Dan Bloom: cuttings by Dan Bloom

MEDWAY

www.kentonline.co.uk

THE PAPER FOR THE MEDWAY TOWNS

MESSENGER

Together we make a difference

��

YOUTH SOCCER PULL-OUT RETURNS

Teacher ‘played Dambusters’ at German neighbour EXCLUSIVE REPORT

by Dan Bloom

dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

A GERMAN man and his wife went through “hell” when a neighbour spent four years blaring out the themes to Dambusters, Dad’s Army and Rule Britannia, a court heard.

Court hears he blasted out Vera Lynn songs, a Churchill speech and made Nazi salute FULL REPORTS – PAGES 4&5

formerly

Friday, January 13, 2012 90p

kmfm 100.4 107.9

IT’S THERE!

Mercure Maidstone Hotel

The couple claim maths teacher Geoffrey Butler, 54, racially harassed them by playing wartime classics, doing a Nazi salute and broadcasting one of Churchill’s speeches towards their home in Lower Upnor. He strongly denies waging a hate campaign. Reinhard and Kathryn Wendt moved to tranquil Margetts Place in 2007, but they fell out with Butler over a land dispute.

FEUD: Geoffrey Butler, top, denies waging a hate campaign against Reinhard Wendt, left

The Great Danes 0844 815 9045

WIN

AN ENERGISING PAMPER DAY

SEE WHAT’S ON

FREE FITNESS ARM BAND

Just pay £2.48 postage and packaging

WORTH

£8.99 SEE WHAT’S ON Free 12-page holidays special

HOMES & MOTORS SECTION INSIDE & PAGE 75

Friday, January 13, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

Quick thinking stops blaze A NEIGHBOUR stopped a fire from getting out of control. Firefighters were called to Rochester Avenue, Rochester, after a shed caught alight just before 7pm on Tuesday. The crew found that a man who lived next door had been able to stop the flames from spreading by spraying the fire with his garden hose. Medway fire station watch manager Ian Simpson said: “If it wasn’t for the actions of that man then the fire would have most definitely spread. The shed itself was completely destroyed.” The fire is believed to have been caused by a discarded cigarette.

www.kentonline.co.uk

To advertise: 01634 227800

Don’t mention Teacher accused of making Nazi salutes songs in ‘four-year hate campaign’ with EXCLUSIVE by Dan Bloom dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

Graphic account of camp brutality

IT BEGAN with a dispute over a small piece of land. But the row escalated into a classic “neighbours at war” row with a series of claims of racist insults, provocation and even assault. EXTRAORDINARY courage Allegations of Churchill speeches, the Damamid the brutality of Japanese busters theme and Vera Lynn songs deliberately prisoner of war camps is detailed played to a German man and his wife, were made in this week’s Memories page. A in an emotionally-charged hearing at Medway Maggraphic first-hand account from istrates’ Court this week. Reinhard and Kathryn Wendt claim maths one of the survivors, Joseph teacher Geoffrey Butler, 54, racially harassed them Keenan, from Gillingham, shows by playing wartime classics and even doing a Nazi the cruelty experienced by the salute towards them in Lower Upnor. captured British soldiers. Butler strongly denies waging a four-year hate On a lighter note, our Memocampaign by whistling and playing the patriotic ries expert Peter Cook reports music, staring at his neighbours and making needon the hilarious reaction of less complaints about them. Rochester cinema-goers to the The Wendts moved to the tranquil cul-de-sac Marclassic weepy Brief Encounter, getts Place in 2007, but they fell out with Butler over including a marvellous piece of a small triangle ofwland just six feet long. heckling from a female member The Wendts agreed to take the land from Butler of the audience. for free when they moved in, but changed their Geoffrey Butler outside court � Medway Memories see minds when lawyers advised pages 58 & 59 them to spend £500 on surveyors. A retaining wall was falling down, something Butler argued he had made clear from the start. He accused the couple of being dishonest in their dealings and complained the failed deal cost him £256 in solicitors’ fees. The row escalated and Butler, whose family members served We have checked our prices against the in the RAF including one in superstores and other local timber merchants and the 617 “Dambusters” squadwe could possibly save you £££s. We are one of ron, was arrested last May and charged with raciallythe cheapest around for decking products. aggravated harassment. Great prices - why pay Call us today on 01634 360646 The teacher of 28 years told officers: “I haven’t been doing more at a superstore? this. It may happen on the odd ALL PRICES QUICK CHEAPEST PRICE occasion, whatever. Was it illePhone quotes EXCLUDE VAT TIMBER FOUND LOCALLY gal? It wasn’t. I don’t see anything wrong with Dame Vera available SAWN & TREATED TIMBER C16 Lynn. I come from an RAF family.” £1.05 3x2 £1.46 Yet Mr Wendt told Medway Fast delivery magistrates he was having £1.40 4x2 £1.97 or collection nightmares and said: “It was ost Kent’s mnge of £2.10 6x2 £3.23 like waterboarding, after a r exciting - over a while a little whistle was First Choice for SHEET MATERIAL doors to enough. It let me know he was 1,500 m! DIY and Trade there and watching me.” 8 x 4 x 18mm o fr £17.50 £22.45 The songs included Vera choose Shuttering Ply Lynn’s White Cliffs of Dover, Full range of oak wartime hit Maybe it’s Because 8 x 2 x 18mm T & G £6.15 £6.79 doors, door linings, I’m a Londoner and the Colonel Chipboard Flooring Bogey March from Bridge On architrave and skirting the River Kwai. £1.75 145mm Decking £2.25

‘QUICK TIMBER’ Boys

The challenge you to compare their prices!! ...for all your DIY needs!

All prices were checked on 13th September 2011 Quick Timber prices ARE NOT special prices but normal trade rates. Timber prices are per metre and all exclude VAT.

Est. 25yrs

Kathyrn and Reinhard Wendt claim neighbour Geoffrey Butler has racially harassed them

‘I don’t see anything wrong with Dame Vera Lynn. I come from an RAF family’ Social worker Mrs Wendt, who broke down in tears giving evidence, said: “It made me feel nervous and intimidated and I didn’t want to go out into my back garden any more. “I just want to live a peaceful life. I haven’t looked for this trouble, I haven’t asked for this trouble and I don’t want to be here.” Mr Wendt, who moved to Britain from Germany in 1999, accused Butler of whis-

tling the war tunes and playing them from his car stereo regularly since 2007. He also claimed Butler would pretend to be on his phone next to the garden fence and talk loudly about Nazis. Butler told officers: “I don’t recall it and it certainly wouldn’t be directed at him.” A two-day trial heard from the Wendts, neighbours and police and was shown recordings, photographic evidence and a diary the Wendts kept. Butler complained to police about the Wendts several times, but said his calls were justified, including one after they posted a neighbourhood watch leaflet through his door. The court heard he would stand on his garage roof and his ladder to stare at the

Teacher claims he was the victim Medway (01634) 375959 or 378128

Visit our new website: www.quicktimberdoors.co.uk

GEOFFREY Butler said the Wendts had been the ones harassing him, claiming Mr Wendt called him “Big Head” and spied on him. PC Richard Strable told the court: “Mr Butler said he was the victim.”

Police investigated a separate incident in July 2010 when racist slogans were daubed on Butler’s fence. Butler, who did not believe the Wendts were involved, told officers the offensive messages may have been meant

for his girlfriend, who was Asian, and said: “Somebody in the know was stirring.” Butler was questioned on suspicion of assault after an incident between him and Mr Wendt on July 30, 2007, but no charges were brought.

www.kentonline.co.uk

Newsdesk: 01634 227803

the war

��

‘He was very aggressive’

��

‘It was like waterboarding, after a while a little whistle was enough. It let me know he was there and watching me’ Wendts, but Butler said he was sunbathing as his garden was too shady. Events came to a head last April when the Wendts claimed they were sitting in bed and saw Butler taking a picture of them through the window, which Butler denied. Mr Wendt said: “My wife screams, she points, I look up and Mr Butler is there just 10 yards from our window and he’s holding a camera there pointing at me.” Mr Wendt made a recording on his phone that afternoon, of Butler apparently playing one of Churchill’s war speeches. Five days later, when police were due to interview the war-

ring neighbours, the Wendts claimed they drove home to see Butler in his kitchen making a Nazi salute, mimicking a Hitler moustache with his fingers and shouting. Mr Wendt said he was “jumping about like a madman” but Butler told officers Mr Wendt was the one giving him the salute, adding: “Why would I do that? I find it grossly offensive.” Butler denied racially aggravated harassment, adding he had been out of work since his arrest. He told the court: “I had a job offer for this term at Strood Academy, but as soon as this case was mentioned it was withdrawn. “As a teacher I am subject to enhanced checks which mean unproven allegations can still be mentioned.” The case did not finish on schedule and was adjourned for two months. Butler will take the witness stand on March 19, when he is expected to deliver a catalogue of accusations against the Wendts. If found guilty he could face up to two years’ jail. The trial continues in March.

116mph driver said he’d had a bad day A MOTORIST who topped 116mph on the notorious A228 Grain Road has escaped a driving ban after his solicitor said he had had a “bad day”. Craig Dorrington was clocked by an unmarked police car last May. Officers followed the 42year-old from Four Elms Hill in Hoo as he travelled towards Grain, where he works. Dorrington repeatedly broke the speed limit which varied between 40 and 70mph. Debbie Jones, prosecuting said: “He was accelerating hard and driving too close to the vehicle in front. He overtook a lorry and continued to go over the speed limit. It was when he reached 116mph that the unmarked police car stopped Mr Dorrington.” Dorrington admitted speeding. His solicitor Wayne Crowhurst said the married father-ofthree commutes from his home in north Wales, to work on the Isle of Grain. He said: “He’d had a really bad day getting held up by other slow vehicles. ” Dorrington was fined £650 and ordered to pay £85 costs. He was also given six penalty points.

and playing wartime German neighbour

��

Friday, January 13, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

Police became mediators between the disputing neighbours as firstly community support officers, then PCs got involved. PC Richard Strable visited both homes on July 22, 2010, after the Wendts made a complaint of racial abuse. He visited Butler to discuss the allegations, but said: “He was very aggressive and in my face, leaning into me. “He didn’t want to listen to anything I had to say.” PCSO Mandip Clare visited several times and said Butler had always been polite, adding: “Neighbour disputes are very common. “Sometimes we relay messages so both parties don’t get into an altercation.” PC Strable did not take any formal action against Butler in 2010, but told the court: “If I could go back in time I probably would have.”

The quiet street in Lower Upnor became the scene of a bitter feud between neighbours which has ended in court

Friday, January 18, 2013 Medway Messenger (MM)

www.kentonline.co.uk

To advertise: 01634 227800

HOUSING tHe HOmeleSS: SpecIal repOrt

Property owner gets £6m from charity he runs eXclUSIVe

‘Law must change’

by Dan Bloom dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

THE chief executive of Medway’s biggest homeless housing provider has received more than £6 million in rent, the Messenger can reveal. Christopher Fitt runs the charitable Ashdown Medway Accommodation Trust (AMAT), which supports more than 300 people with “chaotic lifestyles”. Homeless people, including exprisoners and drug addicts, can turn up on AMAT’s doorstep in Chelmar Road, Chatham, and be re-housed the same day. Accounts seen by the Messenger confirm AMAT paid Mr Fitt, who is also a trustee, £1.2 million last year. This was almost a third of the charity’s total income - most of which comes from Medway Council. Mr Fitt earned the money by personally owning much of AMAT’s housing stock and letting it back to the provider. The revelation comes after a Medway Council report said hundreds of homeless people were coming into Medway from outside the area, putting pressure on council finances, as reported in Monday’s Medway Messenger. In addition to ex-convicts and addicts, tenants also include victims of domestic abuse. Many are housed in the poorer parts of Chatham and Luton arches area. The AMAT rent deal is legal and the firm’s accounts say the rents are “considered to be on an open market value basis at arm’s length”. But councillors and an MP questioned the arrangement.

Concerned Accountant and Conservative councillor Craig Mackinlay represents the River ward, where many of AMAT’s clients live. “I’ve been concerned about the whole set-up of AMAT for many years,” he said. “It’s unusual, I’ve never seen it in any charity I’ve dealt with as an accountant. “There’s nothing wrong with it as such but for the tax payer of Medway who’s actually financing this it leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth.” Fellow ward councillor Andrew Mackness (Con) said: “It’s clearly a very clever business model. It may well fit within the law but is it right? I certainly don’t think morally and ethically it’s good for the community.” Rochester and Strood MP Mark Reckless added: “If it’s considered legal but in some way wrong, I would like to get that changed.” He is considering whether to

The AMAT office in Chelmar Road, Chatham take the matter up with ministers and in Parliament. Medway Council pays the firm a maximum of £172 per client, per week, according to a council report, meaning a four-bedroom house can cost tax payers about £3,000 a month. Mr Reckless said the high fees were designed to give vulnerable people extra support but he was worried at the council’s lack of power to ensure that support is up to scratch. AMAT’s 2011/12 accounts show it employed 64 staff to manage an average of 318 residents in 107 properties. Its income increased by 10% year-on-year to £3.8 million, meaning Mr Fitt, 50, from Crowborough, East Sussex, received almost a third. By comparison, the firm spent an average of £1,700 per home on repairs and maintenance and £14,000 in total on staff training across the year, the accounts state.

We reported in Monday’s Medway Messenger how a task force on Medway Council has written to the welfare minister Lord Freud asking him to tighten up the law on housing providers. The group produced a report which said the council had no legal muscle to cap what it pays or improve standards of accommodation, leaving the system “open to exploitation”. The report also said hundreds of vulnerable people are coming in from outside the Towns which councillors say is driving whole streets into worse poverty. Chatham MP Tracey Crouch said she has dealt with complaints over housing provided by AMAT. A Charity Commission spokesman said: “If there’s a potential conflict of interest it must be managed. “For instance, if a trustee stands to gain from an agreement, the normal way of doing that is that trustee would not be involved in any decision-making around the issue.”

Paying the rent

How AMAT benefits one of its directors Rent paid by the Ashdown Medway Accommodation Trust (AMAT) to Christopher Fitt, one of its directors Source: Companies House YEAR

RENT PAID

2006-2007

£572,600

2007-2008

£768,568

2008-2009

£1,056,869

2009-2010

£1,247,558

2010-2011

£1,220,404

2011-2012

£1,220,620

TOTAL

£6,086,619

www.kentonline.co.uk

Newsdesk: 01634 227803

Friday, January 18, 2013 Medway Messenger (MM)

housing the homeless: special report

‘They turned my life around – without them I’d be dead’ In a week when AMAT’s finances came under scrutiny, one of their clients claimed the charity saved his life. Dan Bloom spoke to him about his experiences.

ARY Gibbons had a comfortable life until the stress of his job took its toll and he turned

to drink. When he reached rock bottom he went to AMAT. And following our coverage on Monday of concerns over homeless housing providers in Medway, he has leapt to the defence of the organisation, saying it saved his life. Recalling how his lifestyle had collapsed, he said: “I had a lovely house in Wigmore, a wife, two children and two Mercedes on the drive. “If you told me 10 years ago I’d be in a homeless hostel, I would have bet my Rolex against it.” Mr Gibbons lost everything to his drink addiction more than two years ago. With the charity’s help, he gave up alcohol on his 43rd birthday in October, he said, and hasn’t had a drop in the three months since. Mr Gibbons said firms like AMAT were vital. He said he was housed the same day as contacting AMAT after he lost his wife, home and job as a sales manager in the car industry. “About 10 years ago drinking started to become a daily occurrence,” he said. “I went into the pub after work and carried on drinking when I got home. “I was working in London for Mercedes and there was an awful lot of pressure. The only way I could relieve it was by drinking.” Mr Gibbons lives in an AMAT house in Meadowbank Road, Chatham, one of four roads nicknamed “the square” which have several AMAT clients. “When I heard ‘homeless hostel’ I imagined sleeping in a room with 20 drug dealers and addicts,” he said. “They put me in a clean house and gave me new bedding, toiletries and cooking utensils. “They assigned me a support worker who visited twice a day to check on me. “The house is cleaned once a

‘They put me in a clean house and gave me new bedding, toiletries and cooking utensils and assigned me a support worker’ week and if you put a black rubbish sack outside they don’t wait for the bin men to come. “They’ve done me proud, they’ve turned my life around. Without them I’d be dead.” Mr Gibbons agreed it was wrong to put so many people with problems in one place, saying: “I don’t believe it’s a good idea for other councils to ship their problem to another borough. “I’m sure residents around this area are concerned.” But he added: “I wouldn’t want to leave my area, but if I lived on, say, the Isle of Sheppey and someone told me I can live on the streets or move to Medway, I would go. “Can you blame them?”

