A GP surgery in Braintree has banned patients from complaining about the practice on social media.

St Lawrence Medical Practice in Bocking End, Braintree, put up a notice telling patients they risk breaching a "zero tolerance policy" when making complaints or comments on Twitter or Facebook.

The decision to crack down on social media comments was made when staff saw abusive and aggressive posts about the practice on Facebook.

The surgery has since told the BBC that they have amended the sign to clarify their social media policy.

A MAN arrested on suspicion of assault over a chemical attack in Witham has been released on bail.

The 19-year-old was arrested on Sunday after an e-fit of a suspect was released on Saturday.

The man was taken to Colchester Police Station and released today on bail until October 13.

A spokesman for the force said: "Detectives urgently want to speak to anyone in the area who saw a Vauxhall Sigma car and two suspects exiting from it.

"We also want to hear from anyone who might remember that car's registration number."

Any witnesses with information can call officers at Braintree Police Station on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously 0800 555 111.

POLICE and council officers will step up patrols at the county's two major festivals this month in a crackdown on legal highs and "laughing gas".

Essex Police, Essex County Council, Trading Standards and Chelmsford City Council issued a joint warning this week ahead of V Festival in Hylands Park and Brownstock Festival in Stow Maries.

Tragedy hit Brownstock last year when 33-year-old reveller Jonathan Graham was hospitalised and later died after it is believed he took legal high 5-EAPB.

"So called legal highs are extremely dangerous because there is nothing to regulate what they are made from," said Essex County Council cabinet member for trading standards Roger Walters.

"Some contain illegal drugs or can lead to serious medical emergencies and even death.

"I want festival-goers to have fun but not to take a risk with either so-called legal highs or nitrous oxide."

While about 150 police officers flooded V Festival last year, arresting 75 people on suspicion of drug possession, an Essex Police spokesman said the force will this year take a zero-tolerance approach to legal highs and laughing gas.

Nitrous oxide, coined laughing gas because of the euphoric effect it has, is typically carried in small silver metal canisters and inhaled via balloons.

Police believe those taking nitrous oxide, legitimately used in dental work to numb pain, risk death as it restricts a person's intake of oxygen.

Cllr Walters said the county council will deploy "two or three" officers at the festivals to try confiscating laughing gas, also known in some circles as hippy crack, claiming it was sold at about £5 a piece on site last year.

"We have a duty along with the police to make sure people are safe and healthy," added Cllr Walters.

"It's very important following the death at Brownstock last year to crack down on legal highs this year. The legal highs trade is very, very dangerous to young people."

Donna Martin, substance misuse trainer for the Drug and Alcohol Partnership, said: "I strongly urge festival-goers this summer to take the advice that legal highs could at best ruin your festival experience and at worst be fatal to you or your friends."

While legal highs are, by definition, legal and not yet incorporated in the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, Essex Police have stressed they will arrest anyone possessing substances before testing what they confiscate in the lab in search of illegal traces.

Essex Police chief superintendent Simon Williams, the lead officer at V Festival this year, said: "We would like to remind festival-goers that legal highs will not be tolerated at V Festival.

"If anyone is found selling these products, they will be prosecuted."

A police spokesman added: "Those arrested risk being released on police bail and then having to return to an Essex police station in the future regardless of where they live in the country."

A HOUSING association with homes in Braintree and Witham says it has seen a rise in tenants reporting domestic abuse.

Greenfields Community Housing, which is holding a domestic violence campaign this month, says the number of reports in the 18 months leading up to June this year are up 20 per cent.

The association's staff and board members, residents and other organisations will show their support for the campaign by wearing white ribbons and dressing in white.

James Martin, positive engagement co-ordinator at Greenfields, said: "We want to make it clear to our residents that domestic abuse of any kind is unacceptable.

"Although we can't stop it, we hope that by explaining what constitutes domestic abuse and providing ways for victims to seek help and support, we can help to reduce it.

"Domestic abuse can include physical and psychological attacks as well as sexual or financial abuse.

"It happens within intimate relationships, as well as between family members and it forms a pattern of bullying and controlling behaviours. It is rarely a one-off event and it tends to get worse over time."

