Here are a selction of stories from Medway in Kent where I live ;
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/news/default.asp?article_id=34696&startrecord=-1.#INDA WOMAN was punched in the face after she refused to buy what looked like fake gold.
Joanne Valentine was left with a swollen cheekbone and is now too frightened to go out.She had just left her house in Chalkwell Road, Sittingbourne, and was walking along London Road towards the town when two cars full of what she thinks were foreign people, pulled up beside her.
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Boy attacked by woman with metal pipe
A BOY of 10 needed hospital treatment after being hit in the face and across the back by a woman wielding a metal bar.The incident happened after community tension spilled over in Luton Road, Chatham.
Police said it was being treated as racially-motivated and an investigation has been launched.
There were four women in the group of people who attacked Jake Stedman. His mother said he tried to run away but his legs collapsed beneath him.Amanda Stedman said: "He's now too frightened to go out on his own and he has to sleep in my bed now because he's so traumatised."
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'Needle' attack girl's HIV fear
A YOUNG woman faces an anxious wait after being stabbed twice in the stomach with a hypodermic needle.
Katie Dawson, 19, from Strood, fears she may have been infected with hepatitis or HIV after the attack in Chatham town centre.
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Violent robber befriended train passengers
A PROLIFIC and violent robber has been jailed after kidnapping and threatening to stab three men he made friends with on trains in Kent. Ricky Randhawa, 29, of Mulberry Road, Northfleet, faced Maidstone Crown Court charged with three counts of robbery and two counts of false imprisonment following three incidents in January this year.
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Witness appeal after assault near cricket club
POLICE are investigating after a 20-year-old man was treated in hospital for a neck injury after he was assaulted near Whitstable Cricket Club in Belmont Road.The assault happened just after midnight on Sunday. The victim, from Faversham, was taken to the QEQM Hospital in Margate. Police say the offender as an Asian youth, aged between 15 and 18, and about 5ft 7ins tall. He was wearing a blue jumper with vertical white stripes.
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Convicted student nurse 'a serial fraudster'
A 44-year-old student nurse has escaped a jail term after fleecing the NHS of more than £3,000 – despite having a previous conviction for fraud.Single mother Wuraola Okenla, of Mounts Road, Greenhithe, near Dartford, began a diploma in mental health nursing in September 2006, but lied on her claim form to inflate her NHS bursary.Okenla, who has six children aged eight to 18, said her weekly childcare costs were £225. But an audit by NHS Bursaries in December 2006 discovered they were just £75 per week.
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Blind woman's bag stolen at rail station
POLICE are appealing for help to trace a man captured on CCTV who is wanted for questioning after a blind woman had her handbag stolen at a Kent railway station. The 41-year-old victim was sitting in the booking office at Deal station on May 31 at about 12.15pm when she decided to go outside and wait for her train. She accidentally left the bag on the bench.
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A man has been jailed for four-and-a-half years for killing another man with a single punch.
Nowbahar Bahar, of Harmer Street, Gravesend, Kent, was convicted at Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday of the manslaughter of David Henkel, 32.
Mr Henkel hit his head on the ground or a wall after being punched outside a kebab shop in Chatham on 23 July 2005.
Bahar, who arrived in the UK from Afghanistan in 2001, claimed he acted in self-defence.
But the court was told by two teenage witnesses that Bahar was the only person to throw a punch during the incident on a Saturday night.
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12th november 2004
Robbers break mobile phone owner’s legs
A YOUNG man has been robbed of his mobile phone and assaulted by two men as he was walking home.
The 19-year-old was walking along the lower part of Castle Road, Chatham, on Sunday just after 12.30am, when he was attacked by two men of Eastern European appearance.
They stole his mobile phone, a blue Nokia, and assaulted him, causing fractures to both legs.
One of the robbers is described as 21-years-old and 6ft 1ins tall with a moustache. He was wearing a green fleece.
The second robber was also about 21 and 5ft 9ins tall, wearing a brown fleece.
Both offenders were described as “dark European.”
Anyone who may have seen something or have information in connection with the incident is asked to contact Medway Police on 01634 884252 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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In 2004 there were 'officially' just 74 adult asylum seekers in Medway acording to the official medway council figures above. The report above then states that of these 74 asylum seekers there were 8 crimes a month where the perpetrator was classified as an asylum seeker - thats a lot of crime for just 74 people.
7.27 The following crime figures, relating to January to July 2004, do not include verification that the person involved was actually an asylum seeker so the picture below includes cases where the perpetrator has been described as an asylum seeker. On average there are 8 crimes a month where the perpetrator is described as an asylum seeker, 3 where asylum seekers are the victim and 4 crimes where both the perpetrator and victim are described as asylum seekers. 7 out of the 100 crimes during this period (involving people described as asylum seekers) would be categorised as major incidents by the police.
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A policewoman has told councillors in Medway that the number of asylum seekers is five or six times greater than official figures.
At a meeting for asylum groups, Pc Caroline Pope said crime had risen and asylum seekers were in part to blame.
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3.4 Funding is provided from the standards fund and Medway Council. For 2004/05 the standards fund allocation is £343,320, 50 % of which is funded from Department for Education and Skills (DfES) standards fund grant. £150,000 (the maximum permitted) is retained centrally to subsidise the cost of the service to schools, in part by meeting the costs of the management of the service. The balance of £193,320 is devolved to schools. A further £375,618 is provided by Medway Council and delegated to schools. There is additional funding to support asylum seekers. This is part of the vulnerable children standards fund allocation and the distribution between the various elements is determined annually. The allocation for 2004-2005 for this purpose is £60,000.
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