Summary

  • News, sport, weather and travel updates for the South East of England

  1. Brighton & Hove Albion 4-1 Swansea Citypublished at 18:33 Greenwich Mean Time 24 February 2018

    A Glenn Murray double helps Brighton ease to a Premier League win over Swansea at the Amex.

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  2. That's it from the live teampublished at 20:52 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    Thanks for joining us - our live coverage has ended for the week.

    If you have anything you wish to contact us about, you can email us, or message us on Facebook, external or Twitter, external.

  3. New mums left to 'suffer in silence'published at 20:45 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    Some new mothers in east Surrey say they have received little or no support after reporting mental health problems.

  4. Learning about the great outdoorspublished at 20:45 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    Imagine being at school and never having to gaze out of the window, wishing you could play in the snow or jump in the puddles...

  5. Drugs gang jailed for dealers murder plotpublished at 18:21 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    The judge told the men it "was frankly chilling how easily and quickly you both turned to murder".

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  6. Murmuration attacked by peregrine falconpublished at 17:49 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    A murmuration of starlings in Brighton were attacked by a peregrine falcon.

  7. Severe weather warning for the south eastpublished at 16:35 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    Nina Ridge
    BBC Weather

    SnowmanImage source, Getty Images

    From Sunday, south-east England is very likely to experience a severe episode of winter weather conditions, possibly with close to record cold for this time of year.

    Similar very cold easterly spells at this time of year in the past include February 1962 and 1986, and more recently 2005 and 2013.

    Daytime temperatures will struggle to get above freezing and extreme wind chill values expected on Wednesday to Friday (feeling like -10C to -14C).

    The Met Office has issued a Yellow Severe Weather Warning for snow from Monday 26 16:00 GMT to Tuesday 27at 23:55 GMT.

    Currently the forecast is for 5-10 cm locally, while nearby locations may see much less frequent showers and only small accumulations of 0-2 cm in places.

    The current record for lowest maximum temperature in March across south-east England is -3.3C at Farnborough, Surrey on 10 March 1931.

    Wednesday next week is currently forecast to see the lowest temperatures of this cold spell.

  8. Eviction drama brings area to standstillpublished at 15:49 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    A Kent community has been brought to a standstill as emergency services deal with an eviction of a man living in a layby.

    Several roads have been closed since around 09:30 GMT after bailiffs attempted to serve an eviction order on the man occupying a layby in Mile Oak Road, near the Elm Tree pub in Paddock Wood.

    Police, ambulance and fire services are on standby at the scene because of “concern for the welfare” of the man.

    A Kent County Council spokesperson said bailiffs visited the site after the council secured a court order to evict the man, who is understood to have been living for several months in a vehicle in the layby, surrounded by what the council says is 30 tonnes of scrap.

    Neither the police nor ambulance service has commented on the current health of the man.

  9. Could you go plastic free for a week?published at 14:34 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018
    Breaking

    A campaigner has tried to get her town to give up single-use plastics.

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  10. No plastic, fantastic!published at 13:22 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    Chrissie Reidy
    Reporter, BBC South East Today

    The town that tried to quit plastic.

  11. Mosque thief jailedpublished at 13:19 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    A man caught on CCTV stealing money from a donation box at a mosque in Bognor Regis has been jailed for 16 weeks.

    Adam Rumball, 44, of no fixed address, was arrested after a number of members of the public gave police his name following a police appeal.

    Rumball admitted theft from West Sussex Muslim Society when he appeared at Crawley Magistrates’ Court.

    Det Con Jon Tizzard, of Sussex Police, said after the sentencing: “Stealing is bad enough, but when it is from generous donations made to support the work of organisations like this, it is despicable.”

    Mosque theft CCTVImage source, Sussex Police
  12. People found in lorrypublished at 12:42 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    Six people have been discovered in the back of a lorry in Dover and handed over to the immigration service, Kent Police says.

    They were found in a lorry in Jubilee Way at about 09:00 GMT, a police spokesman said.

  13. Cathedral artwork from refugee clothespublished at 12:01 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    Clothing worn by refugees fleeing the war have been transformed into a giant artwork.

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  14. Council defends absence ratepublished at 11:39 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    Kent County Council has defended its absence record at special needs schools, claiming illness and the class sizes affect statistics.

    Liberal Democrat Cllr Trudy Dean made allegations that the latest low attendance figures "mask a serious failure" of the council.

    The figures for the academic year 2015/16 show persistent absence rates in Kent stood at 30.1%, compared to the national average rate of 26.9%.

    However, the council officer in charge of attendance, Ming Zhang, said the high amount of illness in the county and village schools mean the figures do not show the full picture.

  15. Fourth Briton dies after helicopter crashpublished at 11:18 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    Jonathan Udall had been in hospital since the crash in the Grand Canyon while on his honeymoon.

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  16. Man arrested over body on M20 bailedpublished at 10:31 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    A post-mortem examination is expected to take place later after a woman was found dead on a motorway.

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  17. Man bailed over M20 deathpublished at 10:30 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    Bob Dale
    BBC Live reporter

    A man arrested over the death of a woman, whose body was found on the M20 near Ashford, has been released on bail.

    The London-bound carriageway was closed between junctions nine and 10 for nearly 21 hours after the discovery at 18:0O GMT on 20 February.

    M20 closed for murder investigation

    A post-mortem examination is expected to take place later today.

    The man has been bailed until 15 March.

  18. Councillors vote for 6% tax increasepublished at 09:06 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    The rise means that for the average home bills will go up by nearly £100 from April.

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  19. Medway Council: HR merger confirmedpublished at 08:45 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    Gravesham Borough Council’s department is to merge with its counterpart at Medway Council.

    Four members of staff at Gravesham will relocate to Medway – which has a team of 42.85 full-time employees – under changes announced at the latter's budget meeting on Thursday evening.

    They will work on employee relations, payroll, workforce development, and resourcing on behalf of both councils from 1 April.

    The deal is an extension of the current arrangement in which Medway Council employs a full-time senior HR consultant, funded by Gravesham, to look after Gravesham Borough Council's HR matters.

  20. Is Sofia obese?published at 08:08 Greenwich Mean Time 23 February 2018

    Stuart Maisner
    BBC Live reporter

    The NHS thinks five-year-old Sofia is “very overweight”. Do you agree?