Greenfields own the house in Bartram Avenue, Braintree, where Christine Chambers, 38, was living when her ex-partner David Oakes tortured her before shooting her dead along with their two-and-a-half-year old daughter, Shania, over a bitter custody row.

Oakes, 51, then turned the gun on himself on that fateful night on June 6, 2011. But he survived to stand trial and was convicted of the double murder in May 2012.

Oakes died in jail of cancer nine months into his life prison term.

A Greenfields tenant who was a victim of domestic violence, but did not want to be named, said: "Being in an abusive relationship made me feel so low and worthless, I hated having to lie to family and friends about how I got the bruises.

"My neighbourhood coordinator has given me so much support, she showed me that I wasn't alone and there are people out there who are understanding and want to help, not just for me but for my children too.

"With the help I have received I now feel confident to get on with my life and be a stronger person.

"If anyone is suffering what I have suffered I hope they have the courage to report it."

The housing association says domestic abuse is often unreported and has continued to increase.

Leaflets and posters have been distributed that explain about different types of domestic abuse, providing contact details of organisations, such as Victim Support and Men's Advice Service.

Greenfields is also working with Braintree doctors' surgeries St Lawrence and Blyths Meadows to provide ways for victims to be given useful contact details without any risk of the abusers finding out.

A DAUGHTER will trek "the Impenetrable Forest" in Uganda to raise money for Bowel Cancer UK, which helped her father overcome the disease.

Rebekah Prince's father Charles was lucky to survive a long battle with bowel cancer, so she decided to take on the ten-day trek to help raise funds and awareness.

On October 14 she will fly to the Bwindi national park on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and take on volcanic mountains and deep valleys, not to mention the creepy-crawlies.

"I know it will be an immense struggle but when I'm climbing the mountain I will tell myself that there are tons of people with bowel cancer who would love to be walking up a mountain in Uganda," Rebekah said.

"I'm doing the trek for a combination of reasons. So many people don't talk about symptoms of bowel cancer because they're embarrassed.

"I think my dad was one of them, but he was lucky because they caught it in time, but he still had the majority of his bowel removed," added the 36-year-old from Danbury, who discovered he had bowel cancer in 2013.

"The research done by Bowel Cancer UK enabled my dad to survive."

Rebekah will trek 65 miles of The Impenetrable Forest, which is infamous for its obstructed ground that is immersed in overgrown plants.

And Rebekah has worked hard on her fitness to prepare for the trek, during which she will walk for eight to ten hours a day, as high as 3,645 metres up one of the highest peaks in the region.

She added: "It's coming round extremely fast and I've been doing all I can to prepare, and that means making a lot of my friends visit to help train with me – even if it's just four miles it all helps.

"I've been using the hills in Danbury, but I know they don't compare to the mountains I'll be travelling up."

This is Rebekah's third similar trek after Machu Picchu in Peru in 2011 and the Himalayas in 2013 for Havens Hospices, and she hopes to raise £3,500.

Rebekah is a professional healer specialising in the Theta Healing and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) also known as tapping, and says this has helped her throughout her rigorous training regime.

She said: "The Theta training I have been given helps me to think positively about any situation and addresses the emotional and psychological stresses, so at the harder points in training I have never struggled for motivation."

Danbury Sports and Social Centre donated a six-month free gym membership to Rebekah so she can train for the trek.

Visit www.justgiving.com/Rebekah-Prince1 to sponsor Rebekah for her trek.

Students in Essex are some of the most satisfied with their education in the UK, according to National Student Survey results.

The University of Essex achieved an overall rating of 91 per cent which placed it sixth out of the mainstream English universities – its highest ever score.

The University maintained or improved on its best ratings since the NSS began ten years ago for satisfaction with teaching (89%), assessment and feedback (77%), learning resources (83%) and personal development (84%).

High levels of satisfaction were also recorded for academic support (83%) and organisation and management (86%).

Thirteen out of Essex's sixteen schools, departments and centres covered by the NSS achieved overall satisfaction scores of 90% or more, with the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, East 15 Acting School and the Department of Language and Linguistics achieving 95 per cent or above.