Prices based on the going rate AMAT boss Christopher Fitt said in a statement: “£1.2m rent is for the supply of accommodation, by C.Fitt, for use by AMAT. Several other landlords supply property to AMAT. “The cost/price of a unit is based upon the Local Housing Allowance. The ‘going rate’ as determined by the Rent Officer Service at the government’s instruction is applied to housing benefit claims by the local authority. This is the amount of core rent paid to EVERY landlord accommodating an occupant who claims housing benefit. “Last year Medway Council undertook a comprehensive review of the AMAT rents and charges (completed in September 2012) - the local authority were satisfied with the rents as charged to the occupants and the rents paid to the landlords. “The quality of the service delivered has passed scrutiny and been met with positive approval by many local authority departments and officers. The service was recommended as a bench mark for other organisations. “Messrs Mackinlay, Mackness and Reckless state themselves that there is no impropriety. Their concerns seem to be about the scale of operations. I have never met Mr Mackness, however I have met Mr Mackinlay on a few occasions and it would appear that size is an issue for him! “I’m sure that AMAT would welcome the opportunity to explain in great detail and to show to Mr Reckless and his colleagues exactly how the organisation is constructed and how it runs. It is obvious they would benefit from greater insight. “Before calling for a change of law it would seem prudent for them to come across as better informed; it doesn’t seem at all clear just which law(s) they would like to have changed.”

Gary Gibbons lives in an AMAT house in Meadowbank Road, Chatham. He says the charity saved his life after he lost everything to drink addiction Picture: Steve Crispe

TAPAS BAR

Where the money goes

NOW AVAILABLE Monday - Thursday 5pm - 9pm

MEDWAY COUNCIL

OPENING SPECIAL Any 3 dishes for the price of 2

AMAT and tax payers’ cash

pays AMAT for housing and support - thought to be more than £3m in 2011-12

AMAT pays Mr Fitt, a director and trustee, rent on the homes he owns £1.2m in 2011-12

HOW IT WORKS

Tapas is a great way to relax, share good food and conversation. Take a seat, order a drink and choose your dishes from our main menu. We recommend 2 or 3 dishes per person. If you’ve ordered too little, simply order more.

35 High Street, Rochester Book Now, Please Call 01634 817165 enquiries@georgevaults.com or for more details please visit

www.georgevaults.com

MEDWAY

www.kentonline.co.uk

THE PAPER FOR THE MEDWAY TOWNS

MESSENGER Together we make a difference

A LIFE CUT SHORT

kmfm 107.9 100.4

THE GREAT DANES HOTEL BOOK YOUR CHRISTMAS PARTY NOW

Friday, October 12, 2012 95p

0844 8159045

THE Talented student dies GREAT STORM days before 25 YEARS ON he was due to start university ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

Extended caption across 2 cols

PAGES 6 and 7

EXCLUSIVE FORT AMHERST ALLOWS CREW TO USE VENUE FOR ‘ADULT’ SERIES

Porn film shot at ancient fort NAPOLEONIC tunnels restored thanks to a £50,000 lottery grant had some unusual visitors – a porn crew. We can reveal an adult series was shot in Fort Amherst just weeks after its heritage tunnels reopened to the public.

The show – an Eighties-style spoof called Tight Rider – is now showing on The Adult Channel

and has caused upset among some fort volunteers, who say the filming was “completely inappropriate”. The family attraction in Dock Road, Chatham, charged a fee of more than £1,000 for the filming. It is now reviewing its procedures in light of the controversial booking. Trustee Matthew Hill said: “I think it’s absolutely appalling. If you want to film porn, do it in a warehouse or wherever they do it.” n Full story, page 5

PAGES 43-47

PLUS

WIN FAMILY FIREWORKS TICKETS AT LEEDS CASTLE

SEE WHAT’S ON

14 pages of sport including...

www.kentonline.co.uk

Newsdesk: 01634 227803

Porn at the fort Trustees appalled and fearful for future charity grants after donation withheld EXCLUSIVE by Dan Bloom dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

ONE of Medway’s best-loved heritage sites has been used to film a TV porn series. Fort Amherst was offered £1,200 by the film crew behind the programme, which is being shown on the pay-per-view station The Adult Channel. It follows the explicit antics of “America’s finest undercover agent” Michael Tight, who flits between smashing the criminal underworld and having sex. But it has caused upset among some at the attraction in Dock Road, Chatham, which is run by a charitable trust and whose volunteers include mental health patients and young offenders. The scenes for ‘Tight Rider’ were shot in the fort’s historic tunnels, which re-opened thanks to a £50,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. One volunteer, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the Messenger: “I’m no prude, but this is completely inappropriate for a place which gets charity grants”. It is believed the chairman of the Fort Amherst Heritage Trust at the time, Martin Rogers, left his post after concerns were raised. He declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding his departure. One trustee has also claimed a donation has been held back in the wake of the filming. Documents seen by the Messenger confirm Playboy TV agreed to film for up to 10 hours inside the fort’s 200-year-old labyrinth of tunnels. It is understood a representative of the fort was informed the filming would include adult scenes. The crew used a closed set during the day on May 16, yards from where fort volun-

One of the re-enactment at Fort Amherst teers normally work. Tight Rider is a spoof of the 1980s detective hit Knight Rider and stars Slovakian actress Natalli D’Angelo. A trailer on Youtube shows Michael Tight tied to a chair by criminals who are ready to kill him – but not before Miss D’Angelo gets “a little piece of him before he dies”. The film was showing on the Adult Channel this week. The filming was slammed by trustee Matthew Hill, who is also the chief executive of the Chatham Maritime Trust which provides funds for children’s “bug hunts” at the fort. He said: “I think it’s absolutely appalling. There must be far better ways of raising funds through filming rights and I do support a full investigation which I have urged the new chairman to carry out.” Mr Hill warned it could sway future charity grants against the fort, adding: “Different people have different views, but personally I think if you want to film porn, do it in a warehouse or wherever they do it. I would not allow porn to be filmed on Chatham Maritime Trust’s land. “I am aware of one private donor holding back as a result of this.” He added: “I would like to stress that I only accepted the post of trustee in the middle of August and only became aware of this filming a few weeks ago.” Several prominent figures sit

on the Fort Amherst Heritage Trust. The new chairman, Edmund Gulvin, is the son of Medway Youth Offending Team manager and fellow trustee Keith Gulvin, and the nephew of Medway councillor Adrian Gulvin (Con). No young offenders were at Fort Amherst on the day of the filming. Other trustees include former Medway Council legal officer Deborah Upton and River ward councillor Andrew Mackness (Con). Cllr Mackness said: “I can’t comment as a trustee but as a ward councillor, I absolutely distance myself from both the process that enabled the booking to occur, and register my distaste for the actual filming. “I support the trust’s investigation and I believe anyone who was aware of that booking prior to it taking place should resign.” Trust chairman Edmund Gulvin said: “Fort Amherst confirms that a professional film company in the adult entertainment industry filmed scenes at Fort Amherst during May of this year. “The contract was handled by a third party location company employed by us and was a private hiring of the Fort. “The filming was conducted under a closed set policy and there was no public access to the set at any time during the filming.”

Friday, October 12, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

Trust hit by fall in private hire fees The fort was built from 1755 to protect Chatham Dockyard, but never saw combat and was declared obsolete in 1820, although its tunnels were used in the Second World War. More recently, it has been a widely-loved tourist attraction, described by English Heritage as the most complete Napoleonic fortification in Britain and is a key part of Medway’s World Heritage Site bid. It is run by volunteers who stage re-enactments and are devoted to retaining a crucial part of Chatham’s history. However, accounts filed with the Charity Commission show the trust’s income dropped from a peak of £150,000 in 2010-11 to £114,000 last year. Private hire fees were among the worst-hit: down from £58,000 in 2010-11 to just £9,000 last year. To boost revenues the fort was signed up with a location scout agency called The Collective, which acted as middle-man in the contract with Playboy TV.

Monday, July 23, 2012 Medway Messenger (MI)

www.kentonline.co.uk

To advertise: 01634 227800

Please recycle this newspaper

Order your pictures of the big day at KentOnline.co.uk

Olympic special

Monday, July 23, 2012

50p

Together we make a difference

Flaming fantastic The day the torch came to Medway: 12 pages of coverage

Friday, November 9, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

www.kentonline.co.uk

To advertise: 01634 227800

The real people behind shocking Ian Clayton, 35, lordswood I went to the doctor’s five months ago and said ‘help, I’ve got a bad problem with alcohol’. They referred me to the alcohol service. I knocked on the door and sat down and I felt at ease. It had started three years ago when I came out of a 14-year relationship. I had been a panel beater, I worked on cars for the AA and did scaffolding work. It hits you in all different ways. You start binge drinking for escapism, where you can’t deal with your own life. I was on anti-depressants at first and I went from binge-drinking to drinking every day. You lock yourself up at home and selfmedicate. I got to the stage where I was drinking and had bills coming through the door that I knew I couldn’t deal with. My neighbours even tried to help me. But mostly alcoholics aren’t acceptable, while someone who over-eats to deal with the same situation is understood better. I have been clean for five months now. I’ve learned from my mistakes and whoever judges people for being weak and going back to the bottle has no idea. When you first come off it you can’t deal with even the tiniest problem.

You take pills to stop yourself from having seizures and hallucinations. You have the adverts on the TV which show young people getting drunk and losing control. Why don’t they show those people 20 years down the line, when they’re not using it to have fun, they’re using it to cope with something? I nearly had a lapse and I came to my senses. I flushed the cans down the toilet because I knew I wouldn’t be able to talk about it in this group. I’m now training to help other people with the same problem I had.

“I’VE HAD a bad week,” said a quiet young man wearing glasses. “I was refused social housing and that set off a bender for eight days. I went and had one drink and the next thing I knew, I had my hands up my back and I was thrown into a police cell. Now I’m on bail.” More than a dozen alcoholics and recovering alcoholics were listening to him as part of a daily support group. All human life was there, from polite pensioners who buy cut-price supermarket wine, to young men who attack police. Passing them in the street, I would have no idea they were addicted. Some had appeared in the Medway Messenger before, when their drunkenness led to fights, fires or arrests. Yet when they heard we were coming to see what a support group was like, rather than avoiding the session, they turned out in record numbers. Most wanted to stay anonymous, but all wanted us to hear what led them to alcoholism and dispel the myths behind the disease. Far from wasters or degenerates, the people I saw at the clean, modern Balmoral Gardens healthy living centre, Gillingham, were switched-on and had fierce debates about why they were there. “There’s no education,” complained a woman in her 30s. “We grow up thinking

Treating people for alcohol abuse costs each Medway resident £72 a year according to new figures – and more than half of those admitted to hospital are over 55. Reporter Dan Bloom visited the Medway Alcohol Service to hear the stories behind the headlines.

Clockwise from left, alcohol nurse Lorraine Marsh, alcohol counsellor Suzanne Whitlock, service manager Alison Pert and alcohol counsellor Karen Prescod Picture: Andy Payton FM2313536 alcohol is for celebration but for many people, it’s not. People in this room have taken it to an extreme.” Last year Medway Maritime Hospital dealt with 41,000 cases connected to alcohol abuse. According to the charity Alcohol Concern, a sixth of people

are drinking in a way that harms their health and the over-55s account for almost half of the most serious cases. Yet everyone had a trigger, from family breakdowns to anxiety problems to childhood trauma. “I lost my job and my partner of 21 years in the hous-

ing crash”, said a man with thinning grey hair. “I’ve become really nervous. I have no confidence around people. I used to go into places and make people feel alive.” And the group agreed many sufferers are invisible. One smartlydressed woman could deny her alcoholism because she binged, instead of constantly drinking. “After the last few binges I thought I was going to die,” she said. “Despite this your friends will still say ‘go on, have a drink’, even though they know you have a problem with it. It’s shocking. They’re not real friends. “Then there’s the ladies who put three bottles of wine in their supermarket trolleys. It’s socially acceptable.” Despite the grim stories, the mood of the group was surprisingly upbeat. Those present seemed relived to share experiences in a place where they wouldn’t be judged. People who hadn’t drunk for four, five or six months still came daily to support friends who were struggling. Alcohol worker Karen Prescod led the group. She

www.kentonline.co.uk

Newsdesk: 01634 227803

drink statistics Medway’s booze abuse: the numbers 41,356 Hospital admissions in 2010-11

donna Smith, 43, Carnation road, Strood

17% Drink at a level which risks damage to health

Friday, November 9, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

TAPAS BAR

£72 Per adult cost of treating drinkers 68 Deaths attributable to alcohol in 2009: 49 of which are male 19 of which are female Hospital inpatient admissions by age group for 2010-11

16-24 75+ 6% (308) 23% (1,229) 25-54 32% (1,719) 55-74 39% (2,067)

Source: Alcohol Concern said: “Everyone says ‘I’m not coming to a group’, and nearly everyone says ‘If you think I’m talking in front of other people you’re making a big mistake.’ “So we tell them to just come, and at first they tend not to say very much, they just listen. “People who come have so many problems to overcome apart from alcohol, so it’s important to share them. They might be homeless, have mental health or benefits problems, or they’re being chucked out of

their homes.” With five minutes to go, the support workers asked if anyone else wanted to speak. A woman in her 20s piped up for the first time. She was applauded as she revealed she had been clean for nine weeks. She used to sneak vodka and Coke into work in normal pop bottles. “Now I’ve been to parties and been up to the bar and said ‘can I have a Coke please?’,” she said. “I can’t understand now how I managed to drink so much.” n Comment. page 22

Sylvie leader, 69, City Way, roCheSter When I was growing up my whole family drank – everyone in the pubs knew my dad – and I was determined never to drink myself. Then I lost six babies, and after the sixth one I turned to the gin bottle. When I lost the last little laddie he was 19 days old and I just couldn’t cope. I used to work for the archives in Maidstone. The likes of me didn’t know about counsellors so I just started drinking. I subsequently had a son and a daughter – my son is now teaching three-year-olds English in South Korea, but I still drink occasionally. I’ve been married to my husband David for 44 years. He was also upset things didn’t work out nicely for us. I look back and I think how much I’ve wasted by drinking, for my kids’ sake and my husband, but he’s stood by me all this time. He doesn’t have alcohol in the house. Since I have been here I’ve realised I’ve got to stop. It’s all thanks to these people – I go to the groups every day.

‘I lost six babies and after the sixth one I turned to the gin bottle’ I’m trying desperately to stop as my liver’s not in good shape. Society doesn’t notice that older people like me have severe drink problems. Nobody notices a lady picking up half-price bottles in Tesco.

NOW AVAILABLE Monday - Thursday 5pm - 9pm OPENING SPECIAL Any 3 dishes for the price of 2 This group has saved my life. I’ve been clean for nine days and it’s the best thing I ever did – even though I’ve been eating too much chocolate and sweets. I woke up in a police cell after assaulting my partner. After assaulting two coppers and needing seven others to restrain me that was the turning point. Everyone has a Babycham or a snowball when they’re 12 or 13. I started socially drinking when I was 18 in pubs. I turned to red wine from the age of 21 because my parents couldn’t accept my sexuality. I was a prison officer at Cookham Wood in Rochester, but I lost my job because I couldn’t promise the governor I could give it my all. I took a near-fatal overdose in June this year. I don’t know how I survived, I think it’s because I’m fat my weight saved my life. Firefighters had to break into where I was living in Teynham last year when I fell asleep cooking dinner. It made the newspaper. I didn’t like Alcoholics Anonymous because I felt they were like the God squad. They relied on a book and spiritualism and a list of steps. Ian Clayton is a massive inspiration to me. We’re all in a similar boat and we all have the desire to stop drinking. My partner Sharon Birch and I have been together for two and a half years. She’s been my rock and together we’ve been to hell and back. It’s my goal to go back to college and be a mental health social worker. I’m marrying Sharon in June and I want to get down to 11 stone. Sami Brookes from the X Factor has said she’ll sing at our wedding – and we won’t be serving any alcohol.

