Owner outrage as police free intruder


WHEN a sleeping Tim Ferris was stirred by noises in the night, he was shaken. But when police let off the would-be burglar he trapped in his porch, the 53-year old estate agent was incensed. Mr Ferris, who lives in Thurnham Lane, Bearsted, and has offices in Bearsted and Pe- nenden Heath, was awakened from his slumbers by the bark- ing of his seven-year old black labrador, Sparky. On closer in- vestigation, he found aman try- ing to force the inner door of his back porch. Throwing on some clothes,


Mr Ferris nipped out of a side door and ran round to the back, locking the intruder inside the porch. He then dialled 999 and waited for the police to turn up. On what was one of the cold-


est mornings of the year, Mr Ferris shivered in sub-zero tem- peratures with snow falling around him for almost 30 min- utes – but didn’t let up his vigil. And when police arrived,


they arrested the 40-year old in- truder and threw him in the cells overnight. Imagine, then, the business-


man’s surprise to be told that the man had been released the following morning, without any charges being brought. “First they tried to tell me


Baby born on


packed train A YOUNG woman gave birth to ababygirlonapackedcom- muter train atWest Malling. Sonia Banks, 22, went into labour shortly after boarding the 6.18pm service from Lon- don Victoria to Ashford Inter- national at Borough Green on March 7. An off-duty midwife and


nurse responded to train driver Rob Friend’s plea for help, and assisted until emergency serv- ices arrived. An off-duty police officer helped clear the carriage to give the mum-to-be, her part- ner Allan Stanley, 21, and his mother Mari-Anne Stanley, some privacy. Baby Phoebe was born just 30 minutes after Ms Banks’ con- tractions started. She weighed 6lb 13oz and was born a week early. A Southeastern spokesman


said both mum and baby were doing well after the birth and the train company sent Ms Banks flowers and tweeted a congratulatory message. Conductor Colin Brooker


said: “We had everyone we needed right there on the train. We were only missing a vicar to baptise the baby! I kept all the passengers on board informed about the delay, and there was a big cheer when we announced the baby had been born.”


6 East Tim Ferris in his back porch


that the man had been drunk – but he didn’t appear drunk to me,” said Mr Ferris. “Then they said it was a mistake, and the man had been trying to get into the wrong house. How? By shouldering the door? Surely, a normal person would use a key.” To get to Mr Ferris’ detached property, the intruder would first have had to scale an elec- tric five-barred gate and cross an expanse of gravel drive be- fore heading round to the back of the house – not the most ob- vious door to use. “That seems to be an awful


lot of trouble for someone who has gone to the wrong house,”


said Mr Ferris, “especially when it transpired the man came from Tenterden.” It was around 3am when po-


lice left the scene and a chilled and shaken Mr Ferris, who had been wearing only a tracksuit and slippers, was able to return to bed. He offered to give police a statement, but due to the late- ness of the hour, they suggested it should wait until the follow- ing morning. Mr Ferris said: “They said


they were about to go off duty and someone would come the following morning, but nobody did. Then someone rang me from the station and said they were releasing the man because he hadn’t been doing anything. Iwas furious and said Iwanted to give a statement. So they said they would come and take one – but, again, nobody did. “The whole thing was farcical.


If the man claimed to be drunk, why didn’t they breath-test him and charge him with being drunk and disorderly? If he was- n’t drunk, why wasn’t he charged with attempted bur- glary? “If he was supposed to be


going to a party nearby, whose party was it? They don’t seem to have asked too many questions of him. It doesn’t look as though anybody was really interested in


the case apart from me.” Police have now launched a


full investigation into the inci- dent. A spokesman said: “Po- lice were called to an address in Thurnham Lane, Bearstead, in the early hours of February 23. A man was arrested at the scene, but was later released without charge. A complaint has subsequently been received and is being handled by the force’s professional standards department. “Following the complaint,


we are carrying out a full re- view of the incident. It is ab- solutely untrue to suggest that people are getting away with crime because we don’t have sufficient resources to respond to incidents and crimes in progress. We have officers available around the clock to respond to crimes and take the appropriate action.” Mr Ferris said: “What is the


point in trying to protect your home and property if would-be burglars are let off scot-free? It makes me wonder why I stood out in the snow all that time for nothing to come of it – and what would have happened had he broken into my house?” The police spokesman added:


“We will be working with Mr Ferris to resolve his dissatisfac- tion with the service he re- ceived.”


Pub to be converted into homes


FORMER pub The Ten Bells in Leeds is to be converted into two homes. Richard Scutt has also been


given planning permission to erect three dwellings to the rear of the site in Upper Street. The scheme was originally withdrawn in September last year over concerns about it fit- ting in with the conservation area and the overlooking of nearby homes. But after the applicant made amendments to the position of windows in one of the units and changing the colour and brick- work on one of the other homes


to complement Churchill Cot- tages, it satisfied both the parish council andMaidstone Council planning officers, who used del- egated powers to give the scheme the go-ahead. A modern extension to the


pub will also be demolished and replaced with something more in keeping with the local- ity.


The applicant defended the permanent closure of the pub by saying it was no longer viable and that the village is still catered for with The George Inn. A supporting statement said: “The application proposes to


Pupils’ boost for toilet twinning PUPILS at Bearsted’s Roseacre Junior School are flushed with success having raised £946.57 for toilet twinning. It is the first school in Kent to twin all 12 of their toiletswith latrines overseas, in countries such as Cambodia, Nepal and Burundi. The fundraising started in September and included sales of


cakes and toys. It will enable toilet twinning, a partnership be- tween development agencies Cord and Tearfund, to help some of the 2.5 billion people worldwide without decent sanitation. Jan Turner, a year 6 teacher, praised the pupils’ maturity in un- derstanding the challenges faced by children without access to a toilet. Roseacre students “picked up on the fact that girls ap- proaching puberty will stop going to school if there is no privacy in the toilets,” she said. One pupil challenged toilet humour head-on in her assembly presentation, saying: “I know you are going to laugh, but you can stop it right now, because this is serious,” she said. To find out more about toilet twinning or to twin your own loo, go to www.toilettwinning.org


Visit Downs Mail’s website — downsmail.co.uk


preserve and augment the his- toric character of the existing public house through a respect- ful conversion to two private houses, whilst adding three new houses to the site. “The new proposals will be undertaken using high quality materials and detailing in a complementary yet contempo- rary manner.” The council added the condi-


tion that an acoustic survey should be carried out. Four of the homes will be three-bed, with the other a four-bed. There will be 11 car parking spaces to the front.


Home agreed CONSENT was granted for a detached four-bedroom single storey home in the rear garden of Hillah, Cossington Road, Walderslade. Neighbours voiced concern


about being overlooked and possible flooding as a result of the introduction of hardstand- ing. A proposal for a two-storey home had been refused by planning officers due to the prospect of overlooking. Maidstone Council’s plan-


ning committee was quite clear there were no grounds for re- fusal. Permission was granted through 10 votes for,with three abstentions.


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