Subjects at Essex ranked in the top 10 nationally for student satisfaction included Nursing, Computer Science, European Languages and Area Studies, Philosophy, Performing Arts and Other Creative Arts.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor Education Professor Aletta Norval said that giving students a learning experience that helps the, to grow and develop was their highest priority.

She added: "We have been listening to students and developing how we work with them and our Students' Union to offer the educational opportunities and facilities they need.

"We are committed to a research-led education, where students learn to challenge, to argue and to generate new knowledge, developing the skills they need for a fulfilling future.

"We are investing in new facilities including our £26 million student centre and library extension, which open next year, in our careers and employability services and in our Students' Union.

"Working with the Students' Union, we are looking to ensure students have even more opportunities to gain work and volunteering experience, and to take advantage of the broad range of sports and societies Essex offers, to develop their skills and experience."

President of the Students' Union Chantel Le Carpentier said: "The University of Essex has made a genuine commitment to working in partnership with the Students' Union to deliver the best experience and education for students at Essex.

"I'm confident that we are already seeing changes around campus and in the classroom to fulfil this commitment.

"Through extensive research and continual feedback from students, the Students' Union is working to make sure that the university is adapting to the every changing student need.

"The Union believes in the University's commitment to excellence in both research and education and that we cannot have excellent research without delivering that in the classroom."

Students have taken more opportunities than ever this year to enhance their experience at Essex, with a record number of 3,000 joining a club or society, and more than 1,000 undertaking volunteering work.

Over 500 students completed the Big Essex award, an initiative which allows their extra-curricular achievements to be recorded on their degree transcripts.

As the University of Essex enters its 50th anniversary year, it is ranked one of the top 2% of universities in the world, and earlier this year came 22^nd among world universities less than 50 years old.

Students hoping to make the big step to university later this year will be eagerly waiting for the results of their A Levels this week.

Many of the county's colleges open their doors from around 9am on Thursday for the most eager of students to collect.

The colleges receive the results on Wednesday before sorting through the information for students the next day.

However, some may opt to receive the results themselves by email rather than subject themselves to potential public disappointment. There is also the option of logging on to the UCAS website to find out if you have been successful.

The Essex Chronicle will provide full coverage of A Level results across our circulation area from Thursday morning.

A TRAVELLER accused of attempting to murder a man has been found not guilty after the trial collapsed yesterday (August 11).

David Moss, 43, of Chelmsford Road, Chelmsford was alleged to have stabbed Sam Moss, 40, in a Surrey village car park in his chest and back. He denied the charge.

But the prosecution offered no evidence regarding the events, said to have happened at around 11am on Saturday, February 22 because key witnesses could not attend court for the foreseeable future.

Judge Christopher Critchlow recorded a not guilty verdict.

Film lovers and fans of Hollywood film star and comic Robin Williams have spent the day recalling their favourite films after the actor's death was announced this morning.

The Mrs Doubtfire and Good Will Hunting star was pronounced dead at his home in California in an apparent suicide. He was found unconscious and not breathing.

He had most recently been admitted to rehab after battling alcohol and drugs addiction.

The actor was first known for his portrayal of an alien in the 1970s sitcom Mork and Mindy, a character first seen in the sitcom Happy Days.

He also plied his trade as a stand-up comedian while continuing to appear in the likes of Dead Poets Society, Mrs Doubtfire and as Aladdin. Fans took to the Essex Chronicle Facebook page to recall their favourite films.

Rachel Stone said: "Hook, Good Will Hunting, Mrs Doubtfire, Good Morning Vietnam. Jack, Patch Adams! Too many to name a favourite!! Poor man!

Anji Smith wrote: "The fisher king, dead poets society, more and minty, Aladdin, good morning Vietnam...I can't choose; so many greats. The world has lost an amazing man, I hope he has found peace xxx

Meanwhile, Sharon Willson wrote "Far too many to narrow it down to one. I don't think he ever made a bad film and Claire Hardwick said "Too many to list but I hope he has finally found inner peace. RIP to a great man xxxxx"

What were your favourite Robin Williams films and memories? Register and share them below

Arsenal stars Lukas Podolski and Joel Campbell have been linked with moves to Galatasaray,

Reports suggest Galatasarary are lining a £28m double deal for the pair, who both appeared in this year's World Cup.