Who to turn to when you need some help... THE Medway Alcohol Service is run by the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust (KMPT). Support groups are held every weekday at various venues

including the headquarters at 77 High Street, Chatham. Clients can register themselves and also receive one-on-one support. Call 01634 829025. Other useful numbers include

Alcoholics Anonymous (08457 697555), Al-Anon confidential helpline (0207 4030888), Drinkline (0800 9178282) and the Medway Drug and Alcohol Action Team (01634 338693).

HOW IT WORKS

35 High Street, Rochester Book Now, Please Call 01634 817165 enquiries@georgevaults.com or for more details please visit

www.georgevaults.com 7 WINDOWS

£1995

F R OM

EN OP AYS D SUN

“We firmly believe our package deals cannot be beaten for quality and value” VISIT THE SHOW CENTRE - BRING YOUR SIZES

GE US R AN O L U B A OU R F ORIES SERVAT OF CON OM FR START

£3995

FINANCE

AVAILABLE WITH NO PAYMENTS FOR 12 MONTHS WHEN USING OUR PREFERENTIAL HOME IMPROVEMENT PLAN. INTEREST FREE CREDIT SUBJECT TO STATUS. AVAILABLE TO HOME OWNERS ONLY. DEPOSIT REQUIRED. WRITTEN DETAILS ON REQUEST.

Affordably extending the home you live in THERE’S NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO BUY AT THESE PRICES!

FREE ONLINE QUOTATION WWW.THEWORLDOFWINDOWS.COM

THE BEST OF BRITISH VALUE Why pay more when we sell the best for less? DISCOUNTS FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

FREE HOME VISIT QUOTATIONS

CALL 0800 103012

SHOWCENTRE AT: FARLEIGH HILL RETAIL PARK, TOVIL MAIDSTONE

MEDWAY

www.kentonline.co.uk

THE PAPER FOR THE MEDWAY TOWNS

MESSENGER Together we make a difference

kmfm 107.9 100.4

Friday, June 8, 2012 90p

Why did you kill my family?

EXCLUSIVE Mum wants to ‘sit down’ with man who killed her grandson, daughter and husband to ask what drove him to carry out horrific attack

Bredhurst Adoption Centre 01634 232 471

JUBILEE SPECIAL PAGES 14&15 PLUS 8-PAGE PULL-OUT STARTS PAGE 41

by Dan Bloom dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

IT WAS one of the happiest days of her life.

Without a care in the world, Melissa Crook hugged her father Mark on the day she married car salesman Danai “Sam” Muhammadi.

EXCLUSIVE PICTURE – Melissa Crook and her father Mark on her wedding day in 2009

Two years later the blushing bride, her dad and her son Noah were dead. Muhammadi, 24, is facing life in jail after torching their Chatham home in a spite-fuelled petrol attack. Turn to page 5

PLUS

Amanda Crook wants to talk to her daughter’s killer

CHATHAM HILL MURDERS: THE FULL STORY See pages 5-13

WIN AN iPHONE4 SEE WHAT’S ON

www.kentonline.co.uk

Friday, June 8, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

CHATHAM MURDERS Newsdesk: 01634 227803

THE FULL STORY

by Dan Bloom

n Marriage to murder 6&7 n Night of terror 8&9 n Betrayal of ‘son’ 10&11 n Dad was fighter from birth 12&13

I couldn’t believe it until I saw him fill up petrol cans on CCTV From front page

The Crooks’ home was gutted by the killer fire

Now Melissa’s mum Amanda Crook has spoken movingly of her pain, her anger and how she was the last to believe her son-inlaw was a murderer. In an exclusive interview in the family’s Gillingham home days after the verdict, the 50-year-old was joined by her son Bohdan, 22, daughter Charlotte Acton, 27, and parents Tony and Pam Thornburn. She said: “I would like to sit down with Sam across the table with a cup of coffee and say: ‘Why did you do it?’” Mrs Thornburn, 73, said: “My great-grandson Adam, he’s five, he was in Hempstead Valley this week kissing the pictures of Melissa, Mark and Noah on the front of the paper. He calls Mark the Fat Controller. We had to tell him they’ve gone to God and Jesus. “It’s like dropping a stone in water and the ripples spread out. It affects everyone.” Her husband, former Sapper Tony, 72, said: “It’s affected friends, neighbours and without exaggerating, people from all over the world.” But far from being ripped apart, the Crooks are united in grief. “We’ve formed new bonds,” said Bohdan. “You look at life a different way.” A jury unanimously found Muhammadi guilty of murdering Melissa, Mark and Noah and attempting to murder Amanda and Bohdan, who escaped the blaze. His friend, Maidstone nightclub bouncer Farhad Mahmud, was found guilty of the same charges and his new girlfriend, unemployed Emma Smith, was found guilty of three manslaughters by 10-2 majorities. She was acquitted of attempted murder. Muhammadi drove from Coventry to Kent on the night of September 10 and filled a garden sprayer with petrol. The path to murder began much earlier, at a joyous wedding ceremony at Rochester’s Corn Exchange in September 2009.

Amanda’s grandson Noah Mrs Crook, who offered her daughter a £20 dress from eBay for a joke, posed happily with her son-in-law and never imagined he could be a ruthless killer. She said: “I couldn’t believe it until in court, I saw him fill up those petrol cans on CCTV. “That was the moment when I thought ‘you definitely did that.’ I think at the back of my brain there was still this portion that was saying he couldn’t possibly have done that to his own child.” Mr Thornburn, a great-grandfather of nine, added: “For me it was the first halfhour in court. For somebody to stand in that dock and show not one ounce of emotion said it all. “I can never forgive somebody who drove 150 miles. That isn’t spur-of-the-moment or domestic violence, that’s an evil, wicked human being.” For the family, the hardest part of the sixweek trial was listening to Muhammadi’s “fairytale” defence.

First he claimed 26-stone Mark Crook had asked him to beat someone up. Mrs Crook said: “Why would Mark pick the weediest person in the family to do that?” Then Muhammadi claimed two men threatened to torch Melissa’s home – and Melissa stopped him telling police. Another lie, say the family. Mrs Crook added: “We couldn’t say that in court, we couldn’t stand up and say ‘you’re lying about this, you’re lying about that’.” But the family did come face-to-face with Muhammadi to give evidence. Charlotte, an administrator at Brompton Barracks, said: “The worst thing was when he started almost laughing at me when I cried in the witness box.” Bohdan added: “When he was smiling, that put the rage in you. Melissa always said he was the best actor she ever met. He could put on the tears just like that.” The Crooks offered special thanks to DCI David Chewter, who led the case, and family liaison officers DC Sam Stuart and DC Mark Silk. Amanda: “I want to do something to stop this happening again, even though there’s nothing I can do. If I could help one family not go through this again, then I would. “The hardest thing as a mum is I can’t fix my kids. When they were little I could put a plaster on them, take them to the doctors, but I can’t fix this for them.” Bohdan, who works for festival catering firm Rasta Pasta, now plans to sing with a funk band to raise funds and is organising a charity boxing match near his new home in Bournemouth. The killers will be sentenced in the first week of July. Bohdan said: “If they get 50 years then dad would’ve gone, Mel would be 70-something and Noah would be a 50-year-old man. Take away the life he took from them. “It’s got to make an example of them and show this is never going to happen again.”

www.kentonline.co.uk

Friday, June 8, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

To advertise: 01634 227800

CHATHAM HILL MURDERS: TIMELINE TO TRAGEDY

From marriage to murder

Chain of events that led to deadly arson attack

2006 (approx) Kurdish immigrant Danai Muhammadi meets Melissa Crook, a pupil at Gillingham’s Upbury Manor School. The Crook family disapprove at first but welcome Muhammadi into the fold. He also meets Farhad Mahmud, an older Kurd who is working as a forklift truck driver in Maidstone.

Summer 2007 Melissa moves to Coventry with Muhammadi soon after turning 16 and they rent a terraced home in Britannia Street. Melissa enrols on a business admin course at City College Coventry and works at a coffee shop and taxi firm.

September 28, 2009

Danai Muhammadi Home in Britannia Street, Coventry They wed on Melissa’s parents’ 20th wedding anniversary at Rochester’s Corn Exchange with Mark Crook as a witness.

May 25, 2010 Noah Crook is born despite Melissa being told she could not

Noah Crook

conceive. Muhammadi struggles to balance fatherhood, work and study.

April 1, 2011

Farhad Mahmud

July 2011 Emma Smith, who is about the same age as Melissa and has a son a little older than Noah, splits from her husband David.

Police caution Muhammadi for spitting at Melissa and punching her. She leaves with her and Noah’s Amanda clothes in black Crook sacks and her mother Amanda picks her up later that day.

Between August 2 and 4 Muhammadi meets Smith at a bus stop and offers her a lift home. They swap numbers and start sleeping together three days later.

April - Sept 2011

August 30

Muhammadi pleads with his wife to rejoin him but she refuses. He seeks help for his anger.

2am Muhammadi intervenes. He texts Melissa saying: “Til this evening I tried and I’m sick of

August 29 Smith texts Melissa and within a few hours they are exchanging stinging insults. The exchanges go on for days.

Emma Smith waiting for you to forgive me.”

Monday, September 5 Smith texts Melissa saying “you will be sorry. you’re skating on thin ice with me”.

Wednesday, September 7 Muhammadi meets Melissa and Noah in London. She tells friends they sign divorce papers but he says she offers a reconciliation. Muhammadi texts Smith, his new girlfriend, to say they are through, so she sleeps with her dad’s friend Wayne Elliot.

Friday, September 9 12.30pm Muhammadi texts Smith from work saying “look, I like you

very much, you know that.” 1.30pm He tells a colleague his wife and son have already been hurt in a fire shortly after asking bosses to look after £10,000 for him. 3.30pm He picks up Smith and has a long phone call with Mahmud in Kurdish. 4.30pm He and Smith visit a library where his Facebook status changes to “in a relationship”. 5.30pm He returns to his flat and asks to borrow his lodger’s garden sprayer. 6pm He phones Melissa for the last time and says good night to Noah, calling him “my lovely boy”, then wraps the garden sprayer in a blanket and puts it in a holdall.

7.10pm Muhammadi and Smith leave Coventry in his Renault Megane. 10pm They arrive at Mahmud’s flat in Fernhill Road, Maidstone. They go to Pizza Go Go in Tonbridge Road, then put on loud music, smoke cannabis and take photos of themselves kissing. 11pm Smith films her boyfriend playing Love Like This by Natasha Bedingfield on guitar and saying “Melissa lost”.

Saturday, September 10 8am Dawn breaks and media

WE WON’T LET THE KILLERS BEAT US, SAY SURVIVORS - pages 12&13

www.kentonline.co.uk

Newsdesk: 01634 227803

Friday, June 8, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

CHATHAM HILL MURDERS: TIMELINE TO TRAGEDY begin arriving in Chatham Hill amid rumours people have died. 9am Muhammadi gets up to go to work. Smith goes to a walk-in centre to complain she is feeling ill. 9.30am DC Ian Godsmark and DC Dave Frampton leave Chatham to tell Muhammadi his wife has died, but on the way a colleague discovers his movements on the automatic number plate recognition system (ANPR). He becomes a suspect. 10.59am Muhammadi texts his dead wife saying: “Can I book the hotel... love you, mate. give Noah a hug and kiss for me.” 11am A press conference confirms a mother and her child are dead. 12.30pm DC Godsmark, DC Frampton and Coventry police storm Muhammadi’s empty home. They find an envelope with Mahmud’s postcode scrawled on it. At the same time Mahmud texts Muhammadi his bank details. 2.10pm They arrest Muhammadi and his brother Osman outside Andrew’s Garage. Osman is later released without charge. 7pm News breaks that Muhammadi is one of the unnamed men under arrest. Hundreds of people join a tribute group to Melissa and Noah on Facebook.

Sunday, September 11 7.30pm Police arrest Mahmud at his flat in Fernhill Road, Maidstone, and find the garden sprayer in his bath. It contains traces of petrol.

Monday, September 12

10am Smith visits police in Coventry but while they are interviewing her, she claims Muhammadi was not in Kent. DC Andy Jobes slips his colleague

Saturday, September 10 n 1.30am Mahmud returns from work at Babylon in King Street, Maidstone. He and Muhammadi get in the Megane and set off for Medway. n 2.03am The Megane reaches the top of Blue Bell Hill. n 2.13am Muhammadi stops at Texaco in Maidstone Road, Chatham, to buy 7.01 litres of petrol, two Red Bull cans and two Snickers Duo bars. He fills the garden sprayer and a petrol can. n 2.30am (approx) Amanda Crook wakes up to pink flames in her bedroom in terraced home 210 Chatham Hill. She shouts to the rest of the family to get out. n 2.31am Taxi driver Indrit Arapi sees two men at the boot of a Megane wearing hoods and gloves. n 2.31am Megane passes martial arts club going down Chatham Hill. n 2.32am (approx) Amanda Crook escapes through a back window but watches her husband burn alive as he gets stuck in the frame. Bohdan, wearing only his boxer shorts, leaps from his bedroom on to the drive after a failed attempt to rescue his sister. n 2.32am A taxi driver dials 999. A flurry of calls follows.

The burnt out remains of number 210 Chatham Hill

n 2.34am Muhammadi calls Emma Smith from Mahmud’s phone for 59 seconds. She claims he tells her to dial 999.

Bohdan Crook

n 2.35am Crews from Medway Fire Station, Watling Street, arrive on the scene. Several neighbours try to help. n 2.36am Emma Smith calls 999 and says there is a house on fire in Chatham Hill. n 2.47am Megane clocked heading down Blue Bell Hill out of Chatham. n 2.55am Megane arrives at Mahmud’s flat where Muhammadi gives him the petrol can and garden sprayer. n 3am Smith joins Muhammadi and they drive back to Coventry. n 3am - 9am By now firefighters have found the bodies of Melissa and Noah next to her upturned bed. Mark, Amanda and Bohdan Crook, who all escaped, are taken to hospital. Firefighters damp down the house and police and forensic experts take the first photos of the damage.

Tributes outside the home where Melissa and Noah died

n 6am Smith and Muhammadi arrive at his home in Britannia Street, Coventry.

a note with “arrest?” on it under the table and they arrest her.

Tuesday, September 13 Muhammadi and Mahmud are charged with murder, after

Muhammadi remains silent and Mahmud gives conflicting accounts. Smith is charged with murder after officers confront her with her own 999 call.

September 23 and October 1

The garden sprayer used in the arson attack

Friends visit Farhad Mahmud in Elmley Prison on the Isle of Sheppey. He tells them the fire was an insurance scam gone wrong.

Sizzling....

Unbeatable Online Spring Offers at www.tdlonline.co.uk Super efficient Band A Combis from £449 inc. flue, clock & loop. No hidden extras! Polypipe Underfloor Heating house and room packs, best online prices available from stock with free next day delivery! Boilers, radiators, cylinders, pumps, controls, plastics, copper tube and fittings, all in stock waiting for you!

Friday, September 16 Mark Crook, 49, right, dies in the burns unit at East Grinstead Hospital.

