South East news: Week in review

BBC News looks back at some of the stories making the headlines in the South East over the past week.

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Radioactive fear over MoD tests

A leaked Ministry of Defence document revealed that tests conducted in the 1940s used radioactive materials, it was reported on Monday.

The tests were in support of the UK nuclear weapons programme

The briefing sheet said the tests on the Shoeburyness ranges, in Essex, off the north Kent coast, could have resulted in some contamination.

Marked "internal distribution only", the document said some drains, land and buildings could have been affected.

Thanet MP Roger Gale called for the site to be shut down. The MoD said the risk to local people was very small.

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Family's anger over Ashley files

The family of a man shot dead by Sussex Police during a raid criticised the force for not releasing its case files.

Sussex Police received a request to see papers under the Freedom of Information Act, but refused saying copying and legal costs would be too high.

James Ashley, from Liverpool, was unarmed and in bed when he was shot dead in Hastings in 1998.

On Tuesday, his brother, Tony, accused the force of trying hide the report with a "bogus argument".

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Dismay over books dumped in skip

Book lovers in Brighton expressed dismay on Wednesday after the council dumped more than 100 old library books in a skip.

Oxfam said the sale of the books could help supply people with water

The books were thrown out by the city council to make way for thousands of new ones bought for a new library due to open in the North Laine in March.

A builder working nearby saw the books and took them to the Oxfam bookshop.

The manager of the shop said the books could be sold to aid charity work. The council said it had tried to sell them but no-one wanted to buy them.

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Family in trial plea for detainee

The brother of a law student held in Guantanamo Bay pleaded for him to receive "proper justice".

British resident Omar Deghayes, 35, from Brighton, has been held at the US military base, in Cuba, since 2002.

As the family appealed to the British government for efforts to secure his release, lawyers claimed he had been made blind in one eye by US military police.

The family fled Libya after his father was assassinated. On Thursday, they called for him to "have a fair trial".

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Asbestos find at plant is 'safe'

A Kent power station was running again on Friday after asbestos was discovered.

The control room of Kingsnorth Power Station was evacuated

Kingsnorth Power Station on the Hoo Peninsula was shut down and evacuated on Thursday after staff found a suspicious powder in the control room.

All four generating units were shut down because they could not be operated while the control room was out of action.

A spokesman for E On UK, which runs the plant, said staff resumed work at 0300 GMT after asbestos levels were deemed "perfectly safe".

The powder discovered was "well below the asbestos units set for a safe working environment," Rebecca Jackson said.

She said they would be working with specialists to find the source.