It has certainly been an eventful few weeks since my last update to you. We dealt with the tragic deaths of Harry and Elise Donnison at Heathfield and the subsequent impact on the local community. Our thoughts are of course still with the families involved and we await the outcome of the investigation and any trial.

Our crime has continued to fall although we are not complacent and continue to employ a variety of means to catch those who think they can commit crime here.

Our neighbourhoods consistently tell me that anti social behaviour is their priority. We will be launching a new intiative shortly with our partners to combat anti social behaviour around the district. This will incorporate the ability for people to phone us on a dedicated number at weekends to report incidents and will also involve working with the youth offending team to make sure that young people under the influence of alcohol are firstly safe and secondly taken home by their parents who may not otherwise be aware of their behaviour!

You may remember in August last year there was a nasty incident in Herstmonceux where a wedding party was gate crashed by four members of the same family. This family had blighted the neighbourhood for some time with anti social behaviour and we were already working towards gaining anti social behaviour orders for them. All four were sentenced at crown court this week following this incident and I am very pleased to report that three were jailed for periods of 8 months and 12months and the fourth received a fine and a conditional discharge. I hope that this sends out a clear message to those in the community who want to engage in this sort of behaviour that it will not be tolerated and we will actively pursue them.

This week also saw the sad death of a local man following an industrial accident at a premises in Hailsham. We are currently working with the health and safety executive to investigate the circumstances.

I will of course keep you updated with events as they happen but I am hoping for a more peaceful few weeks ahead!

Regards

Julia