Your specialist heating, plumbing and bathroom suppliers

FREE DELIVERY THROUGHOUT KENT Trade counter and showroom at:

October 18 Hundreds attend funeral at St Augustine’s Church, Gillingham. Firefighters lower their station flag to half mast. Melissa and Noah are buried in the same coffin and only one Bible verse is read: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Unit 2A - 2E, Off Mills Road, Quarry Wood Industrial Estate (off London Road), Aylesford, Maidstone, Kent, ME20 7NA

Tel: 01622 716758 Open Mon-Fri 7.30am-5pm Sat 8am-12 midday

A Division of Qualitex Supplies

www.kentonline.co.uk

Friday, June 8, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

To advertise: 01634 227800

CHATHAM HILL MURDERS: NIGHT OF HORROR

Scenes of terror followed ordinary family evening

The aftermath of house fire in Chatham Hill

IT WAS a balmy Friday night when a petrol-fuelled blaze ripped through 210 Chatham Hill. Hours earlier, Melissa Crook was chatting excitedly with her mum Amanda about a job interview the next Monday. She had struggled to find work since leaving her husband and was looking forward to a new start. “She was trying on all mum’s clothes and raided my wardrobe,” said Mrs Crook. “We sat chatting until about half past 10.” Her mother went to bed and she remained with her brother Bohdan. It was the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, so they chatted about conspiracy theories until he fell asleep on the sofa. Mark Crook roused his son and they all went upstairs. At 2.30am, there was a soft “whoof” as Danai Muhammadi and Farhad Mahmud ignited seven litres of petrol squirted through the letterbox using a weedkill sprayer. Fire ripped through the mist of fuel fumes and spread up the stairs, blocking the escape route. Amanda Crook was the first

to wake. Her bedroom door was always open and she opened her eyes to see pink flames. “As I came to the bedroom door you couldn’t come past,” she told the trial. “It was there, the whole of the ceiling, the whole of the hall.” She woke her husband and they screamed to Melissa and Bohdan to get out. Bohdan woke immediately. His floor was hot. His first

thought was for his sister, and he wrenched open his door. Battling the flames, “I went to open her door and, nothing. I couldn’t push it down. The more I put pressure on it the more it didn’t go.” Melissa Crook had woken but could not escape. A clothes airer may have blocked the door. She grabbed Noah from his cot. Neighbours saw her and heard her shouting “help, help”, but she was overcome by smoke seconds before they smashed her window. Firefighters found the bodies next to her upturned bed. Bohdan, Amanda and Mark had escaped. Bohdan, wearing only his boxer shorts, flung himself from his first-floor window onto the drive, breaking his right heel and three bones in his left foot. Amanda climbed through her bedroom window onto the flat kitchen roof. Her husband was close behind. Jurors wept as she told them: “Mark got stuck in the window. “I stood and watched him burn. I stood and watched the window melt around him and it was only

when the window melted that he could get through.” Mark Crook suffered 80% burns. Neighbour Joseph Pranczke, who heard their screams, rescued the couple by putting a ladder to the flat roof. “He was shouting to get the children,” Mr Pranczke said. “Halfway down the ladder, it must have been the pain, he threw himself backwards.” Mr Crook died six days later at East Grinstead Hospital. After their escape, the two survivors were in shock as neighbours, pub-goers, firefighters, paramedics and police rushed to help. Bohdan Crook helped two Eastern European bystanders smash his sister’s window, shouting “just give me the baby”. Then he blacked out. Amanda Crook rushed from the back of the house, screaming for firefighters to let her in, then looked down the street. It hit her: she knew her daughter and grandson were dead. Today the house still is a blackened shell, the windows and doors covered by metal sheeting.

THE BEST VALUE WINDOWS, DOORS & CONSERVATORIES • 70mm fully welded frame for extra strength and durability manufactured to BS6375 • Internally glazed for added security • High performance low line weather seals GLASS • 28mm low E argon gas filled sealed units certified to BS5713 (BS6206 toughened) • Choose from Rosewood, White or Light Oak • Multi chamber profile certified to BS7412 & BS7413 SENIOR CITIZEN • Shoot Bolt Locking DISCOUNTS

THE BEST OF BRITISH VALUE

At World of Windows & Conservatories we specialise in three things

Quality Products

ST INTERE CE INAN FREE F

APRPIC0AL% TY

RITTEN FULL W S ON DETAIL T S REQUE

Low, Low Prices Ask about our £££ FLEXIPAY SCHEME

CONSERVATORIES FITTED FROM ONLY

£3995

35% OFF PATIO DOORS FREE 7 WINDOWS PHONE 0800 103012 FROM ONLY Head Office: Farleigh Hill Retail Park, Tovil, Maidstone Why else would we pay for your call!

£1995

“We firmly believe our package deals can not be beaten for quality & value” Licensed credit brokers. Finance subject to status. Written details on request. Supersedes all other offers. Pictures for illustration purposes only

FREE online Quotation Visit www.theworldofwindows.com

SAVE ££££s with supply only windows, doors and conservatories call 01622 693366

• ORPINGTON • RAMSGATE • DOVER • MARGATE• FOLKESTONE • CANTERBURY • GILLINGHAM • GRAVESEND • TUNBRIDGE WELLS

• FOLKESTONE • RAMSGATE • DOVER • MARGATE • SITTINGBOURNE •

• SITTINGBOURNE • BEXLEY • DARTFORD AND SURROUNDING AREAS

• COVERING • MAIDSTONE • CHATHAM • ASHFORD • TONBRIDGE • GILLINGHAM • GRAVESEND • TUNBRIDGE WELLS • CANTERBURY

www.kentonline.co.uk

Newsdesk: 01634 227803

Friday, June 8, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

CHATHAM HILL MURDERS Long waiting list of women seeking help over abuse WHEN Danai Muhammadi hit her, Melissa Crook made the instant decision she would not let her baby grow up around him. She left forever. Tragically, it began a chain of events which led to her murder, but other women suffer for years. Medway police hear of 4,000 domestic abuse incidents a year and one in six men are said to be involved. Many victims never call police as they do not want to “report” those they love. Medway Citizens’ Advice Bureau has secured funding through Medway Council for two “advocates”, trained staff who stop abused women retracting their statements. One is at Medway Maritime Hospital to pick up the warning signs, and the other is at Medway Magistrates’ Court to see justice is done. Muhammadi insisted his anger issues were not serious. He told the court: “It’s not a permanent sickness. Like many other human beings life is not always full of happiness. You get pain, you get stresses.”

The terrible aftermath of the intense inferno at the Crook’s home in Chatham

Graphics: Ashley Austen

2 Melissa Crook’s brother, Bohdan, injures himself leaping from his bedroom window. He helps smash Melissa’s window and shouts ‘give me the baby’.

3 Mark Crook and his wife Amanda escape from their bedroom window onto a flat roof at the back of the house. A neighbour pitches a ladder to rescue them, but Mark dies of severe burns six days later.

How the blaze took hold 3

4 2

1 On Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 2.30am, Muhammadi and Mahmud allegedly squirt petrol through the front door with a garden sprayer. A blaze soon takes hold.

1 4 Melissa Crook and her son, 15-month-old Noah, are trapped in her bedroom as the blaze takes hold. Melissa is still cradling Noah in her arms when she loses consciousness. The pair are found dead by firefighters.

Police photos of the crime scene: Staircase; hallway through front door

‘Life is not always full of happiness. You get pain, you get stresses’ But Medway Domestic Abuse Forum chairman Angela Howe said: “It’s not an anger problem, it’s a control problem. “Quite often we have somebody who’s very abusive within the house but perfectly normal outside.” Muhammadi was controlling. He told the court he “let” Melissa get a job months after she left him. On April 13, scores of Forum members marched through Rochester High Street to take a stand against abuse. Melissa’s killing came just a month after Agris Titans, 25, had strangled his estranged wife Edite, 22, in a drunken rage at her home in Rochester. Two weeks after that murder, twisted, controlling killer Marcus Coates, 44, strangled his friend and former prostitute Jennie Banner, 32, with a belt at her Chatham High Street flat. Ms Howe said: “In Medway we have a large waiting list for victims, because we don’t get enough money from the council and charities to help all the women we want to.” If you think you have been a victim of abuse call 101, or 999 in an emergency. Medway Council provides an online list of services at medway.gov.uk/domesticabuse and in libraries. Email the police’s abuse team at domestic.violence.dz @kent. pnn.police.uk or call an our-ofhours helpline on 01634 304400.

CASH PAID

PlEASE CAll FOR THE lATEST PRICES TEl: 01892 838185 FAX: 01892 836424 MObIlE: 07738 127180 FULLY LICENSED APPROVED TREATMENT FACILITY REGISTERED WASTE CARRIER C.O.D. ISSUED WITH EVERY SCRAP VEHICLE

Longfield Farm, Old Hay, Paddock Wood, Kent, TN12 7DG

SCRAPCO

www.kentonline.co.uk

Friday, June 8, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

To advertise: 01634 227800

THE KILLER HUSBAND

Fairytale romance ended in murder IT SOUNDED like a heartbroken plea from one lover to another. Eleven days before he killed his wife and son, Danai Muhammadi sent Melissa a text which now sounds chilling. He wrote. “I’m really sorry if I wind you up, but til this evening I tried and I’m sick of waiting for you to forgive me for what I did. “Please, every single night you close your eyes you can see me or you think of me. If I’m wrong after 10 years let me know.” It was typical of a stormy relationship filled with rows and passionate reconciliations. Melissa Crook admitted she still loved her husband. “You are always there in my head,” she replied. But she had left him when he came home one night, last March 31, and punched and spat at her after “pestering her for sex”. He claimed it was the first time he hit her, but Melissa told a different story. She confided in her mother, who later saw Muhammadi throw a table across a room. And her brother Bohdan said he had been “controlling”. “If he said ‘make me a cheese sandwich’, she would get up and do it,” he told the trial. Muhammadi was Melissa’s only real boyfriend, her “fairy tale”. She was just 13 or 14 when she met him through a friend of

‘We gave our blessing. We thought she was safe’

Melissa and Danai Muhammadi’s wedding certificate hers who was dating a pal of Muhammadi’s. Melissa would finish classes at Upbury Manor School, now Brompton Academy, and wait for her new love to arrive from Maidstone on the bus.

Awkward But while Melissa was boisterous and gossipy, always cracking jokes with friends, her Middle Eastern boyfriend remained quiet, brooding and introverted. His Christmas visits to Chatham were awkward, with him sitting silently in the corner, that he stayed in Coventry in December 2010. Even so, Melissa’s parents did their best to make him welcome. “He called me mum,” said Amanda Crook. She told the trial: “Melissa came home one day and said

‘Sam and I are moving to Coventry’. She had made her mind up. “We gave our blessing. We knew where she was and we thought she was safe.” The couple moved in with Muhammadi’s brother Osman, then rented their own terraced home in Britannia Street, Coventry. Breaking with tradition, the Muslim man’s girlfriend was the one who proposed to him. She invited him to dinner with her family in Chatham where she popped the question. They wed in Rochester’s Corn Exchange in September 2009, when Melissa had just turned 18. Muhammadi was against a big church wedding. Just eight months later, they had a surprise addition to their relationship: baby Noah. Doctors had told Melissa she

could not conceive, so she was unprepared. But she was a devoted mother, dedicating everything to her baby. She was also a devoted wife, often visiting the garage where her husband worked to drop off his lunch. They were saving for a deposit on a house. But after her husband punched her, she put the baby first. The trial heard “she would have gone back to him tomorrow if not for Noah” – she didn’t want him growing up around violence. Over her last summer she scolded Muhammadi for not seeing Noah enough. He only drove from Coventry a couple of times a month though the couple exchanged many calls and texts. He claimed his son meant everything to him, complaining when Melissa did anything he thought was bad for Noah. He grew bitter, telling her: “If I can’t have you, no one will”. By the end, Melissa listed herself as ‘divorced’ on Facebook. Her profile said: “My fairy tale didn’t work, but second time lucky hey?”

Danai Muhammadi - grew increasingly angry and bitter

Bright but unhinged. The charmer whose mask slipped DANAI Saman Muhammadi has thrown away the new life Britain offered him after the former Kurd fled Saddam Hussein’s persecution of his people in Iraq and then from Iran where he had been adopted. He brutally betrayed a family that had first disapproved of his relationship to Melissa Crook and then taken him in as one of their own. On realising that Muhammadi’s son and wife had died in the fire, his mother-in-law Amanda’s first thoughts were of him. She and her surviving son Bohdan had not wanted him to find out via the news. Then came the chilling reality that the son-in-law she called ‘Sam’ was a suspect. The next time she saw him was when he was in the dock at court seven in Maidstone Crown Court – accused of killing three members of her family. Short, slight and softly-spoken, Muhammadi spent six days in the witness box clashing with top barristers. ‘Danny’, to his workmates, ‘Danai’ to his family and ‘Sammy’ to his wife, he is highly intelligent and holds his emotions close. But the 5ft 10in murderer betrayed flashes of the “twisted and unbalanced” young father who killed his child. Dressed in a dark suit, when cornered he would cry, laugh and roll his eyes. The time he shouted from the witness box “are you stupid?” to a defence barrister, the court

froze. He changed back to the calm professional in an instant. Born in Kurdistan, his adopted family in Iran gave him the name Muhammadi. His birth parents later found him and sent him more than £15,000 to help buy a marital home for him and Melissa. He spent £11,000 of it on a Vauxhall Astra. Friends said Muhammadi was a quiet, studious young man who couldn’t fit in with his boisterous British friends. He got into fights, once being taken to hospital but he said he was a “private person” and violence was out of character. But there was another side.

Kicked Melissa’s brother Bohdan said Muhammadi offered him £3,500 to throw acid in someone’s face. Her mother Amanda said he once kicked a table when Melissa answered the door for him, missing Noah by inches. And a colleague at Andrew’s Garage in Coventry, Pakwah So, said he talked about throwing chemicals in Melissa’s face to “mess up her life”. In the days before the blaze, Andrew’s staff said he behaved erratically and told them Melissa had been hurt in a fire. He was on medication for anxiety and had an “appropriate adult” after arrest as police feared he could be “mentally unstable.” His behaviour was erratic. After he was arrested he began to cry, said DC Ian Godsmark,

but after a minute: “He looked up, wiped his eyes and said ‘I will not cry any more now.’” Muhammadi moved to Britain aged 18 in 2005, reaching Hull where he worked in chicken and cucumber factories. From there he moved to London and worked at a petrol station before settling in Kingfisher Meadow, Hart Street, Maidstone, where he worked on the 20/20 estate in Allington. His brother Osman was already in the UK but Danai knew next to no English, learning through college courses and dictionaries. By the time he reached court he was correcting his interpreter, though at points he claimed not to understand the words “murder” or “victim” or how to use the internet. Osman invited his brother to join him in Coventry in summer 2007, so he took his young girlfriend Melissa, who he had met in Maidstone. Living with her in Osman’s home in Adderley Street, he was hired as a car salesman on £1,000 a month at nearby Andrew’s. Owner Ian Scott-Lazarus described Muhammadi as “one of the most intelligent, well-educated people I know, and he’s got an extremely good memory.” Muhammadi swore on the Koran and was given 20 minutes to read a crucial passage before he gave evidence. The court heard he could not stand the shame of divorce. He believed in destiny, a theme he returned to in the witness box.

www.kentonline.co.uk

Newsdesk: 01634 227803

GUILTY PAIR

From petty thief to killer EMMA Smith’s first brush with the law came aged 14 when she faked a sponsored walk and spent donations on herself. Seven years later she is a convicted multiple killer. She looked nervous and meek in court, dressed in loose-fitting white and pink tops with her hair tied back. Her single-word answers, whispered “yes” and “no”, were nothing like Muhammadi’s rants. There were some similiarities between the 21-year-old and Melissa Crook. They were almost the same age and both had young sons by abusive husbands. They were known for their strong wills and sharp tongues, and they exchanged “deeply offensive” texts peppered with foul language. But while Melissa had a strong family, Smith, who left her alcoholic Big Issue seller father to live in The Grange children’s home in Coventry, was forever in trouble. After her charity con, the then Emma Harrison was convicted of criminal damage and assault at least three times in attempts to flee the children’s home. That escape finally came, aged 15, when she moved in with 18-year-old council binman David Smith. She left school with no qualifications, had a son, Lewis, in January 2008 and moved into a council flat in The Barley Lea, Coventry. Smith has a tattoo of Lewis’ name next to a mouse holding a balloon on her right arm. The couple wed in November

Emma Smith – troubled 2010 but it fell apart after a few months amid domestic violence. David Smith left overnight taking Lewis, and all their furniture, with him. They were still locked in a fierce dispute over their son as the summer rolled on. When she met Muhammadi by chance at a bus stop last August, the car salesman seemed to offer a new life. They began having unprotected sex within two weeks, she said, and saw each other almost daily. She called and texted him more than 730 times before the fire and would go round to his house regularly. She had ongoing health problems, regularly throwing up including on the night of the fire, during police interviews and in court.

