers here now make around 70 deliveries a day, taking emergency food to families who cannot afford the basics.
09:55So some deliveries for a family might be multiple bags. Yesterday we had a bag, we had ten bags for
10:01one family.
10:03Some people have just two bags because it's a single person.
10:07The Foodbank fears that without extra support, even more parents will turn to charity to feed their children.
10:13Kent County Council did not provide me with a comment, but did say to a charity,
10:17The move away from broadly distributed vouchers reflects both the funding constraints and a shift towards more targeted interventions.
10:24We are aware this may create uncertainty, particularly for families who've come to rely on a predictable level of support
10:31using school holidays.
10:32With the summer holidays now underway, the Foodbank fears more children could be left facing hunger,
10:38as families struggle to fill the gap left by the loss of holiday food support.
10:43Nayla Mohamed for KMTV in Canterbury.
10:45The long-awaited reopening of a historic seafront lift in Folkestone has been pushed back by a year.
10:52I am of course talking about the Leeds lift in Folkestone.
10:55It's been out of action for almost a decade after a braking system issue forced it to close.
11:00But work to restore the Grade 2 listed railway began in January back in 2025.
11:05But this delay means the lift is not expected to welcome any visitors until spring 2027.
11:12The interim chief executive of the Leeds lift company charity say that the project is about far more than just
11:20restoring the lift.
11:21We want to ensure it's here for the community for years to come.
11:23And that means making sure it's financially sustainable.
11:27Well, that is all the time we have for now.
11:30But coming up after this short break, we'll be looking at the enclosure of a specialist elderly care ward in
11:35Maidstone and what impact that may have.
11:38A monumental auction that took place in Canterbury over the weekend featuring the artworks of one of the UK's best
11:44-loved children's television creators.
11:46And we'll take a look at Chilmington Green Secretary School near Ashford finally receiving its long-awaited public transport.
11:53All that and more in just a few minutes.
12:23All that and more in just a few minutes.
12:24But we'll see you all again.
22:52As I mentioned.
22:52accelerator of the sale said it was wonderful to see real fans
22:55managing to secure a keepsake of something they loved or
22:58perhaps to share with their own children and
23:00grandchildren.
23:02A man from Swanley has taken on an ambitious new
23:06challenge to run the entire length of Kent's coastline
23:08a distance of more than 300 kilometres.
23:11Kevin Dove took on the task to help raise money for the
23:13Veterans Association charity who support those who served
23:17in the armed forces and their families and I'm pleased
23:19to say that Kevin joins me now.
23:21Thank you so much for joining me in the show.
23:22studio, first of all. Thank you for having me. No, no trouble at all. Well, we have the
23:26map here of your planned route. Give us the breakdown. Whereabouts are you? Well, I started
23:31down at Canberra Sands at the south. I've headed all the way around to the top. I'm
23:35currently at Margate at the moment. I'll be back out on the road on Friday. Me and my
23:40volunteer drivers, they will drop me off at the start point at Margate Beach, and I'll
23:44be heading down to Hearn Bay Pier. I'm hoping that'll be between 20 to 24k for that one.
23:53I've just recently broken a 100k barrier, which I'm very pleased about. The Just
23:58Giving page, we've just raised over £500. So, yeah, onwards and upwards for us for the
24:02challenge. So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into it. Absolutely. Take
24:06us back to when you first considered doing this challenge. What was the motivation
24:10behind it? Is this something you've done before? Paint us a picture. In terms of
24:13motivating, I've always been a keen runner. I'm a PE teacher, as you know, Finn. I'm trying
24:17to get it done before I go back to work in September, so fingers crossed that you can get
24:20the volunteer drivers out. But I've always wanted to push myself from trying new running
24:25goals. I've got a season pass with Run Through UK, so I'm currently aiming to complete
24:29100 10ks with them. Currently at 82. I didn't really do a lot of travelling when I was younger,
24:35which is something I kind of regret. So, at the moment, I'm trying to look to run a 10k
24:39in every European capital city. Next one will be Amsterdam at the end of August. That'll
24:43be capital city number 12. And I've always kind of wanted to run either a marathon,
24:48and always looked into running from Land's End to John O'Groats. So, recently I spoke
24:53to Nick Butter, an endurance runner. His books actually told me about endurance and running,
24:59and he actually ran... He's the only man in the world to break a world record, run a marathon
25:03in every country in the world. He also ran the actual UK coastal line. So, I spoke to
25:09him a couple of times online, and I did mention to him about potentially, as a prep, running
25:13the Kent Coastal line. He gave me some tips. And, yeah, I just wanted to do it for a great
25:17charity, the Veterans' Association, which I'm incredibly proud to support.
25:21Absolutely. Tell us a bit more about the charity side of things with the Veterans'
25:26Association. What was it specifically that made you knew you wanted to raise this money
25:31for them?
25:31I've done some fundraising for veterans' charities before. I wanted to try and stick
25:34to one local in Kent. Literally jumped into Google, found out the Veterans' Association,
25:39met with one of their directors, their business director, Aaron Short. Recently went down to
25:44their community barbecue, and it's been absolutely fantastic from there onwards. They support male
25:49and female military veterans who have obviously worked for us across multiple nations and doing
25:55multiple campaigns. And I'm really pleased to be involved with them, to tell the truth.
25:59They support with PTSD, one-to-one counselling, and they help with accommodation, in particular
26:04help with things like CV writing and getting our veterans back into work, which is absolutely
26:09fantastic.
26:10Amazing. And very quickly, you say you're a schoolteacher. Do you think you may be able
26:15to get it done by September?
26:17I'm hoping so, because my headteacher's given me clearance to try and get it done by then.
26:21But we're back first week in September. I'm confident that if I can continue to run it
26:25in 20 plus K blocks, then I'm confident we will be done by the end of August. So yeah,
26:30I'm really looking forward to it.
26:31Amazing. Well, that is all the time we have. Thank you so much for joining us.
26:34Thank you, Finn.
26:35Well, you've been watching Kent Tonight live here on KMTV. As always, there's more news made
26:40just for Kent throughout the evening. But like I say, that is all the time we have. Thank
26:45you so much for watching, and we'll see you very soon. Good night.
27:07Thank you very much.
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