Home Secretary Visits France On Border Patrol

Tough UK border checks based in France designed to stop illegal immigrants from entering the UK, were seen today by the Home Secretary Theresa May on her first visit to the border controls in Calais. The Home Secretary met her French counterpart, Minister Claude Guéant in Calais as well as UK Border Agency officers, French and UK police officers and representatives from the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) to discuss how people and technology are working together to secure the UK border. This joint working has led to nine organised crime gangs being dismantled and more than 170 arrests in the past year. UK Border Agency officers working at the Channel Tunnel UK Controls showed Mrs May how intelligence is used to select passengers suspected of smuggling banned goods. Mrs May was also shown the technology and techniques, including the use of CO2 probes and sniffer dogs, used at the ferry port to check lorries are not carrying illegal immigrants. The Home Secretary visited the Joint Operational Coordination Centre (JOCC) where French and UK officers work together to tackle the threat posed by organised immigration crime. It allows greater intelligence sharing, a joint approach to border security and inter-agency operations to counter illegal migration.

Police Search For Missing 16-Year-Old Girl

Police are concerned for the welfare of a 16-year-old who is missing from a care home in Sussex. Kerry Lea Hamilton was last seen in May 2011 at a McDonalds in Rye Lane in Peckham. She is described as black, medium build, 5'4", wearing her hair short, possibly dyed orange at present. She was last seen wearing blue jeans and a grey top, carrying a black and gold bag. DC Rhianne Trill of Greenwich police said: "Kerry is a vulnerable teenager who has been missing before. We are concerned for her welfare whilst out on the streets of London. Anyone with information about Kerry's whereabouts should contact police immediately." Police believe that Kerry is staying in the Peckham area but she also has connections to Croydon, Lewisham, Lambeth and Greenwich.

PCSO Charged With Possession Of Drugs

A Met Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) has been charged with possession of cocaine. Jennifer Payne, 27, from north London, will appear on bail at Brent Magistrates' Court on 16 June following her arrest on 3 June. A woman aged in her late twenties was arrested at approximately 17.00hrs on 3 June, on suspicion of possession of class A drugs, as part of a joint drugs operation between Brent police and British Transport Police outside Kilburn London Underground station. She was taken to a north London police station and subsequently charged.

(BMcN/GK)