Surrey Leads Way With Innovative App

Surrey County Council’s become the first local authority in the country to sign up for an innovative app that helps make caring easier for people who juggle work and looking after a loved one.

The App -Jointly- helps those supporting family or friends keep track of medication, appointments and tasks as well as connecting groups of carers so they can share information.

Surrey plans to roll out the technology to thousands of people from next month for free.

Jointly works on smartphones, tablets, laptops and home computers.

The app is available at the Apple and Google Play store.

More information here: Carers UK press release.

School Defends Teachers Over Pupils Death

A public school has defended its head teacher and chair of governors after an MP called for their resignations in the House of Commons.

Wealden MP Charles Hendry said they should resign from Worth School over their handling of the death of a pupil.

William Avery-Wright, 13, was killed in a car crash outside the school near Turners Hill, West Sussex, in 2011.

William’s mother Lisa said their resignations would have shown true contrition.

It’s alleged that William was crossing Paddockhurst Road unsupervised to play in a rugby match when he died, which breached the school’s health and safety policy.

An inquest in Crawley last year recorded that William’s death was an accident.

Surrey Police have successfully dismantled a network of suspected drug dealers after a number of raids which took place this morning.

This follows months of hard work and planning and 22 people have now been arrested on suspicion of carrying class a drugs.

The operation was mounted after Surrey Police received intelligence suggesting that drug dealers were supplying class A drugs from various addresses.

Those arrested are currently in police custody.

Vicar Charged With Sex Offences

A retired Church of England vicar from West Sussex has been charged with historic sex offences against boys and young men dating back over 40 years.

The 68 year old from Handcross faces eight charges of indecent assault on a 15-year-old boy and five males aged 17 to 34 between 1970 and 1986.

The man is on bail and will appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on 27 February.

Police Seek Coach Arson Witnesses

Sussex Police are appealing for any potential witnesses to an arson that happened last Friday in a coach park in Crawley.

West Sussex fire brigade were called to Stephenson Way to deal with a coach fire around 9.30pm on January 24th.

One coach had been extensively damaged and a second vehicle suffered some minor damage.

The incident is being treated as suspicious and is being investigated as arson.

Police are urging anyone who was in the Stephenson Way area on Friday and may have seen something suspicious to contact Sussex police on 101 quoting serial number 1460.