Police chief: Hard to control stolen gold trade


A COUNCILLOR who had his house bur- gled for jewellery asked Maidstone's police chief if anything could be done about stamping out stolen gold-for-cash transac- tions. Cllr Adrian Brindle (Shepway South) was


on a scrutiny committee quizzing members of the Safer Maidstone Partnership about the link between burglaries and drug and substance misuse. He told Chief Supt Matthew Nix (pic-


tured) he had been a burglary victim. He said it was "pretty dreadful" that someone could steal jewellery, put it in an envelope, send it to a dealer and get a cheque back in the post "with no questions asked". He won- dered if anything could be done.


"In short, no," said Ch Supt Nix. "It is a le- gitimate business. We have local premises that deal in gold and we have very close working relationships now with certain premises which have an interesting clien- tele who, potentially are, or have engaged in criminal activity. We have a very tight visiting regime and we work very closely with their manage- ment to make sure, where possible, they are doing absolutely what they should be doing.


Thanks for 20 years of service – but your job no longer exists!


A MAIDSTONE Museum em- ployee received a redundancy notice from his council employ- ers the day before he was due at a long-service celebration. Peter Smith, of the Winter-


field estate, East Malling, joined the museum in October 1990, within a few days of Sue New- man, from ParkWood. Neither of them attended the


Town Hall bash. Mr Smith said: "It seemed somewhat ironic to be congrat- ulated for giving 20 years' serv- ice at the same time as being


told you're not wanted." The pair, both stewards, are among 12 staff at the museum, the tourist information centre and the Hazlitt Theatre box of- fice who have been asked to reapply for just five new posts under a reorganisation of the services. Mr Smith said: "With the mu-


seum extension going up, you would imagine they would need more staff, not fewer. “And there will no continuity


with people working a rota be- tween the three places."


ki tchen & domest ic appl iances We’ll


match or beat any online price!


Visit our showroom www.wrightswarehouse.co.uk


01622 690246 11 Waterloo St


Wrights 24 South Est. 80yrs


Warehouse M A I D S T O N E


Maidstone ME15 7UG Open: Mon-Sat


9.00am - 5.30pm Parking available


More than just an electrical shop... Support YOUR local paper — and we can support YOU - advertise on 01622 630330


"We check the contents and work with the management - that's easier to do if it's fixed premises, and we have a number of those in the Maidstone district.” But he said it is almost impossible to do


something about stolen jewellery being posted for profit. “Could someone be send- ing off stolen goods? Yes, it is feasible they could, but we would not even know where they are going or how. It's a bit like the in- ternet age, it's very difficult to police be- cause we are unsighted on it, whereas at fixed shops we can intervene, and we do.” Ch Supt Nix added: "We have been quite


successful in Maidstone recovering stolen property going through all sorts of premises, not just the obvious gold dealers."


Bungalow refused A PROPOSAL to erect a one- bedroom bungalow and garage at 16 Westerhill Road, Cox- heath, was turned down. Maidstone Council claimed


the development would result in a cramped, intrusive and in- congruous feature that would cause harm to the character of the area.


High Street plan A RETROSPECTIVE plan has been submitted to build a three- bedroom detached home on garden land at 67 High Street, Headcorn. An application for a larger property on the site, which used to be a cattery, was refused in 2006.


Mail order company


wants more space MAIL order company Wealden Tools has applied to operate from a unit in the Clinton Busi- ness Centre, Lodge Road, Sta- plehurst. The application claims the


business has outgrown its cur- rent base in PaddockWood and wants to move to larger prem- ises. The proposal involves the insertion of a mezzanine floor.


Prep nose day CHILDREN at Sutton Valence Prep School raised £761 for the Red Nose charity by holding a ‘Mufti Day’ – wearing their own clothes – and selling cakes.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48