For that reason she was subdued but the court heard she was “volatile”, texting Melissa jealously and constantly changing her Facebook status. “I change it about once a month,” she told police. “I put it as married, single, in a relationship, I do it every month.” She dyed her hair blonde and black and regularly posted photos of herself online. Her last update before being arrested showed her going from “in a relationship” to “single”, a few hours after the fire. She prostituted herself to a Romanian car wash worker called George four times behind Muhammadi’s back, claiming it was to buy furniture so she could win her son back. “The only way I could get money was by doing that because I couldn’t get a job,” she said. Rachel Southworth, a charity worker in the Shaftesbury Young People project for deprived youths, said Smith could be “extremely aggressive. Once she started down a route, good or a bad, she would always follow that through,” she told the trial. Smith had won an award for “trying her best to be a good mum”, she said, but added: “She would make independent decisions but she was always influenced strongly by her partner. Smith was not in Chatham at the time of the fire, so her conviction for manslaughter rested on the theory of ‘joint enterprise’. It had to be proven that she knew about the fire before it was set.

Bouncer played pivotal role QUIET killer Farhad “Fred” Mahmud was a lazy nightclub bouncer who spent more time chatting up women than doing his job, says a former boss. Just 5ft 6in with a thin crop of receding hair, his slight frame hid a bulk of muscle, honed during weightlifting sessions at his Maidstone flat. A former employer, who did not want to be named, said: “I had to sack him as he was rubbish at his job. He just hung around and chatted to women all night.” But colleague Ben Painter was shocked at Mahmud’s arrest, telling police: “I would describe him as a reliable, nice guy.” Mr Painter’s girlfriend said he “wouldn’t hurt a fly”. Mahmud is thought to have fled to Britain illegally from Iraq in 2003 after war broke out. Little is known about his past but he told police: “I’m not agreeing with the killing, I saw people dying already in my country, I don’t want to see that again.” He settled in Maidstone where first he was a forklift truck driver then a security guard, employed at bars across the county town. They included Lidl in Tonbridge Road, Liquid in Barker Road, Chicago’s in the High Street and

Farhad Mahmud Babylon in King Street, where he worked the night of the fire. Photos on Facebook, where he said he studied law in Iraq, showed him smiling and surrounded by friends in Brighton and a boat trip on the Medway. Mahmud paid £78 a week rent and often had Kurdish friends to his flat, though he also said he liked his own company. At first he told police he and Muhammadi had discussed his favourite topics all night: “life”, “food” and “girls”. He added: “When I go clubbing I wanna be like little bit free and I don’t get involved with other people’s lives.” He bonded with Muhammadi

when they worked at a bakery on the 20/20 estate in Allington, Maidstone. The fellow Kurdish refugee visited him a few times a year and even bought a car on Mahmud’s behalf, but he talked very little about his marriage, Mahmud said. Mahmud had no girlfriend. He told police: “I don’t mix with people”. He remained inscrutable throughout the court case, except for momentary lapses. Once he imitated the shrugging shoulders of prosecutor Mark Dennis QC with a smirk. He refused to give evidence after watching Muhammadi contradict his story for six agonising days. But he was happy to loudly question the skills of interpreter Dylan Sorani mid-way through translating for his friend. Prosecutors say the killer was offered “blood money”, which could have been up to £10,000, to help set the fire. He had never met Melissa but his flat was a stop-off point for the murderer. Friends claimed he would have had to go with Muhammadi whether he liked it or not, because Kurdish custom meant he could not stay alone with Emma Smith.

Friday, June 8, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

kentbusiness.co.uk

Welcome To The Famous aWard Winning

Brasserie Bengal The &F F l a c ully

icensed

ully

ondiTioned

esTaBlished 18½ years

A Restaurant with a unique and exclusive quality

We specialise in lobster, balti dishes, duck, beef, chicken, king prawn, fresh veg and many, many more Don’t take our WorD For It, Here are our Last Week’s Customer Comments... Lita Driver - Rainham:

Great service, very good food!!

Deborah Wilcox - Chatham: L ovely food, nice relaxed atmosphere and extremely good service. We will come again  Bennett - Rochester:

Great service and lovely meals.

Penny & Steve - Rochester: First class, would not go anywhere else. Barry & Cath - Chatham:

First class service, always good food.

WE ARE PROUD HOLDERS OF 27 NATIONAL AWARDS

Ideal for All Occasions. Book Now at Medway’s Premier Restaurant 01634 841930 NEW SUMMER MENU AVAILABLE If you can’t make it to the restaurant you can still enjoy our cuisine with our take away service. Free Home Delivery Anywhere in the Medway Towns Incl:

Aylesford, Snodland, Eccles, Upchurch, Allhallows, Bredhurst, Isle of Grain, Cooling, Halling, Higham, High Halstow & Stoke. We go as far as Maidstone! Delivery Hotline (01634) 818011 or 404478

Open 7 days a week, incl all Bank Holidays We are now licensed to sell alcohol with our takeaway & delivery service. You can now order wines & bottled beers, so please ask for details. From 12 noon to 2pm, 5.30pm to 11.45pm

(close To rochesTer sTaTion) 356 high sTreeT, rochesTer, Ken enT T me1 me 1di

NOW STARTING THE SPECTACULAR THIRD PHASE OF

STONEHILL WOODS PARK

Prices start from £158,000. For a free colour brochure or to view show homes ring Sawyers Park Homes Sales Office on: 01474 855555. Fax: 01474 855333 Head Office tel: 01474 708117. Mobile: 07717 671398. Email: mail@sawyersparkhomes.co.uk Web: www.sawyersparkhomes.co.uk Alternatively leave name, phone no and address and a brochure will be posted to you.

Brand new development of Bungalow Park Homes, with option to build your home to your very own specification and chosen plot! In Upper Ruxley in Kent, just 15 miles from London. The park is set in 35 acres of traditional woodland, adjoining an 18 hole golf course, with leisure centre, restaurants, shopping precincts and doctors surgery all within easy reach. Show homes are available to view, but please telephone to make an appointment. Homes are all detached, fully furnished with landscaped gardens, semi retired or retired only. Sorry no dogs.

ALSO A NEW DEVELOPMENT AT MILLVIEW PARK IN WEST KINGSDOWN

Friday, June 8, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

www.kentonline.co.uk

To advertise: 01634 227800

THE VICTIMS

You can place an advert in this space, anytime, anywhere by going online to kentonline.co.uk/bookanad

BOND: Chatham Hill fire survivors Bohdan Crook, 22, and his mum Amanda Crook, 50, talk about their ordeal; Top, the family give their reaction outside court after the verdicts

kentbusiness .co.uk

Mother and son bound by tragedy but determined not to let the killers win THEY don’t know how they survived the fire which claimed the lives of three generations of their family. But Amanda and Bohdan Crook have stood together throughout the ordeal that followed that night nine months ago. A harrowing six-week trial began with both having to relive scenes of both unimaginable horror and then despair as both realised quickly that Melissa and Noah had succumbed to the inferno and Mark was gravely ill. It ended in scenes of high emotion as three people were found guilty of the killings. Days before the verdicts they sat and told their stories to a selected group of journalists including the Messenger’s Dan Bloom. Mrs Crook said: “When people say they have nothing, they have no idea what nothing is. “We have no photographs, we’ve got no possessions. There’s nothing of Melissa’s, there’s nothing of Mark’s really, there’s nothing of mine.” The sense of loss can sometimes hit them unexpectedly in everyday activities. Mrs Crook said: “You’ll be in the middle of a shop and all of a sudden it’s ping, and you’re back. You might have forgotten for a couple of hours and you’re back.

If we give in they’ve won. They’ve taken more than enough from us, they’re not going to take our futures’ “At Christmas I bought the ‘For Grandson’ card because that’s what I do. You forget for a little while and it’s only when you do things like that you think, ‘I don’t need that any more’.” Bohdan, a caterer, has left Chatham for a new start but shares an unbreakable bond with his mother. The pair have promised not to let their lives be destroyed. “We’re going to live as positively as possible because that’s how they would have wanted it,” Bohdan said. His mother added: “If we give in they’ve won, they’ve taken something else. “They’ve taken more than enough from us, they’re not going to take our futures. “Bohdie’ll text me and go ‘mum, are you having a bad day today?’ and I’m like ‘yeah’. He just knows, he’s at the other end of the country but he knows.” “We just get each other,” her son said, smiling at her. “It’s ‘cause you’re my baby!” she replied. “My baby boy!” Speaking of the trial, Mrs Crook said: “We’re back to

day one again. We’re back to the day it happened every day. It just brings everything back up.” “It’s massive for the family because we just want justice,” her son added. We want the right people away so they don’t do it again, try to hurt anyone else.” They spoke of Muhammadi’s betrayal. “All I kept begging of my mum was to phone Sam [Muhammadi] and tell Sam, don’t let him find out on the news,” Mrs Crook said. “Then to find out Sunday morning that he had something to do with it was gutwrenching. We all felt sick.” Bohdan added: “I think he’s sick. I think what he did was just wrong. We weren’t just anyone, we were family. “He’s taken away our whole lives, just because of his greed, and that’s all it was. It was his greed.” Mrs Crook said: “There’s days when you just can’t believe it, there’s still days when it’s not real, it’s not happened, and you’re going to wake up.”

“It turns your life completely upside down,” her son said. “Dad’s not there when you get home now, Mel’s not going to pop down the shop for me.” On the night fire ripped through their home, Amanda and Bohdan Crook tried to save the rest of their family but could not get to them. “I woke up and above my head were pink flames and it took a good few seconds to realise exactly what it was,” she said. “It’s an age-old thing, how could a mum walk away from a house and leave her kids in? But I couldn’t, I couldn’t get to them. “I got through the window, and Mark got stuck,” she said. He was trapped in a window and died later of horrific burns. She added: “I saw Bohdan, looked up at the bedroom window and and I knew they hadn’t made it. That moment no one needed to tell me. “It was only afterwards we realised that people up and down the street had tried to save them.” They gave thanks to the firefighters, paramedics, police, neighbours, friends and family who tried to help. “Even the people who were quiet,” she said. “It was nice just to be quiet sometimes without talking about it and going over it, you know, someone making a cup of tea.”

www.kentonline.co.uk

Newsdesk: 01634 227803

Friday, June 8, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

THE VICTIMS

The day Noah was born was perfect ... brilliant MELISSA Crook was the youngest of four children, “boisterous”, “reckless but respectful” and “her dad’s little girl”, the survivors said. As a pupil at Gillingham’s Upbury Manor school, she was “a rebel” who hated homework, her mother said. Mother Amanda explained: “When I was in labour with her I fell asleep, and the joke was it was two pushes and she was out. So she brought herself into this world, that’s what she used to tell everybody. “Melissa was a snail, you could tell from the age of two what she’d done, where she’d been during the day and she never changed as she got older, there was always a snail trail behind her.” Her parents disapproved of the union with Muhammadi but welcomed him to the family to avoid a rift. Doctors had told Melissa she couldn’t conceive so when she fell pregnant unexpectedly, Mrs Crook said, she calmed down – but her baby boy was just as messy. She said: “I’d come home from work and I’d go upstairs and he’d had all my cupboards out. I used

to shout down to her ‘Melissa, I’ve been Noah’ed!’ and she’d shout back up the stairs, ‘My son’s not a verb!’. “She was still boisterous, she was still bloody-minded, she was still Melissa but just much softer. She would have done absolutely anything for Noah.”

Budding footballer The day the baby was born, Mrs Crook said: “I was there, it was me and her. Everything was perfect. I cut his cord. It was a brilliant day, a brilliant day.” Melissa’s brother Bohdan said the toddler was a budding footballer praising his astonishing “left foot”. He said: “He could clear a ball halfway across Gillingham Park.” Mark Crook, who managed a warehouse at a photocopier supply firm in Maidstone, was a 26-stone joker who lived for his job, Chelsea FC, Elvis Presley tunes and his family. “His son said. “You weren’t allowed in Crooky’s warehouse without his permission. He ran that warehouse how he wanted it and no one crossed that line.” The larger than life persona was a far cry from the tiny 2lb premature baby which entered

‘The big guy in the pinny. Nothing would beat Dad’ the world 49 years earlier. His fighting qualities were needed later in life when he was diagnosed with cancer of the lymph nodes when his children were at Byron Primary School, Gillingham, having six glands removed from his neck. He fought back, beat the the illness and worked as a cook at the school, where he insisted on calling himself a “dinner lady”. “Kids still remembered him,” joked Bohdan. “The big guy in the pinny! Nothing would beat Dad. He fought from the day he was born. My nan used to say he looked like a plucked chicken that day.” Raised in Walderslade, the life-long Chelsea supporter and Elvis fan was in the first intake of Chatham South school (now the Bishop of Rochester Academy). He called a wall he built at home “the great wall of Chatham” and had an Elvis alarm clock.

Bring your Papa to to celebrate Father’s Day

Barn

Easy to find on the main London Road, with parking, fully licensed Papa’s is open seven days a week. Call to place an order, make a booking or book ahead for Father’s Day.

Ditton, Kent

www.papasbarn.co.uk

497 London Road, Ditton, Aylesford ME20 6DB

CLOSE FAMILY: back row, siblings Melissa Crook, Blake Acton, Charlotte Acton, Bohdan Crook. Front, parents Mark and Amanda Crook He met Gillingham-born Amanda through a cousin and they wed in 1989. Amanda had two children, Blake and Charlotte Acton, by a previous marriage but Mark treated them as his own. All four moved into 210 Chatham Hill 26 years ago. The family worked in every job imaginable. Mark managed a warehouse for Maidstone office supply firm The KPS Group. Melissa had taken a course in business administration. Amanda worked in procurement for the government, and Blake

worked in Watling Street eatery Rowlands Bistro. Their terraced house in Chatham Hill was a vibrant family home filled with grown-up children and constant visitors. Four generations were headed by Amanda’s father, the charismatic, pipe-smoking former Sapper at Kitchener Barracks Tony Thornburn, 72. Living with his wife Pam, 73, in Holmside, Gillingham, he and the Crooks exchanged regular visits while Melissa blasted Kenny Rogers from the stereo. Handprints on the Wall by

the ageing country singer was played for Melissa during the triple funeral at St Augustine’s Church in Rock Avenue, Gillingham. So the pain of the fire was made worse because 210 Chatham Hill was such a strong family base. “They didn’t just take our family,” Bohdan said. “They took our family home as well.” The community has rallied to support the Crooks. When the trio died, Chatham Town FC held a memorial match in their honour and Medway Fire Station flew their flags at half mast.

www.kentonline.co.uk

Friday, September 30, 2011 Medway Messenger (MM)

To advertise: 01634 227800

CHOOSING TO DIE by Dan Bloom dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

PROUD former Medway soldier filled in a stack of forms, had a final conversation with doctors, then pushed a button which ended his life. Now Tony Clements’ widow has spoken movingly of his last hours in the Dignitas suicide clinic, as part of her bid for a similar centre in Britain. The retired major with the Royal Engineers, who was 69, was stationed in Brompton Barracks for several years before he succumbed to Parkinson’s disease. He flew to the controversial Swiss clinic to inject himself with lethal barbiturates on August 25, just two months after his silver wedding anniversary. He was inspired partly by Choosing to Die, a documentary by the awardwinning author Sir Terry Pratchett, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease Tony’s widow Michelle, 47, spoke this week as she returned to Brompton for the first time. One month on, she plans to scatter her husband’s ashes in Great Lines park and the River Medway. She wants to legalise assisted suicide in the UK. She said: “We ordered information from Dignitas five years ago, and I kept it in a sealed envelope in case we ever needed it. “A change in Tony’s medication this year sapped the life out of him. He had always been a very active person – he loved windsurfing, sailing and tennis – and he said, ‘We have to speed this up.’ “We arrived in Switzerland and he was scheduled to die on the Friday, but he asked if there was any chance he could go a day early. We got the phone call and that was it. “At 10.30am we were ready with the wheelchair, and two nice ladies walked with us to the little house. He said: ‘The sun’s shining – how perfect.’ They asked if we wanted some time together, and he said no. “The time came and he said goodbye. He told me he adored me, and he pushed the button. Within half a minute he was fast asleep, snoring at first, then the breathing became shallower. “I sat in the garden afterwards and they made me a cup of tea while we waited for the police. They asked me lots of questions but were very kind. Police come to that house every day.” Mr Clements had already been diagnosed when he met his wife-to-be in Germany in 1982. They moved to Inner Lines, Brompton, the next year and wed in Brompton’s Garrison Church. She said: “I felt invincible and I just didn’t think about

Last hours together – and then it was time

Lieutenant Philip Neame

Son to give talk on war hero father

CAMPAIGNING: Michelle Clements holds a photo of her husband Tony, who died aged 69 in the Dignitas clinic

A WAR hero who is the only person in the world to have a Victoria Cross and an Olympic gold medal will be the subject of a talk later this month. Lt Gen Sir Philip Neame was serving with the Royal Engineers during the First World War when he received the VC for action in France. He won his Olympic gold medal as part of the running deer shooting team in 1924. The talk will be given by his son Lt Col (Retd) Philip Neame at the Royal Engineers Museum, Prince Arthur Road, Gillingham on Friday, October 28. The event will raise funds for Help for Heroes and The Ulysses Trust, which provides funding to Volunteer Reserve Forces and cadets for training expeditions. Guests can view the museum from 6pm and the talk will be from 7pm to 9pm. Refreshments will be served before the talk. � To book, contact Steve Craddock, Medway coordinator for Help for Heroes, on 07768 863344

PD1922809

Banned in Britain ... or is it? Assisted suicide is illegal in Britain, carrying a jail term of up to 14 years, but how the law is enforced is very unclear. More than 100 Britons have travelled to die at the Dignitas clinic, and none of their relatives has ever been prosecuted. Dignitas will help someone die

it. I was 18 and he was utterly gorgeous..” Mr Clements served in Germany and the Middle East and rose to become a major, before being medically discharged in 1991. The couple moved to Deal in 2004 and later the south of France. Mrs Clements, is still passionate about changing the law here in the UK. The Dignitas trip cost

‘The time came and he said goodbye. He told me he adored me, and he pushed the button’

if they can prove the extent of their illness. The patient has to be capable to triggering his or her own death, by drinking a fluid or pushing a button. Parkinson’s is a degenerative disease of the brain which erodes a sufferer’s ability to move, swallow and sleep properly.