Costa Rica striker Campbell has been valued at £8m and is the more likely to move, with Podolski valued at a heftier £20m.

Campbell had previously been linked with a loan move to West Ham United.

Animal lovers who helped to re-home 3,000 ducks given away by a Chelmsford farmer have set up a facebook group aiming to reunite the rescuers.

Quack 3000 has set an ambitious target to bring together those who claimed the birds from Norton Field Farm, based off the A414, during that crazy weekend at the start of the month.

The group, set up today, is already uploading pictures and videos of their feathered friends splashing about in paddling pools and ponds.

The rescue bid was mounted after the Essex Chronicle publicised farmer Ian Chisholm's appeal for prospective owners, after he warned the ducks would be slaughtered. The story was then spread far and wide on social media - reaching more than 200,000 people.

A dispute with his supplier Cherry Valley left him with too many males, and without the resources to look after them.

Are you one of the duck owners? How are you getting on? Let us know by commenting below.

A MAN accused of raping a child unwittingly handed himself into police when he told officers the now grown-up woman was blackmailing him with the allegations, a court heard.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sent a text message to Chelmsford man Wesley Eselojor threatening to tell police he raped her as a child if he did not pay her £5,000, Chelmsford Crown Court heard on Monday (August 11).

Eselojor subsequently showed the message to officers, prompting an immediate investigation and his arrest.

The 50-year-old former London Underground worker, of Belvawney Close, is standing trial accused of four counts of indecent assault, one of indecency with children and three of rape against the girl when she was aged between 12 and 16.

"It was a rather unusual means in which it came to the attention of police," said prosecutor David Wilson.

"It was not until her birthday that the complainant decided that she would come and reveal what had taken place as far as her childhood was concerned.

"The first movement she took was to contact this defendant about what had taken place between her and him when she was a child. She did this by way of a text communication.

"She will tell you that she wanted an admission from him but what she actually did and – you can question the wisdom of this – was to text him wanting £5,000 in money or otherwise, in a few days, she would tell her mother, father, brother, auntie and police everything that had gone on in her childhood, and how he had sexually abused her starting from around the age of 12 or 13."

Mr Wilson told the court that Nigerian Eselojor then visited Chelmsford police station last year to show them the message.

Three days later police interviewed the alleged victim, who then made her allegations.

In police recordings, shown to the jury of 10 women and two men, the alleged victim claimed Eselojor first raped her by luring her into watching cartoon classic Tom And Jerry together.

Mr Wilson added: "The defendant threatened her at the time that if she told anybody her mother would 'go away' and that was effectively a way of buying her silence.

"For some reason however she decided this was an age at which she would extract from the defendant a form of confession from him.

"Well, the defendant didn't admit any of the contact and reported it and brought it to the attention of the police."

Eselojor vehemently denied the accusations in police interviews and claimed he had no idea why the victim was making them.

Eselojor continues to deny all the offences. The trial continues.

PLANS for a 2.5 million tonne gravel pit and 328 new houses in Rivenhall will have a "disastrous" impact on the village, it has been claimed.

The proposed minerals and gravel excavation at the 46-hectare site at Colemans Farm is part of the Essex County Council's Minerals Local Plan, and one of four potential sites in the Braintree and Witham district.

The other sites include Rivenhall Airfield, Bradwell quarry and the 90-hectare quarry at Broadfield Farm in Rayne.

Despite cross-party objections from Braintree district councillors and a planning inspector's review of the scheme, the Minerals Local Plan was given the go-ahead last month.

Now the plan has been adopted into the county council's strategy planning applications, formal planning permission can be made for the four sites that will see up to 20 million tonnes of gravel excavated over 16 years.

