A woman has been ordered to pay more than £11,000 to Ashford Borough Council after claiming benefits she was not entitled to.

Caroline Mills pleaded guilty to failing to inform the council of a change in circumstances, which would have cut her benefits.

She was taken to court after receiving £7,870.24 between March 25 in 2011 and July 15 of last year.

Folkestone Magistrates’ Court heard how she continued to claim housing tax and council tax benefit for a council house in Brabourne Lees, after moving in with her husband in Monks Horton.

An investigation began after an anonymous tip. Searches of both properties were conducted, with numerous documents found at the Monks Horton residence.

Mrs Mills was given a two-year conditional discharge and said she could face further punishment if she re-offended in that time.

A Hythe man has been charged after a robbery in the town.

A businessman was taking cash to a bank in the high street in Hythe on the morning of Monday, 13 May, when he was stopped and some of the cash he was carrying was stolen.

Boyd Williams has been charged with robbery and been released on police bail.

The 21-year-old is due to appear before magistrates in June.

The A2 between Bridge and Barham was closed yesterday after a fatal collision.

Police are appealing for witnesses after the driver of a Polish-registered red Renault died at the scene when his vehicle hit a bridge.

Emergency services were called to the collision at about 1.35pm after reports that a lorry had crashed on the London bound carriageway.

The incident resulted in both carriageways being shut as the lorry was removed and repairs were carried out to the crash barrier.

East Kent are leading the way in fostering, according to the latest figures.

Kent County Council has revealed that East Kent has more than three times the number of foster carers than the West of the county.

This week marks the start of Foster Care fortnight and KCC are urging people to consider opening their homes to vulnerable children.

Jenny Whittle, Cabinet Member for Specialist Children’s Services said:

“We really need foster carers across the whole of Kent because if they are not available, children may be placed far from home, families and friends or in a children’s home instead of a family environment.

Foster care fortnight is a fantastic opportunity to think about whether you could offer love, time and care to a child who cannot be with their own family.”

Even though we are encouraging people in West and North Kent to come forward, we do not want people in the East and South to think they are not needed too. People can leave fostering at any time, perhaps to retire or because they adopt the children they are looking after, so more people are needed all the time, even in areas where there are more carers. 150 carers are still needed across all areas of Kent.”

Thieves are posing as Age Concern workers in Folkestone.

Kent Trading Standards are warning people that a man and women are asking elderly residents to discuss receiving meal deliveries as a distraction.

On one occasion the woman using the name Jennifer stayed with the victim, while a man stole prescription drugs and money from a Folkestone resident.

Age Concern no-longer exists and people are advised not to let anyone in claiming to be from that organisation.

The charity are now called Age UK.

A public meeting has been called to discuss the future of Princess Parade. The meeting intends to gather local people’s views about the future of the site and to agree a community course of action.

The land is owned by Shepway District Council, who have commissioned a report to look at the possibility of its development.

Campaigners have said the land is an area of environmental importance.

The meeting will take place on Tuesday, 14 May at 6,30pm in the Main Hall of the Hythe Bay School.

Kent is going against the national trend with an above average take-up of the MMR vaccine.  Although there has been a national increase in the number of measles cases, this has not been reflected in the county.

Kent County Council (KCC) are urging 10 – 16 year-olds to make sure they protect themselves by having the vaccination, despite Kent not having a outbreak.

KCC’s Director of Public Health, Meradin Peachey said: “Measles is a serious disease and, while there is no outbreak in Kent, nationally, numbers of cases are increasing. This is because of low vaccination numbers when today’s teenagers were babies.

“It’s important to check if you’ve been vaccinated and if not, to talk to your GP. In the same way, if you are not sure, check with your GP.

“While there is not a serious problem now, it could affect teenagers next year or the year after if they have not been vaccinated.”

The air display that was due to take place on 8 June, but organisers have cancelled the event due to funding concerns.

Yvonne Holder, event organiser said: “After a very difficult few weeks, the hard decision has been taken to cancel Folkestone airshow for a number of factors.  The first being is the financial risk of putting on this major event is too great for Folkestone Town Centre Management Ltd, a not for profit organisation, to take, in these very difficult times“.

The event was expected to bring in £12.6m to the local economy through visitor spend.   The event organiser had told Academy FM in a previous interview that they needed more help financially to make the Airshow even bigger and had organised various fundraising events ahead of the day.

The Airshow was also unable to confirm additional flying displays, due to financial constraints.

Organisers thanked people for their support for the Folkestone Airshow and hope the support continues in 2014, where it is hoped it will go ahead.

A Folkestone drama student has won a place to study with the National Youth Theatre.

Lauren Leslie will follow in the footsteps of several other Folkestone Academy students after being accepted into the country’s biggest youth theatre company.

The 16-year-old is only one of 500 young people to gain a place  out of the 4200 youngsters that auditioned.

The drama student said: “I was so surprised and pleased to be accepted”.

She will be spending two weeks in London during the summer to take part in a course that will lead to auditions for performances and movies.

Kent Police have released CCTV images from two serious incidents in Hythe and New Romney.

Officers believe the bomb hoax at the Hythe Imperial Hotel on 28 September 2012 and an attempted robbery at a Bank in New Romney on 28 March this year may be related.

A man threatened a member of staff at the hotel, where he reportedly produced a handgun before claiming there was a bomb in the hotel.

In Romney Marsh, a man allegedly entered the Lloyds TSB on the High Street where he made an attempt to rob the bank.

The two CCTV images show footage of two men they would like to speak to.

The suspects in both incidents are described as in their 60’s.

Anyone who has any information is asked to contact Kent Police on 101, quoting ZY/28750/12 or Kent Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.