£10,000, which the pair could only afford thanks to a donation by Mrs Clements’ mother. “We were very lucky to afford it,” she said. “Many can’t. People oppose it, but anyone who hasn’t been there and held their loved one’s hand, I won’t accept what they say. “It is not for everybody but for Tony, there was nothing on earth that would make him want to live longer. His body had let him down.” She added: “I think my husband would be proud of me. I believe he’s up there doing exactly what he wants to do. Any time I worry, I just ask myself what Tony would do.” � What do you think? Contact us using the details on page 22

MPs’ concerns over assisted suicide WE ASKED Medway’s three MPs how they would vote on assisted suicide if they had to tomorrow. All were broadly against legalising it. As a member of the Kent Police Authority, Rochester and Strood MP Mark Reckless has had to ask officers whether they would arrest couples driving through Kent to take the ferry to Dignitas. He said he would oppose legalisation, adding: “It’s certainly something I would think about very carefully. “I’m concerned if we were to legalise it then its scope and scale would expand, and I’m particularly worried that some older people wouldn’t feel they wanted to burden their families.” Gillingham and Rainham MP Rehman Chishti said; “My personal view is that we need to do all we can to preserve individuals’ life. I am not in favour of any new measures which could lead to individuals’ lives being taken prematurely.” Chatham MP Tracey Crouch was more vague on the issue, saying it was a “hypothetical change in the law”, but seemed to approve keeping things as they are. She said: “Although I am a politician whose responsibility it is to ensure that we have legislation that protects vulnerable people in society, and you are arguably at your most vulnerable when you are sick or dying, I am also in a long-term relationship and neither of us would want to see the other suffer for an indeterminate period of time.”

Mark Reckless

Rehman Chishti

Tracey Crouch

Car knocks over lamppost in crash A WOMAN was taken to hospital after crashing her car into a lamppost in Chatham. Emergency services were called to Shipwrights Avenue at about 6.15pm on Tuesday after the Chrysler Voyager flattened the pole. Firefighters from Medway station helped paramedics get the woman, thought to be in her mid30s, out of the vehicle. The woman was taken by ambulance to Medway Maritime Hospital. A Kent Fire and Rescue Service spokesman, said: “The lamppost was still live so we had to wait for the electric company to come and make it safe.”

Give blood when mobile unit calls YOU can give blood on Thursday in the National Blood Service’s mobile unit at Medway Maritime Hospital outside the accident and emergency department from 10.45am to 1.45pm and from 3.30-5.30pm. Further sessions are being held next Friday at Strood Leisure Centre, Watling Street, from 2-4.30pm and 5.30-8pm. � For details, go to www.blood.co.uk or call 0300 1232323

www.kentonline.co.uk

Newsdesk: 01634 227803

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COURT

Tears of ex-wives as abusive thug finally gets justice Every Thursday a special session at Medway Magistrates’ Court hears harrowing cases that all have two things in common: the victim knows the attacker and the abuse nearly always takes place behind closed doors. Dan Bloom reports from Medway’s new domestic violence court

KKES OZKAYA stares ahead as his girlfriend weeps at the back of court. Flanked by guards, he denies three charges of beating her and one of threatening to set her house on fire. He is 19. The last allegation was just six days ago but his girlfriend, 18 and pregnant, has retracted her statement. Prosecutors refuse to drop the case. The teenager is led away to the cells, where he will stay for two months before a trial, as his lover looks on in shock. Ozkaya, of Christmas Street, Gillingham, is just one of a string of men accused of domestic violence at Medway Magistrates’ Court every Thursday. Some avoid court for years because their partners fear giving evidence, but abuse can escalate. A stark reminder came last summer, when jealous husband Agris Titans strangled Edite Titane, 22, in their Rochester home. He was jailed for life. A month after the brutal murder, Natalie Wood joined Medway’s court as an independent domestic violence advocate She helps women take the stand and the results have been dramatic. “The story doesn’t stop in court,” she said. “The minute a suspect appears we have to make a safety plan. Will that woman be in danger if she goes home? Do I have to take her to a refuge?” She hugged an emotional Debbie Johnston, 35, outside court. Her husband of seven years had just been given a restraining order after a late-night attack. She got through three months of police and courts thanks to an unlikely friend, his previous wife Sharron Burgoyne, 38.

MUTUAL SUPPORT: Debbie Johnston, 35, and Sharron Burgoyne, 38, had both been married to Michael Hurley Debbie said: “I was never allowed near her. He painted her as the bitter, twisted ex who wanted to destroy him. Now we’re really good friends – we found each other on Facebook.” Debbie had already told former soldier Michael Hurley, 41, she wanted a divorce when he waited outside a house party at her Twydall home on December 10. The court heard the last guest left at 4.15am and Hurley phoned Debbie to say: “If you don’t [let me in] I will take the door off.” Hurley, of Richmond Road, Gillingham, forced his way in and snatched Debbie’s phone as she called for help. Michael Munn, prosecuting, said: “She was thrown headlong across the kitchen by a hard shove to her back while the defendant was shouting ‘whore’. “He spun her round with his hand and choked her against the window.”

The attack spilled into the street where Hurley hit her hard across the face. When police arrived he swore at them, adding “I will take the pair of you,” before they drew Tasers and he was arrested. Debbie was taken to A&E and her husband admitted assault, using violence to enter a premises and obstructing a policeman in his duty. Debbie and Sharron wept as he was given four months’ jail suspended for two years, an indefinite restraining order and 150 hours’ unpaid work. He will also pay £250 compensation to Debbie. Trevor Linn, defending Hurley, said: “He is a man of good character. There are no previous convictions and he has lived hitherto a relatively constructive life.” For Debbie, it followed a stormy seven-year marriage. She fell pregnant three months after meeting Hurley and they wed. When she was diagnosed

with depression and the chronic pain disorder fibromyalgia, Hurley became her carer – and she felt trapped. The former Rainham School for Girls pupil said: “Looking back it was all too quick. He was really supportive, loving and caring but things started to change.” Sharron, who started dating Hurley aged 16, first saw Debbie when she and Hurley were dealing with a bitter divorce. Sharron said: “I went and sat next to her and said simply, ‘I hope he’s changed.’ “For me, I wasn’t believed. I had no help and I had him manipulating my family and my friends into believing him. I had a very hard battle convincing people.” Mr Munn, a specialist prosecutor in domestic violence cases, said: “Women often retract their evidence, maybe because they love him or he has said sorry. “It makes things much more difficult but we have to consider public safety.” Scores of men appear in the specialist court. Last Thursday they included Luke Moss, a 26-year-old recovering heroin addict of Amber Court, Gravesend, who hit his sister Emma at a family barbecue. He was given a three-month suspended sentence. Also in the dock was James Thurlow, 22, of Kingsley Avenue, Dartford, who breached a non-molestation order against his ex-girlfriend. He changed his plea to guilty the day of the trial, when she was determined to give evidence. He was given a two-month suspended sentence. Debbie said: “If one case apart from mine has a good result, I’ll be happy. I’ve been so much happier since Michael came out of my life, and I want other women to make that change.”

Friday, April 6, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

Buying, Selling or renting your home?

Get Tanked Aquatics

Go online to

Cold Water, Tropical & Marine Marine Fish - Now In Stock

Opening Times: 10am to 5pm, Mon-Sat Units 54-58 Inshops, High St, Chatham Find us on Facebook

Together we make a difference

www.heatdesignkent.co.uk WOODSTOVES • RANGE COOKERS • FIREPLACES • GAS FIRES

SPRING STOCK CLEARANCE SALE! After a very busy winter season, we have a number of stock ordered items in the warehouse now on sale at very competitive prices!

Chesney • Stovax • Clearview Integrated Dishwashers and Splashbacks Plus many more ... Call in now for a great not to be missed deal!

Roper Close, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7EP Tel: 01227 457643 email: dthomas@heatdesignkent.co.uk

Exceptional quality, value for money, made to measure bedrooms and home studies, with modern design and traditional elegance

AW WIN ARD FAM NI N BU ILY R G SIN

U ESS N

• Fitted by our professional fitters • Made to measure • Home visits and FREE quotations • 5 YEAR guarantee on all furniture • Wide selection of sliding wardrobes • FREE expert design service • Available evenings and weekends Open: Mon-Fri 8.00am - 4.30pm Sat 10.00am - 4.00pm

169 Tonbridge Road, Maidstone, Kent ME16 8NA 01622 729855 www.bedroom.com

www.kentonline.co.uk

Newsdesk: 01634 227803

Friday, November 16, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

Man in threat to jump from bridge A MAN threatened to jump off Rochester railway bridge yesterday . The 31-year-old was discovered on the bridge shortly before 5am and police and Medway’s coastguard team were called. Trains going into London were delayed while police talked the man into coming down. Shortly after 8am he was talked down and services resumed. A police spokesman said: “The man has been taken to hospital.”

CCTV stills of the assault outside the Poachers Pocket, Walderslade

Publican saved by beer belly in car park attack by Dan Bloom dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

THESE shocking CCTV images show a 22-stone pub manager being knocked across his own car park by a driver he accused of dealing drugs. Doctors told father of three Tony Morgan, 44, he was saved by the “padding” of his beer belly in the attack, which cracked several of his ribs and left him bruised. Detectives have now released CCTV pictures from the Poachers Pocket, Walderslade, in a bid to speak to a mystery man who got out from the passenger seat just before the assault.

‘This is my business for my customers who want to come here and enjoy themselves’ As revealed in Monday’s Medway Messenger, Mr Morgan was having a cigarette just after 12.30pm on September 29, when he saw two men in a dark grey Peugeot 307 outside his pub. He said: “I approached as the passenger got out and said ‘don’t come here to buy your drugs, do it somewhere else’.” The images then show the driver punching Mr Morgan through the open window and trying to drive off as he clings on.

The licensee stands behind the car and it reverses into him at high speed, knocking him violently to the ground. Yet the no-nonsense manager of 13 years, who lives with his wife Lorraine in Gorse Avenue, Walderslade, said: “I’m not having drugs near my pub. “I would do the same again. This is my business for my customers who want to come here and enjoy themselves.” The driver of the car, a hire

See faces light up for Diwali CHILDREN celebrated Diwali this week by taking part in a variety of workshops. Pupils of all ages at All Faiths school in Strood enjoyed storytelling and drama, creating rangoli patterns and making traditional sweets. The school also welcomed visitors who demonstrated traditional henna hand-patterns and dress. Diwali is known as the festival of lights because houses and public places are decorated with earthenware oil lamps. The lamps are lit to help Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, find her way into people’s homes. The festival is a time for spring cleaning, wearing new clothes and exchanging gifts. Year 4 pupils from All Faiths presented the sweets they had made to the Sri Guru Ravidass Temple in Vicarage Road, Strood, during a visit yesterday.

Payal, five, Rija, 11, and Ria, six, with Diwali sweets Picture: Andy Payton FM2328047

Buy pictures kentonline.co.uk

vehicle from a London firm, was described as black, slim and in his mid-20s with short black hair and a fine moustache. DC Mark Silk said: “This is a serious incident where the injuries could have been a great deal worse. “We are interested in speaking to a white man in a brown tracksuit who left the vehicle prior to the incident.” A 21-year-old Peckham man was arrested following the incident, but faced no charge when he answered bail on Wednesday. Anyone with information should call DC Silk on 101, quoting XY/029479/12, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

Chemical assault victim back home

Tony Morgan

A MAN who had chemicals thrown in his face and was stabbed with a fork has been discharged from hospital. Philip Turner, 26, was attacked at The Copperfield in Shorne on November 4. He was seriously ill in intensive care until the weekend when he was sent home, although he must return for check-ups. Dean Mayze, 25, of High Street, Strood, has been remanded in custody charged with causing grievous bodily harm and actual harm and was due to appear at Maidstone Crown Court yesterday (Thursday) for a preliminary hearing.

www.kentonline.co.uk

Friday, August 17, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

Games gives pooch paddles 1.3 miles across estuary...and he’s afraid of water airport plan a boost

Dog’s amazing swim for freedom as she rejects owner’s island life by Dan Bloom dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

A DOG is a man’s best friend, but not for Medway adventurer Dave Wise. He will finish a landmark 45 days and nights as a castaway on a small island in the Medway estuary tomorrow (Saturday) alone – after being abandoned by his trusted border collie. The pet, who fears water, swam across 1.3 miles of open water during a heavy thunderstorm in an trek worthy of Lassie. Dave, 44, had taken her to tiny Darnet Island as part of an experiment where he lived in a tent within sight of Gillingham and Chatham.

Thunder

FaithFul?: Dave with collie Juno Picture: Karl Farrer

But three-year-old Juno was not up to the task, and vanished before turning up sodden and mud-splattered at Riverside Country Park in Rainham. Dave, who has won lottery grants to improve access to the estuary, said: “On the day it happened it was a clear sky, but a crack of thunder came in the distance and she ran and sat in some

brambles. The sky turned black, the gales came and I was trying to hold the camp together. “I circled the island two or three times but I couldn’t find her. “I thought she had drowned because she hates water, but I got a phone call to say she had turned up. I was so relieved.” Juno is now safe and being looked after. Dave joked: “If she had been swimming to save her master she would have been all over the papers. As it is, she deserves everything she gets!” We previously told how the artist canoed to Darnet, which is 400 yards wide, to reconnect with nature and his own thoughts and promote the estuary. Friends have visited to help him pick plants like purslane and samphire grass, and catch sea bass. He had the help of a few modern tools, including a gas camping stove, solar-powered phone charger and camping gear. He has also made beachcombed necklaces and a small documentary about the island, which features an imposing Napoleonic stone fort. “Most people in the Towns don’t know there’s this island out here,” he said. “You can watch the sunset and go to sleep in total peace. “If people came here more, fewer would suffer stress and mental anxiety.” Occasional canoe tours can be booked via davewise.biz.

