Image source, Kent Police

A hit-and-run driver who caused the death of a cyclist has had his sentence increased.Joseph Bills, 22, had been drinking beer and spirits before hitting 35-year-old chef David Thorman head-on in Whitstable in March last year.

He admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for three years and four months at Canterbury Crown Court in November.

At the time, Mr Thorman’s family said they were "shocked and disappointed" at the length of the sentence.

The case was referred to the Court of Appeal for being unduly lenient.

Bills’ sentence has now been increased to four years and four months after the appeal was upheld.

Image source, Family handout

Justin Clarke fled to Germany in 1993 after shooting a man dead near St Albans in a drugs scam.

Image source, Getty Images

The Argus, external: Fears for adders halts work on new homes

Kent Online:, external Council faces £630m backlog of road repairs

Eastbourne Herald:, external Unions oppose "devastating" county council budget cuts

Brighton and Hove News:, external Hello...Lionel Richie to play at the cricket ground in Hove

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Bob Dale
BBC Live reporter

How a UK charity is helping young musicians follow in the footsteps of a global superstar.

Image source, Sussex Police

A "sexual predator” has been jailed for a series of offences against young girls known to him.

Joshua Humphreys, 25, was sentenced to 10 years and eight months at Lewes Crown Court on Monday.

At an earlier hearing, on 8 December, he admitted 19 sexual offences, including four counts of rape.

Sussex Police said the offences were against five girls aged between 12 and 15, between 2011 and 2015, in Crawley, Horsham and East Grinstead.

Det Con Joel Finney said: "His offending ranged from sending of sexual messages by text and social media, to the systematic rape and sexual abuse of one girl, a 12-year-old, for a year.

"Humphreys was over 18 at all times. He is clearly a sexual predator, who sought as many young girls as he could.”

Humphreys will be a registered sex offender for life.

League Two side Crawley Town sign Charlton Athletic forward Karlan Ahearne-Grant on loan until the end of the season.

Bob Dale
BBC Live reporter

Police are looking for a 17-year-old girl who's gone missing in Surrey.

Britney Garman, from Guildford, hasn't been seen since last Wednesday.

It's thought she could be in Fareham in Hampshire, but also has contacts in Epsom and Woking.

Image source, Surrey Police

Police say the violent burglar behind raids at seven expensive homes used military-style planning.

Children in care visited County Hall in Maidstone to share their experiences with councillors.

The children, who are looked after by Kent County Council, had their say about the services they receive during the corporate parenting panel on Monday.

The group is organised by staff at Virtual Schools Kent (VSK), an organisation that provides advice and facilities for children in care.

A report written by the headteacher of VSK, Tony Doran, was presented at the meeting.

It showed the children got grades above the national average for those in care for the 2017/2018 school year.

The public and the press were excluded from the event to protect the identities of these vulnerable children.

Police have released CCTV footage of the moment a teenage driver mounted a kerb in Crawley.

The 19-year-old from Lingfield in Surrey narrowly avoided colliding with two officers as he tried to evade arrest in College Road last December.

He admitted dangerous driving.

Peter Whittlesea
BBC South East Today reporter

The Gillingham family trying to make their dying baby's last months as comfortable as possible.

Fans of Lionel Richie will be "dancing on the ceiling" to hear the US singer-songwriter is hitting the road in June for a string of gigs.

And he's kicking it off in Northampton!

His Franklin's Gardens gig on 1 June will be the first of a string of dates including stops in Perth, Hove, Lincoln, Shrewsbury, Leigh, Carlisle, Scarborough, Chesterfield and London, where Richie will play at Hampton Court Palace Festival.

The singer, famous for hits such as Hello and Dancing on the Ceiling, said he was looking forward to seeing "parts of the country I've never made it out to before".

Richie will no doubt be welcomed and embraced by the good people of Northamptonshire, and perhaps when he returns to the US he'll speak well of it to other stars such as Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan, who sort of promised to turn on the Christmas lights in Kettering, but didn't quite manage it.

Yasmine Djadoudi
BBC Live reporter

A highly-professional soldier with a "commanding nature" is believed to have carried out seven violent raids with military-style planning across homes in the South East.

Image source, PA

A highly-professional soldier with a "commanding nature" is believed to have carried out seven violent £1m raids with military-style planning.

The man stakes out expensive Home Counties properties and knows their exact layout and location of safes by the time he raids the homes, wielding a sawn-off shotgun, Surrey Police said

He has taken jewellery, watches and "irreplaceable heirlooms".

Victim Susan Morris, 61, said: "He knew exactly how hard to hit me."

An appeal has now gone out from four police forces after raids across Berkshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex between November 2014 and October 2017.

Mrs Morris said the raider kept asking her for more jewellery during the raid in October at her home in Kingswood, Surrey.

"He hit me three times on my face, it was very painful, I couldn't believe the blows kept coming," she said.

Yasmine Djadoudi
BBC Live reporter

A man from Deal has spoken about how his father's transition into a woman affected their family.

Britain First's leader and deputy leader are on trial accused of religiously-aggravated harassment.

Thousands of tonnes of rubbish have been discovered in a disused factory on a Kent industrial estate.

Jon Hunt
Reporter, BBC South East Today

Since 2015 over 250 Syrian refugees have been offered the chance to make new lives for themselves in the South East.

The revolutionary treatment which could help paralysed patients walk again.

The parents of a baby with a rare terminal condition are hoping to buy a mobile sensory unit.