Sittingbourne

Our local Member Of Parliament for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, Gordon Henderson, has declared his backing for Boris Johnson to become the next Leader of the Conservative Party and the UK's Prime Minister. He has confirmed that this was the first choice for members of the Sittingbourne and Sheppey Conservative Association in a Facebook post earlier today (copied above).

Two people were taken to hospital following the accident between Junctions 5 (Sittingbourne) and 6 (Faversham) overnight.

Kent Police confirmed that they were called at 9.47pm last night (Thursday 6th June) following a report of a single-vehicle crash. It's believed that an off-duty doctor and an off-duty police officer helped at the scene of the accident where two people were trapped and had to be freed by the Kent Fire & Rescue Service.

They were then taken to hospital by the South east Coast Ambulance Service.

A dispute over taxi money led to an offender threatening a man with a machete outside a Sittingbourne pub.

James Hilden, also known as Jimmy, produced the weapon after the victim refused to give him money for a lift home in October 2018. He later visited the victim's house and intentionally drove into five vehicles parked on their drive.

Cllr Roger Truelove has been elected as leader of a new coalition administration at Swale Borough Council.

The Leader was elected by fellow councillors at the Annual Council meeting last night (Wednesdat 22nd May) following elections earlier this month.

The meeting also saw a new cabinet and deputies appointed to make decisions on resources and priorities to deliver and implement the budget and policies decided by the council.

The new cabinet is made up of:

Sittingbourne based Ambition Motorsport had their team van containing team equipment, kids karts/engines and kids equipment stolen from Northwood Road in the early hours of yesterday (Thursday 16th May) morning at around 3.40am.

The Conservatives have lost control of Swale Borough Council after this year's Local Elections.

In a shock result from Boughton And Courtenay Council Leader Andrew Bowles lost his seat.

The full results (by party) were as follows:-

Ten charges relating to the theft of fragrances, cleaning products and groceries from various shops in Sittingbourne have been made against one woman.

Michelle Bull is alleged to have targeted stores in the High Street, Eurolink Way, Northwood Drive, Quartz Way and Sheppey Way in Bobbing, on ten occasions between Friday 8th February and Friday 26th April.

The combined value of items stolen is reported to be worth over £1,400.

The 30-year-old, of no fixed address, has been remanded in custody to appear at Medway Magistrates' Court today (Friday 3rd May).

More than 400 vehicles were speed checked by Kent Volunteer Police Cadets on Saturday (27th April).

The cadets, based with the force's Sittingbourne troop, attended four locations across Sittingbourne and Sheppey for a day of road safety checks.

Each used speed guns to record a vehicle's speed and provided words of advice to drivers who had been stopped due to their speeding.

The roads checked were Woodstock Road in Sittingbourne, Chestnut Street in Danaway and both Scocles Road and Minster Roads, in Minster-On-Sea.

22 members of the Sittingbourne Striders took to the streets of London for the 39th Marathon this Sunday, along with 42,000 other runners who in total raise over £1billion for charity in one the highlights of the UK running calendar.

Lee Simpson was the first Strider to cross the finish line, with an impressive time of 3hrs26mins31secs, and Alison Davey was the first lady strider over the line coming in at 4hrs27mins48secs

Results:

Lee Simpson 03:26:31

Gabor Toth 03:27:07

Swale Police officers are searching for a suspected runaway thief after being called to a report of two men travelling in a suspected stolen vehicle on Swale Way, Kemsley, at around about noon today (Wednesday 17th April).

A police spokesman told SFM News: "our officers located the van in stationary traffic and, as they approached it, two men are reported to have made off on foot."

It's believed that following a search of the local area a 17-year-old boy from the Sittingbourne area was arrested on suspicion of theft and remains in police custody.