MAIN R D

Where’s that Dog? Dave Wise faces up to a lonely time Picture: Dan Bloom FM2190419

‘I thought she had drowned because she hates water but I got a phone call to say she had turned up’

1 mile

Hoo St Werburgh RIVER M E DWAY

Darnet Island Hoo Salt Marsh

Where you can find Darnet Island 400 yds

Nor Marsh

PIER RD RD

EXCLUSIVE

ING RAM

THE boost given to the country by the Olympics should be harnessed to build an airport in the Thames Estuary, according to Boris Johnson. The London Mayor said the confidence and prestige gained from the successful hosting of the Games should be used to improve infrastructure and housing, and one of the projects should be a new airport in the Towns. Mr Johnson told a national newspaper: “We need a new airport – whether it is in the Thames estuary or wherever, I don’t care. But we need to address that problem. “An extra runway at Heathrow alone won’t do it – it would be full in a flash.” He said the Games had shown “Britain really can do things”. “We have shown the world we are a happy, ambitious, modern, successful economy. “We have shown incredible logistical skills. We now have every reason to be in confident in ourselves and the future.” Yesterday the Times was reporting that Mr Johnson’s challenge to the Prime Minister over the issue suggested a future leadership big. The government is set to consult on the idea of an airport in the Towns later on this year, with a final decision set to be made by March 2013. n olympics special, pages 43-46.

To advertise: 01634 227800

A289

LW RR

AIN HA M

GILLINGHAM

Darnet Fort RD

Sneak thief targets pensioner A THIEF has admitted stealing £200 from a 76-year-old woman’s handbag in High Street, Chatham. Politec Albisor, 33, stole the cash as he struck up a conversation with her as a distraction, after his victim had just drawn the cash out of her bank to pay for a holiday. Albisor, of East Ham, London,

admitted theft at Medway Magistrates Court. He has been granted bail and will be sentenced on September 4. Meanwhile, PC Paul Billings from the Chatham Neighbourhood Team urged people to stay vigilant against thieves. “Try to avoid withdrawing large amounts of cash and transfer money electronically or use

cheques or travellers cheques where possible,” he said. “If you do have to take out large amounts of cash be aware of who is around you and don’t be taken in by people trying to distract you by engaging you in conversation or brushing past.” He also advised people to keep money securely in a buttoned inside pocket or a money belt.

www.kentonline.co.uk

Friday, November 23, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

No one in court for late session

To advertise: 01634 227800

Housing association introduces scHeme to reward tHose wHo keep up payments

Tenants’ dismay at star system

THE first flexible court sessions, piloted at Medway Magistrates’ Court, did not go ahead this week. Cases in Medway can now be dealt with during evening sessions at the Chatham court on Mondays and Wednesdays. The flexible courts initiative was due to start this Monday and court staff, legal advisers and magistrates were ready to deal with cases – but there were no defendants to deal with. The Kent Criminal Justice Board had decided the court could remain open from 5pm until 7pm, to help speed up the justice process, but no one in the county had been charged in time for the two-hour sessions. That was the situation on Monday and on Wednesday. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Justice began to look at whether a more flexible criminal justice system would be able to respond to the needs of the public, particularly victims and witnesses. This included courts sitting outside traditional hours, sitting at weekends and increasing the use of the virtual link technology. Some courts in other areas will even be open on Sundays to help speed up the system. The scheme will run at the Medway court until March next year. n In Court – page 30

EXCLUSIVE

How to reach for the higher rating

by Dan Bloom dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

SOCIAL housing tenants will be denied basic repairs – including replacing broken windows – if they fail a new “star rating” system. Housing association Moat has written to its 2,000 tenants across Medway to give each one three, four or five stars. Five-star tenants can enter prize draws for £1,000, pick from an exclusive kitchen and bathroom range and get evening and weekend appointments for the first time. But those with three stars will not be given new kitchens, bathrooms, doors or windows and will only get repairs if their homes are deemed unsafe. People on Gillingham’s Vineries estate have slammed the move, claiming it will drive neighbours apart. It can take as little as one missed appointment or one time falling behind on rent a year to miss out on five stars. Mum of four Nic Lewis, 31, has been given three stars. She said: “I need repairs done for my fiveyear-old son Shayne who has cerebral palsy. My housing benefit didn’t come through so I was left in rent arrears. It’s disgusting.

✓ sales

ABOVE: Don’t be fooled by the stars - three means you will get lesser service RIGHT: Tracey Galloway, of Speedwell Close, Gillingham, is unhappy about Moat’s new star rating system for tenants which she says is not fair Picture: Andy Payton FM2340874

You can’t victimise people for being on a lower scale of money.” Her neighbour in Speedwell Close, grandmother Tracey Galloway, 53, expects to have five stars but said: “I’ve been here 22 years and we’ve all fallen on hard times before. It’s not fair to

hire ✓ servicing ✓ bodyshop ✓

penalise people. “You get a four-hour time window for appointments and I’ve missed them just popping across the street.” Security guard and grandmother Jackie Woodgate, 58, added: “How about Moat pull their fingers out their backsides and start doing something for the whole area?” In Medway 400 tenants have been given three stars, 400 have five and the other 1,200 have four, which mirrors the current level of service. They have three months to appeal against their star rating before the scheme takes effect in February. The other 10,000 Moat

✁

15% OFF

STANDARD SERVICE CHARGE Present this voucher to redeem offer

pArk wood INd ESTATE, mAIdSToNE mE15 9xy

01622 351735

*All prices quoted are subject to the additional rate of VAT

www.vanwisegroup.com

tenants in Kent, Sussex, Essex and London will follow in April. Tenants will then be warned whenever their rating is set to change, with two weeks to appeal. n What do you think? Write to us using the details on page 22

‘It’s an incentive to change behaviour’

ONE STOP VAN SHOP Ring for the most competitive van servicing in Kent

USED VANS AVAILABLE FROM £2,995 OR JUST £14 PER WEEK

‘We’ve all fallen on hard times before. It’s not fair to penalise people’

The star ratings are the next step in a scheme called the Moat Promise, which launched in December 2011 with the aim of making sure tenants uphold their responsibilities. Medway’s biggest housing association mhs homes already runs a similar loyalty scheme called “gold service”. A Moat spokesman said the star ratings had been tweaked after a six-week consultation with residents. Five-star members must: Have missed no appointments with Moat or contractors for a year, including letting people into the house. Have had no debts on their account for a year. Have not displayed any proven anti-social behaviour for a year. Make sure gardens or outside areas are “clean and tidy”. Complete an application form and annual tenancy profile form. Three-star members can return to four stars if they pay off all arrears and fees or set up an agreement to do so, and give access to contractors on future appointments.

Broken windows may not be replaced if tenants rack up huge rent arrears

A MOAT spokesman admitted that in some cases, three-star tenants’ windows would be boardedup but not replaced. Executive director Hugh Fenn said: “One of our company values is fairness in everything we do, and we think so far our service levels haven’t reflected that. “Residents who rack up huge rent arrears, and do nothing to address them currently receive exactly the same level of service

as those who have paid their rent faithfully for 20 years. “Our three-star level isn’t about penalty or punishment, it’s about providing an incentive to change behaviour. “The Moat Promise will help us to address our arrears levels, help support more vulnerable residents who need greater focus and will support our extensive programme for managing antisocial behaviour.”

Garage man sent back to Poland THE owner of a garage in Chatham has been extradited when it was discovered he was wanted for an offence in Poland after he was caught fly-tipping. Mariusz Sobolewski, owner of VM Autos, Second Avenue, was being investigated by Medway Council for dumped tyres in Lower Rainham Road in September 2011. When Sobolewski failed to

appear in court on May 22 this year and again on the adjourned date of July 31, a warrant was issued for his arrest. This in turn flagged up that he was wanted for an offence in his native Poland. When officers uncovered his address details, he was duly sent back to his home country. Medway Council’s case will now not be heard but the actions

of the council’s environment enforcement officers in reporting the fly-tipping assisted the authorities in Europe in identifying, arresting and extraditing Sobolewski. Cllr Mike O’Brien, in charge of community safety, said: “Although our case will now not be pursued I’m pleased we were able to help colleagues in Poland.”

www.kentonline.co.uk

Newsdesk: 01634 227803

Friday, December 16, 2011 Medway Messenger (MM)

SPY VEHICLE INVESTIGATION

��

�

��

CCTV car staff feel the heat SPECIAL REPORT by Dan Bloom dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

SIX CCTV car operators have been sacked in two years and almost 20 have quit the job, some after just a few days. A Messenger investigation reveals the controversial spy cars have earned Medway Council more than £750,000 profit, but officers have been hiring one new staff member a month. Drivers of the cars, which take photos of people breaking traffic laws and send them fines in the post, have been sacked for misdemeanours including parking on double yellow lines and ignoring orders from their bosses. One was dismissed in February after just nine days while at least one is believed to have taken leave due to stress. A total of 33 staff have operated the cars since they launched in 2008, thanks to a stream of resignations since last year and five lay-offs last month. The council said the high staff turnover – an average of one employee a month since last January – was due to the use of agency staff. A spokesman added: “It is common for them to move from borough to borough within the parking industry.” However, there is heavy pressure on the CCTV opera-

��

tors, at whom angry motorists have reportedly spat and intimidated. One operator threatened to call police last year when Chatham resident Bill Khan filmed the CCTV car, claiming: “Do not take my photograph, you haven’t got my permission to take my photograph.” Three operators now remain after last month’s redundancies and the number of tickets being issued is just a quarter of its peak in March 2010. Council chiefs insist the cars do a good job stopping nuisance drivers, despite calls from opposition councillors for a full review. Community safety partnership chairman Cllr Mike O’Brien (Con) said: “At every

single community meeting I go to I have residents almost demanding the CCTV car goes to their area.” The masked NoToMob group, which wants the cars scrapped, hit headlines in March when members filmed a CCTV car driving erratically through Chatham. NoToMob campaigner Nigel Wise is due to receive a tribunal judgement next month after claiming CCTV car paperwork is invalid. If he wins, Medway motorists could be owed £1.5 million. He said: “I’m not surprised staff come and go, either because Medway Council sack them or because they’re not of the calibre needed.” Medway Labour group spokesman Cllr Tristan Osborne claimed: “Staff are leaving in their droves due to inappropriate recruitment and training.” The council said officers were fully-trained. A council spokesman said: “All members of staff dismissed were agency members and did not meet our exacting standards.” The spokesman added: “All money from tickets is ringfenced and can only be used improving roads, traffic systems and parking schemes. “The number of tickets is reducing and this proves the CCTV enforcement vehicles are having a positive effect. ” � See the full data at medwaymessenger.co.uk

Factfile � The cars have issued 55,000 tickets, but only two-thirds have been paid due to disputes. A quarter have been cancelled after residents fought and won. � They have brought in £1.6 million since 2008, with £771,000 remaining after costs. � Staff have cost £421,000, the cars have cost £319,000 and fuel, maintenance and uniforms have cost £31,000. � The council could pay a heavy price for scrapping the cars before April 2013, because that is when their lease with the firm Traffic Enforcement Systems expires.

‘Somebody has got to make a point’ � From front page damage to my property. I rang the council after they took off the clamp to tell them I’m serious and I won’t stop here. I want my money back.” Mr Stringer had left his name and number on the windscreen, saying he would not release the car until he was refunded the almost £430 he had to pay bailiffs to remove a clamp from his Mercedes for failing to pay a parking fine. But when he drove past the compound on Monday morning, he found the clamp had been taken off. Mr Stringer added: “Somebody has got to make a point. Everyone just goes around and says ‘I’ll pay it’, but I just feel that the council shouldn’t be doing this.” He had originally received the penalty for a parking offence in James Street, Gillingham. He claimed he had asked for photographic evidence to prove it was his car but this was never sent to him. Mr Stringer said: “We received notification two months ago and they never sent anything else. Then we got a letter saying the car had been clamped. But I never would have driven to anywhere in James Street because it’s just down the road. I’m just so angry and I think it is disgusting. ” A Medway Council spokesman said: “We understand this man has admitted to the Messenger that he broke into a Medway Council depot by jumping over a fence. The council has contacted the police and has nothing more to say on this matter.” Kent Police had not returned requests for comment as we went to press.

THE BENGAL BRASSERIE

Established

FULLY LICENSED & FULLY AIR CONDITIONED

Book Now at Medway’s Premier Restaurant. Small and Large Parties catered for. Ideal for all Occasions.

01634 841930

We are open throughout the Christmas Period including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day lunch, Boxing Day & New Years Eve & New Years Day.

Christmas Day Lunch £29 per head. Booking and Deposit Required. Special Menu Available, Poppadum & Chutneys, Starter, Main Dish, Side Dish, Rice & Bread + Dessert. (Collection also available) world class Indian cuisine with our award-winning...

ow Bookings N n k Being Ta e

Free Home Delivery Anywhere In The Medway Towns Including: Aylesford, Snodland, Eccles, Upchurch, Allhallows, Bredhurst and the Isle of Grain, Cooling, Halling, Higham, High Halstow & Stoke. We go as far as Maidstone!

Delivery Hotline (01634) 818011 or 404478

Open 7 days a week, including all Bank Holidays 12-2pm ~ 5.30pm - midnight. Last orders taken 11.45 356 High Street, Rochester, Kent ME1 1DI

MEDWAY

www.kentonline.co.uk

THE PAPER FOR THE MEDWAY TOWNS

MESSENGER Together we make a difference

kmfm 107.9 100.4

ANGER AT HYPNOTIST’S ‘SEX SHOW’

Friday, October 5, 2012 95p

SEE PAGE 3

Bredhurst Adoption Centre 01634 232 471

INSIDE

Suicide GP planned to WIN marry two women

Unmasked

ESTUARY AIRPORT SPECIAL REPORT

GILLS

10 FAMILY MEALS TO BE WON

GILLS v BURTON ALBION TICKETS

SEE WHAT’S ON

PLUS EXCLUSIVE: Double life of SEE KENT BUSINESS

debt-ridden family doctor A DOCTOR hanged himself after planning to wed two lovers in a month. An inquest heard Dr Festus Ojagbemi secretly supported two women for almost seven years.

The relationships unravelled in a tragic chain of events, and the Medway GP, right, was found dead two months before his first wedding, an inquest heard. His long-term partner said he had been devastated after she discovered his affair. n Full story, page 5

Bragging car thief is jailed

PAGE 9

Elderly hit

Shock at closure of Age Concern centre PAGE 7

Death charge Hospital faces prosecution after patient fall PAGE 11

Deon Burton: Let’s see where we are in May SPORT

www.kentonline.co.uk

Newsdesk: 01634 227803

Friday, October 5, 2012 Medway Messenger (MM)

FAMILY doctor FoUNd deAd dAYS AFter StABBING HIMSeLF IN tHe cHeSt

Secret double life of popular GP unravels after his suicide EXCLUSIVE

‘He was a happy-go-lucky man’

by Dan Bloom

THE inquest heard the GP was a well-respected family doctor with no history of depression or self-harm.

dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

A FAMILY GP hanged himself after proposing to two women and planning the weddings just a month apart, an inquest heard. Dr Festus Ojagbemi, of Kingsdown Close, Hempstead, led a secret double life for seven years, running up credit card debts and unpaid tax worth thousands of pounds. His long-term partner Jackie Hammond told an inquest she had a nervous breakdown after discovering the 49-year-old GP had been seeing another woman, Bamidele Ayeni, since 2005. Racked with guilt, he stabbed himself twice in the chest in his own surgery, St Mary’s Medical Centre, Strood, during a late-night paperwork session on February 8, this year. Ms Hammond said: “He just wanted my attention, he just wanted me to notice he was hurting because of what he had done to me.” However, as he recovered in A&E, he lied to police and his two fiancees, saying a stranger had attacked him. The next day he confessed the truth to officers, who arrested and cautioned him for wasting police time. Four days later, Ms Hammond returned from work to find him hanged at the detached home they shared. A note signed with his nickname, Wally, was on the TV cabinet near where he was found in the conservatory. Only that morning, the couple had talked about booking a photographer for their wedding on May 12. An inquest heard how the Nigerian-born GP’s secrets unravelled after his death. Ms Hammond said a credit card firm phoned after he died claiming he owed them £10,000. She said: “I started

He studied at the University of Benin, Nigeria, graduating in 1986 and emigrating to the UK in 1992. He had a child by Ms Ayeni and two others, not by Ms Hammond, who he had been seeing for almost the entire time he was in Britain. His practice manager, Jacqueline Wake, told police: “I liked Festus. He was very

DEBTS: Dr Festus Ojagbemi, of St Mary’s Medical Centre in Strood, was found hanged at his home phoning and everyone told me how much he owed them. “By the time we got to the 10th or 11th the bill was… we just couldn’t get our heads round it. “I work, I get paid, so we don’t talk about finances. If we go on holiday he would be the one that pays.” DS Paul Fewtrell tracked down Dr Ojagbemi’s other fiancee, Ms Ayeni. “I would call him baby because he was my baby,” she told police. “I would also call him my husband.” She added: “He’s intelligent, loving, caring, he buys me lots of things. Why would he do this to himself?” Ms Ayeni, who did not give evidence, claimed Dr Ojag-

bemi proposed last October and that they were preparing for a wedding in April. They had a child, he rented a flat for them, visited on weekends and they would talk six or seven times a day, she said. She told DS Fewtrell: “Wally told me not to give anyone the news that we were getting married in April because everyone would go on about it.” Ms Ayeni said she knew about the GP’s other partner, but he had told her he did not love her any more. Assistant deputy coroner Gail Elliman, recording a verdict of suicide, said: “I am satisfied Dr Ojagbemi took his own life. I won’t go into any speculation about the reasons for doing so.”

