Bob Dale
BBC Live reporter

There are fears about a so-called 'legal high' in Kent after 11 people were taken to hospital in the last fortnight.

Kent County Council's public health department says early toxicology reports suggest they'd taken a Novel Psychoactive Substance which mimics the effects of cannabis.

Doctors say people who've taken the substance feel unwell for several days, before developing critical symptoms.

Image source, Met Police

Police have asked the public to call 999 and not approach a man wanted on emergency recall to prison.

Steven Graham, 44, breached the conditions of his licence the day he was released from HMP Wandsworth on 29 December last year.

He is white, 6ft tall, of stocky build, has a scar in the centre of his forehead, another scar above his right eye, and part of his left ear lobe missing.

Graham has links to Kingston, Richmond, Sutton, Merton, Wandsworth, in south and south-west London, as well as Epsom and Ewell in Surrey.

Police are asking the public to call 101 with any information on Graham's whereabouts, and 999 if anyone sees him.

A council which stopped a church clock from chiming is writing to the government for advice.

Dover District Council said it had to serve a noise abatement notice, after receiving a single complaint, meaning the chimes are no longer heard between 23:00 and 07:00.

Now the leader of the council is writing to Sajid Javid and Michael Gove, the secretaries of state for local government and the environment, asking for guidance on dealing with noise nuisance from church bells.

More than 3,500 people signed a petition to keep the bells in the Norman church chiming.

Researchers are set to lose 14 hours of access to some of Kent’s oldest documents in a cost-cutting measure by Kent County Council.

A room in the Kent History and Library Centre in Maidstone, where people go to view original historical documents, could close its doors up to three hours earlier every day and close on Fridays and Sundays.

The centre would also lose a part-time member of staff under the plans, which would save the council £10,000.

The proposal, which was presented at the economic development and communities cabinet committee this morning (1 February), showed that people visited the archive search room the least on Fridays and evenings.

A public consultation about the plans will be launched on Monday and open to the public online and at the archive service for five weeks.

A driver has died after a crash on the coastbound carriageway of the M2 between Junctions 2 and 3.

The incident happened at 09:10 GMT today.

A black Citroen Berlingo drove off the carriageway and hit a wooden fence before turning onto its roof.

The driver, a 44-year-old man from Gravesend, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police are appealing for witnesses.

A psychiatrist says Joshua Stimpson was "driven by the highly abnormal personality he has developed".

Sue Nicholson
BBC News

Image source, Google

Nearly 7,000 people have signed a petition calling on East Sussex County Council to halt proposals for the closure of two rehabilitation nursing homes providing intermediate care in Eastbourne.

Milton Grange, in Milton Road, has 37 short-term intermediate care beds, and was rated Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last February.

Firwood House, in Brassey Avenue, has 20 beds and was rated Good in its CQC report in October.

Both care for adults over the age of 65 and also provide a respite care service.

East Sussex County Council said their closure would save £1.2m, and a public consultation would begin shortly.

The petition, which is backed by the local Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Lloyd, says their closure will put more pressure on the NHS and also the local health and social care sector.

Mr Lloyd said he was "appalled" at the proposal.

Two men who fell into the sea when their fishing boat capsized in the English Channel died accidentally, an inquest has ruled.

"Depraved" Daniel Norton duped a teenager into performing a sex act on her younger brother.

A taxi driver was attacked with a knife in Broadfield, Crawley.

It happened in Pelham Place between midnight and 01:00 GMT on Thursday 1 February.

A man got into the vehicle and demanded money from the taxi driver before an altercation between them occurred and the suspect ran off towards Coachmans Drive.

The suspect was wearing a red puffer-style jacket.

A 34-year-old man from Crawley was arrested on suspicion of robbery and has been released as police carry out an investigation.

Lizzie Massey
BBC Live reporter

Image source, Surrey Police

More than 200 cannabis plants were seized by Surrey Police following a search of a house in Stanwell Moor.

PCSOs on street patrols discovered a cannabis factory, close to Heathrow Airport, on Tuesday.

Police officers searched the building and found four rooms of the plants.

A 36-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of production of cannabis.

Sgt Will Keen has asked people to let police know about sites they suspect may be drug dens.

Tell-tale signs include:

• Visitors, who don’t stay very long, arriving at all times of the day and night
• People waiting outside in cars and exchanging small packets or cash
• Visitors bringing items such as TVs or bikes but leaving empty-handed
• Lone/vulnerable neighbours suddenly having groups of young men living at their address

Homeless-by-sea: How we ended up sleeping rough by the coast - 12 personal stories.

Bob Dale
BBC Live reporter

There's concern over a missing man who may be in the Chichester area.

Xe Van La has an address in Hackney, but has been staying in the Sussex city.

Xe, who's 29 and only speaks limited English, hasn't been seen since 23 January.

Image source, Sussex Police

Image source, iStock

Kent mental health nurses dealt with more than 6,000 cases of inappropriate or aggressive behaviour in hospitals last year.

According to figures published by Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT), there were typically 99 aggressive incidents towards staff per month in 2017.

Staff have taken more than 150 days off work due to injuries from patient violence - on average 12 days per incident.

Patients admitted to KMPT’s mental health or social care facilities have also caused damage to buildings 494 times by throwing or punching objects out of frustration and anger.

KMPT is one of the largest mental health trusts in the country and has over 518 beds over 47 sites including wards at Darent Valley, Littlebrook, Medway, Medway Maritime, Sevenoaks and St Martin's hospitals.

Hundreds of unhappy Britney fans are criticising the website problems on social media.

A serious case review failed to identify a cause of death at the family's "spotless" flat.

Bob Dale
BBC Live reporter

An elderly couple were attacked in their own home by a gang of five men, who stole a large quantity of jewellery.

It happened in Priory Road, Dartford, at 22:30 GMT on 25 January.

It's one of several burglaries being investigated by police in North Kent, including incidents in Somerville Road, Dartford, and Walmers Avenue, Higham, in which the homeowner's vehicles were stolen.

Image source, Google

Crawley midfielder Josh Payne signs a new contract, keeping him at the League Two club until the summer of 2020.

Bob Dale
BBC Live reporter

We reported on BBC South East Today that rescue charities believe a surge in black cats being brought in is down in part to people believing they're not as photogenic for selfies.

Since then we've been deluged with pictures of you and your black cats.

Here's a selection.

Danny Pike
Presenter, BBC Sussex and Surrey

Today is Time to Talk Day, when we're being encouraged to be more open about mental health.

Join me on BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey from 09:00 GMT, and call on 03459 57 00 57.