News in Thurrock

ST Margaret's church in Stanford-le-Hope was aglow with the spirit of Christmas this evening.

Youngsters from Second Stanford Scouts celebrated their annual Christingle Service at the church.

A RIGHTS group has warned the privacy of Thurrock residents could be at risk due to the borough council's use of a computer system that aims to predict who needs social care, who may become a victim of crime and who could end up sleeping on the streets.

The computer system was developed by a private company called Xantura and Thurrock has spent the past four years using it to predict if a child is at risk of abuse so social services can intervene early.

A MEMORIAL flame created by an East Tilbury stone masonry company in partnership with Thurrock Council will appear in a national art exhibition to mark 75 years of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Madstone LTD, which designed and installed the Holocaust Memorial in Palmers Rest Gardens, Grays, put together the successful submission chosen as one of 75 flames to represent each year since the liberation of Auschwitz. The flames will be displayed in an exhibition and unveiled at the UK ceremony for Holocaust Memorial Day in London on Monday, 27 January 2020.

I WAS recently contacted by the Chairman of Thurrock Independents group on Thurrock Council and he posed some questions that he intended to send to all of the candidates.

This was just prior to the Hustings at St Peter & St Paul's Church and because of that I replied to him that I wouldn't answer them until after the event.

EAST Thurrock United FC are mourning the death of club patriarch Ben Bennett after he lost a year-long fight against cancer.

Mr Bennett died at his home in the early hours of Wednesday morning, having spent the past few months bravely battling against all the odds.

A DEVELOPER is challenging a decision by Thurrock Council's planning department to block his plans to create nine new flats on the site of a former motel.

Though the site consists of a number of longstanding temporary and permanent buildings already, planning officers decided the scheme would be an intrusion into the green belt.

A WOMAN has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting two men on a late-night service out of London.

The 24-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of two counts of sexual assault and four counts of common assault, British Transport Police said.

BRITISH Transport Police officers and revenue inspectors from train operator c2c have again targeted Stanford-le-Hope station in an operation to capture fare evaders.

Last month saw a first crackdown at the station, where work has halted on a major refurbishment.

POLICE are appealing for information after a man was robbed and viciously assaulted while walking close to a cemetery in Grays.

The victim, a 32-year-old man, reported that he was walking in High Street near to St Peter and St Paul Church between 10pm and 11pm on Friday 1 November when he was approached by three men.

THE manager of a borough community hall has taken to social media after being asked to take down Christmas decorations in order to secure a fundraising booking.

Gary Byrne, who is also an independent borough councillor, says he has had a request to book Homsteads Hall on Dunstable Road, Stanford-le-Hope, for a pre-Christmas function.