GP had been off work with high blood pressure DR OJAGBEMI had been on leave from his surgery in Vicarage Road, where he had worked for 11 years, since just before Christmas 2011. He had been suffering from high blood pressure and vertigo, but was failing to take the medicines his GP prescribed. Jacqueline Wake, practice manager at St Mary’s, told police he called on January 6 asking to extend his holiday until February 1.

She said: “He didn’t give a reason but I did it anyway because he was my boss.” On the day he died, Dr Ojagbemi told his partner, Ms Hammond, he was due to see a GP at 10.30am.

However, his phone was then switched off and Ms Hammond grew worried, leaving work early to check on him. “I just felt uneasy,” she said. “From about 2pm onwards I kept wanting to go home.” She added: “I was more suspicious that he had gone somewhere and was trying to cover up.” Ms Ayeni told police the GP had also called her that morning to say he loved her.

approachable and a gentleman and we got on well together.” Speaking after the GP’s death, his old friend Dr Mustapha Tahir said he had no idea what could have motivated it. He added: “He was a happy-golucky kind of person and a very caring doctor. “The last time I saw him was when I ran into him at a filling station in Gravesend. “I wondered why I hadn’t seen him. I was under the impression he had a high workload.”

Rush-hour crash closes tunnel DRIVERS faced gridlock yesterday (Thursday) when a rush-hour crash closed the Medway Tunnel. The three-car crash happened at 8.50am on the Chatham-bound side. Police closed both lanes causing long delays while the three vehicles were recovered. It is not believed anyone suffered serious injuries.

Cyclist injured A CYCLIST was taken to hospital after being hit by a car. The male rider suffered injuries to his head and face just after 6pm on Wednesday in Beechings Way, Twydall. Witnesses said the road was shut off after the crash near the junction with Beechings Green. Police said the injuries were not thought to be lifethreatening.

Mercedes hit A PARKED Mercedes was damaged after a two car accident on The Esplanade, Rochester, on Wednesday at 8pm, involved a Toyota Yaris and a Kia Sportage. There were no injuries.

www.kentonline.co.uk

Newsdesk: 01634 227803

NEWS

He’s been working since and at 83, he’s not he was 13 (ready to give up yet ) by Dan Bloom

Gills stars striking a yoga pose FORGET bend it like Beckham... Gills stars are now being taught to bend it like a yoga guru. The League 2 Gillingham players are following in the flexible footsteps of Jennifer Aniston and even Madonna, and taking up yoga. The squad have been practising their Down Dog and Half Moon poses at new sessions organised by manager Andy Hessenthaler. And the core stability training certainly seems to have paid off – with an unbeaten run in the league this season. New captain Andy Frampton says if it works for Ryan Giggs they’re happy to try it: “Everyone’s taken part in it; everyone’s got to take a view on it and see if they like it, and the majority of them do. “Definitely yoga is an injuryprevention kind of exercise, and I think it will keep us in good stead for the rest of the season.” So if star striker Danny Kedwell hits the back of the net against Rotherham this weekend, it could be down to his Lord of the Dance pose. � For more Gills news - see Sport.

IS GEORGE Gibbs the country’s oldest jobseeker? He might be 83 but that hasn’t stopped this sprightly pensioner’s quest to get himself employed. The former van driver has spent more than a year looking for work, and it has been his longest time without work since he was 13. Determined George, who has been searching all over Medway, has even defied doctors’ orders to give up due to his arthritis. He told the Messenger: “It’s been murder being at home with nothing to do. It’s hell to get a job at my age but I’ll keep trying.”

Recession Unwilling to compete at the Jobcentre, the pensioner from Snodland has been driving around the area, and even further afield, looking for employment since last year. Yet he has felt the full impact of the recession as only one firm, a catalogue delivery firm in Chatham, offered to take him on. He said: “Most people say no as soon as they hear my age. I saw this sign in the High Street and asked if there was any age limit. “They said no, there wasn’t, but they said I’d have to deliver up to 100 catalogues a day. I would be racing about and it sounded a bit too much for me.” Born in Camberwell, Mr Gibbs left school at 14 to work on ships for the London and Rochester Trading Company. Soon the tireless job-hunter, of

‘It’s been murder being at home with nothing to do. It’s hell to get a job at my age but I’ll keep trying’

A SHOPLIFTER has been jailed after admitting stealing toiletries and food from a supermarket in Rochester. Darren Adcock, 36, was jailed for 90 days by magistrates in Medway after admitting two count of shoplifting Adcock, of Gillingham Road, Gillingham, also had five other offences taken into consideration. He was also ordered to pay £47 compensation.

Timber clear-up

Flats and houses PLANS to build flats and houses on the site of an old police station have been approved. A total of 45 flats and houses will be built on the land in Cazeneuve Street, Rochester.

Benefits

Hospice walk

The pensioner is a firm believer in the unemployed getting on their bikes for work, once mooted by Conservative minister Norman Tebbit. “People aren’t doing that enough now,” he said. “So many people are living on benefits and they get used to it. I hope that doesn’t happen to me.” Mr Gibbs, who has never been married, was four days from his wedding when he got cold feet at the age of 24. Since then he has had no regrets, devoting himself to driving instead. “Work has been the only big part of my life since I was 14,” he said. � Can you give George a job? Call our newsroom on 01634 227880.

Buy pictures - kentonline.co.uk

Thief stole food and toiletries

A TIMBER yard used one of its forklift truck to help clear up after a lorry lost its load, bringing Strood town centre to a standstill on Thursday afternoon.

Saltings Road, joined the RAF and Grenadier Guards before driving a bus for the Maidstone and District bus company. It was contract driving which became his main career, until he had to scrap his blue Ford Transit van last March. “I’d never make a written application,” he said. “I’d just call in and ask if they wanted drivers. It always worked but now it’s the hardest it’s ever been.”

Actor takes a break after rescue HARRY Potter star Timothy Spall wasn’t keen to head straight back into open seas after his rescue by lifeboat crew. A spokesman for the four times BAFTA-nominated actor said he had been spending a few days at Chatham marina before continuing his voyage around Britain, which is being filmed for a TV series. But when we called on him at the weekend, he declined to talk about his mishap when the RNLI had to help out after the Princess Matilda became lost on the Medway. Staff at the marina, who revealed he was a regular visitor, said he wished to be left alone. The actor, who shot to fame as the hapless Brummie Barry in Auf Wiedersehen Pet, is filming for a BBC series called Back At Sea. Spall and his crew called for help from the Sheerness RNLI lifeboat crew, who found

www.kentonline.co.uk

dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

CAPTAIN: Andy Frampton

Monday, August 29, 2011 Medway Messenger (MI)

THERE is still time to register for The Wisdom Hospice’s walk. It is being held at Capstone Farm Country Park, Gillingham on Sunday, September 11. Phone 01634831163.

Fir tree on fire FIREFIGHTERS put out a burning fir tree in a garden in Wyatt Place, Strood, at 10.30pm on Thursday.

Society show DETERMINED: George Gibbs, 83, has been out of work for a year but is not giving up Picture: Peter Still PD1893280 Buy pictures from kentonline.co.uk

World Class Indian Cuisine

MEMBERS of the Rainham Horticultural Society will be holding a show at the Millennium Centre, Gatekeeper’s Chase, Rainham, on Saturday, September 3, 2pm to 4pm.

Fully Licensed and fully air-conditioned

Established 18 years

HOLDERS OF 27 NATIONAL AWARDS INCLUDING EUROPEAN FOOD AND WINE AWARD AND THE CURRY CLUB MASTER, CHEF ROLE OF HONOUR AND THE GOOD FOOD GUIDE

Newly Renovated • Fully licensed bar featuring Cobra and Kingfisher lager • Families and parties welcome.

Book Now at Medway’s Premier Restaurant. Small and Large Parties catered for. Ideal for all Occasions.

01634 841930

New Summer Menu Now Available Bengal Brasserie are celebrating their 18th Anniversary and would like to thank all their regular customers for their continued support and also to welcome new customers.

We will be holding a Charity night on Friday 16th September in aid of The Childrens Hospice If eating in the Restaurant or ordering a delivery – we will donate 10% of our evenings takings to Charity. Please support this worthwhile cause. To book a table please call the Restaurant.

AHOY: Timothy Spall is pictured supporting an RNLI fundraising day in Thanet earlier this year. A few months later he would need another Kent crew’s help his 55ft Dutch barge just off Stangate Creek. The lifeboat found the barge, with Spall and four crew members. They then escorted the barge to

safety in Sheerness, where it was moored at about 10.55pm. Spall, who plays Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter films, has said he taught himself to sail using children’s books.

If you can’t make it to our restaurant you can still enjoy world class Indian cuisine with our award-winning...

Free Home Delivery Anywhere In The Medway Towns

Including: Aylesford, Snodland, Eccles, Upchurch, Allhallows, Bredhurst and the Isle of Grain, Cooling, Halling, Higham, High Halstow & Stoke. We go as far as Maidstone!

Delivery Hotline (01634) 818011 or 404478

Open 7 days a week, including all Bank Holidays 12-2pm ~ 5.30pm - midnight. Last orders taken 11.45 356 High Street, Rochester, Kent ME1 1DI

www.kentonline.co.uk

Friday, September 2, 2011 Medway Messenger (MM)

To advertise: 01634 227800

MEDWAY MESSENGER SAYS SEE PAGE 40 FOR COMMENT AND YOUR VIEWS

By George, I’ve found a job! EXCLUSIVE

‘I hope George’s willingness to get a job will rub off on a lot of youngsters. He’s doing the right thing, rather than living off benefits’

by Dan Bloom dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

Attack victim in demand HEN party attack victim Martyne Wheeler struggled to make the Spanish authorities listen, but she has had no shortage of attention in Britain. The shop worker, above, who was brutally beaten by a British tourist in Magaluf, is thought to have sold her story to a women’s magazine after a bidding war. Our story about Miss Wheeler, of Lamberhurst Green, Twydall, last week also caught the attention of Gillingham and Rainham MP Rehman Chishti, who has written to the Spanish authorities. Despite daily contact with the Spanish courts by the Messenger, it is not certain the 23-year-old’s attacker has been convicted due to a mountain of paperwork. Miss Wheeler was told she would not be eligible for compensation after an attack outside a bar left her with a broken nose and tooth as well as a fractured eye socket. She was told she would have to discover her attacker’s address. Miss Wheeler said: “I’ve talked to a magazine, but what I really want is answers. Would I have had to die to get them?”

JOBSEEKER George Gibbs, 83, was determined to find work – and now he has, thanks to the Medway Messenger. We revealed the pensioner, who has spent more than a year looking for work – the longest time he has been unemployed since he was 13 – could be Britain’s oldest jobhunter. Our story in Monday’s paper was spotted by a millionaire famous for hiring Britain’s oldest employee – Buster Martin, who died in April aged 104. Pimlico Plumbers boss Charlie Mullins, who has been on Channel 4 show The Secret Millionaire, has now hired George and said he would be perfect as a van driver at his London depot. Mr Mullins told the Messenger: “Some of our plumbers live up near Medway and they brought the story in. I thought it was marvellous. I was shocked this man could be looking for a whole year.” Long-term bachelor George, of Saltings Road, Snodland, met his new boss yesterday (Thursday) and said he was delighted. “I’m over the moon,” he said. “I can’t

thank you enough. I’m like a pig with two tails. It’s about time we had more firms like that. Us single old boys work hard and you don’t get any hassle.” Our story was picked up by The Sun this week, yet it was not the first time George, who served in the RAF and Grenadier Guards, has appeared to the nation – he also played a soldier in the 1958 blockbuster Dunkirk. George spent decades picking up work by driving around Kent in his van, which he had to scrap last March. Since then, he was turned away whenever he mentioned his age. His new employer has offered expenses for the com-

mute to London, which George said would not be an issue. “I’ll go early, before the traffic,” he said. “I’ll try them out for a month, but the hours shouldn’t be a problem. If I could I’d work 24 hours a day, seven days a week.” Mr Mullins is known for employing staff of increasing years. He said: “They’ve got the right attitude, and there’s no substitute for experience. I hope George’s willingness to get a job will rub off on a lot of youngsters. He’s doing the right thing, rather than living off benefits. “George could’ve been Buster’s apprentice. He’s a spring chicken compared to him!”

PLUMB JOB: George Gibbs, 83, with his new boss, Pimlico Plumbers director Charlie Mullins

Bike tragedy survivor tells of her loss

Gills owner sets up charity � GILLINGHAM FC chairman Paul Scally’s son died from heart complications aged just 39 weeks – now he is setting up a charity to help children get vital heart surgery. Full story – page 15.

Monday’s Medway Messenger

Scene of the fatal accident

A WOMAN whose partner was killed in a motorcycle crash in which she was also seriously injured has said her life will never be the same again. Dr Mark Williams, of Oak Road, Strood, died in an accident with a lorry on the A228 in Snodland. His 40-year-old partner, who was his pillion passenger, was rushed to London’s Kings College Hospital after the accident on Friday last week. Now believed to have been released from the hospital, the woman, known only as Jo, thanked those who stopped to

Critic blasts smoker for ‘vile stinky habit’ OUTSPOKEN writer Giles Coren shopped a fellow guest at a Gillingham hotel he claimed was smoking cannabis. The food critic, pictured right, was thought to be staying in the Premier Inn, in Gillingham Business Park, this week. He took to his Twitter account at 11pm on Wednesday to profanely denounce a fellow guest at the £65-a-night hotel. He wrote: “By the way, if you’re the person smoking skunk in room 46 of the Premier Inn in Gillingham, I just grassed you because it stinks.” We have judiciously removed one of his infamous adjectives. Giles added: “It’s just anti-social. Vile stinky habit so he should do it at home, not in a public place like a hotel.” The author and journalist, received messages of support from his 75,000 followers. Medway Police found no record of visits to either of Medway’s Premier Inns on Wednesday. Hotel staff were unavailable for comment.

help and frantically tried to save 48-year-old Dr Williams’ life in an emotional post on our website. She said: “My only memory is waking up in hospital feeling like I’d been in a blender. I only have three broken ribs, sprained wrists and bruises, which is unbelievable. “Mark was an amazing partner to have and we were off to a Moto Guzzi event in the New Forest. “My life will never be the same, love and big thanks to everyone at the scene and at Camberwell hospital.” Flowers have been left at the

Cost of living rising? Feeling the squeeze??? Health Check

Let your debts take up the strain How? For a free financial health check

Call Now on 01344 862630 www.Settle-My-Debt.co.uk Licensed and regulated by OFT

24 Kings Street, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 2HE

scene of the accident, close to the Ham Hill roundabout. The incident, involving a Dutchregistered lorry, happened at about 11.40am on Friday. The driver of the lorry was unharmed. Many people have paid tribute to Dr Williams and described the efforts to save his life. A man who said he is Dr Williams’ brother wrote: “We are so happy that Jo is recovering, but I can only bless my brother and pray he rests easily. Thank you to all that helped at the scene.” Steve said he had visited the

scene of the accident again, having not been able to get what he saw out of his head. “I’m only sorry that we couldn’t have done more,” he wrote. And Jacqui wrote: “Jo – words fail me. To lose lovely Mark, gem of a guy – it’s so difficult to let him go and I shall miss him forever. You have my love always dear friend – just call and I’ll be there.” An inquest into Dr Williams’ death was opened and adjourned yesterday (Thursday) morning. Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward by phoning 01622 798538.