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Wednesday January 9 | 2019
PERSONAL GROWTH ON WEST KENT MIND ALLOTMENT
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Police seek witnesses after pensioner killed
FRIENDS REUNITED
Lisa Stokes (left) with Basil and his owner Julia Rabbitt; Ms Stokes found the cocker spaniel after an appeal on social media went viral. Turn to page 2. PHOTO: Kerry Barton/Studio 23
THE police are appealing for information from the public after a pensioner from Tonbridge was killed by a car in Tunbridge Wells. Serious Collision investigation officers are appealing for witnesses to the fatal collision, which took place on Chapman Way in High Brooms near its junction with North Farm Road. The incident occurred at around 8.20am on Friday [January 4]. The deceased, who was in his 70s but has not been named, was hit by a grey Land Rover Freelander.
Arrested The Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex attended but the man was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the vehicle, a man in his 50s from Tunbridge Wells, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by careless driving. He has been released pending further investigation. Officers are trying to establish the circumstances of the collision and are calling on anyone with dash-cam footage in the area to contact them. Please call 01622 798538 quoting reference 04-0270 or email sciu.td@kent.pnn.police.uk
Murder victim was struck on head in taxi By Andy Tong andy@timesoftonbridge.co.uk THE man alleged to have been murdered by his brother died in a taxi after a traumatic blow to the head. Carl Eldred, 33, is accused of killing his older brother Lee Eldred, from Tonbridge, near Hadlow Manor Hotel on Friday December 28. The father of two, from Little Footway in Langton Green, appeared at Maidstone Crown Court on January 3 to confirm his name, date of birth and nationality. He was further remanded and will appear before the same court to enter a plea on January 28. Judge David Griffith-Jones set a provisional trial date for June 10. Bail was refused and an inquest was opened. The court heard that the 36-year-old died from ‘a traumatic blow to the side of the head near the left ear’. The brothers, who were described as being ‘very close indeed’, are alleged to have had an argument in a taxi
on the A26 while returning from a night out with friends and family. Carl Eldred, who runs the Rocket Re-Finishing panelbeating business in Plaxtol, appeared by video link from Elmley Prison. The brothers’ father Trevor and Carl Eldred’s wife were among the family members who attended the court proceedings.
Very close Danny Moore, defending, said: “It is a real tragedy in many senses of the word. It is a highly unusual case. These two men were very close indeed.” The coroner’s office said Lee Eldred became unresponsive and CPR was carried out. Police and paramedics were called and attempts to revive him continued but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The post-mortem concluded that he died from a traumatic brain injury.
CHARGED Carl Eldred