"The Coleman's Farm site is the one we have the biggest concerns about. Our number one concern is the traffic and the big gravel lorries needed for the quarry," said Green Party and Rivenhall parish councillor James Abbott.

"There is also the question of access on to the road as well.

"We've been given assurances that they won't come down Oak Road but we don't feel very secure about that.

"It could be disastrous for the village as well as for Little Braxted and Witham as the added heavy traffic could come through the town as well."

Cllr Graham Butland, leader of Braintree District Council, said: "The district council has yet to have any formal meetings on how we will act on this application.

"But I have no doubt we will be making presentation to Essex County Council against these proposals."

There is also a planning application by the same developer as Colemans Farm quarry, for 328 houses in Forest Row in the north-east of Witham, which borders Rivenhall.

The land owner of both the Colemans Farm quarry in Little Braxted Lane and the Forest Row development on the outskirts of Witham defended the plan.

"The lorries will not be coming through Rivenhall, they won't need to go down Oak Road," said Simon Brice.

"There is a shortage of housing, the council needs more houses and the county council needs gravel and aggregates to build new houses, roads and schools.

"The quarry is a future biodiversity site.

"Councils have a lot of difficult decisions to make.

"There's been no collusion with councillors.

"They make decisions based on the evidence in front of them and it is impertinent and disrespectful to councillors to suggest otherwise," added the 55-year-old Witham resident.

Members can lodge their objections to the plan until Thursday, August 28.

The officer charged with policing this year's V Festival has warned those planning to bring legal highs to "not bother coming".

Chief Superintendent Simon Williams however insists Essex Police is not a "killjoy" and wants festivalgoers above all to enjoy themselves.

The officer of 28 years also insists the event is still manageable to police despite apparent cutbacks from the organisers.

"If you are bringing legal highs to the festival, simply don't," said the 46-year-old.

"If we find you have them and we don't know what it is, it may be you have to return to the county a number of times on bail, and on top of that, security will eject you."

Seventy five people were arrested on suspicion of drug possession last year while 33-year-old reveller Jonathan Graham died after he is believed to have taken legal high 5-EAPB at neighbouring festival Brownstock in Stow Maries.

"It really is a robust stance," said Mr Williams.

"People might think we are being killjoys but we're not, we're being safe. I want people to enjoy it but simply not to put themselves or others at risk."

Mr Williams said he was also concerned about multiple guests sneaking into the grounds by sharing one admittance wristband, a long-standing problem, and thus bringing substances into the festival unchecked.

"My concern is if people are getting in, what else is getting in," he said.

"We are working with the organisers and we will attend and investigate these instances to see what is happening."

Each year V Festival organiser Maztec pays Essex Police to bring officers, who would not usually be working, on duty, yet it appears it has cut back this year.

Maztec forked out £352,399 for the service in 2012 but paid out £245,978 last year, covering the cost of wages for 491 officers as well as preparation and travel costs.

Mr Williams said 200 officers are involved this year, patrolling campsites and the surrounding roads, and about a dozen of these will boost policing in Chelmsford High Street.

The force declined to say how much the organiser had paid this year.

"We look at their risk assessment plan and if we see there are gaps within their plan we will work with them," said Mr Williams.

"There are no changes this year."

The force's own mascot Seymour is also returning this weekend, a miniature cartoon festivalgoer with an eye for a body.

His picture, including a video, will be featured on posters and on screens across the site to remind revellers to be safe.

"It's a different means of communication," said Mr Williams.

"If you look at my history with Essex Police I have not seen anything like that before. Festivalgoers don't want an old stuffy like me telling them to lock up their tents which is a big issue.

"How do you lock a tent up? Around property I would advise people attending, don't bring your best iPhone, bring an old phone and don't advertise your belongings, it's hard to secure it in a piece of material."

A MUCH-LOVED member of an Essex farming dynasty died suddenly last weekend while travelling in his son's car.

Alan Ernest Doe, 85, was chairman of Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd based in Ulting, Maldon, and ran a network of 19 agricultural, construction and ground care machinery dealerships, working five-day weeks right up to his death.

Colin tried to get help by flagging down two passing ambulances, but the paramedics could not revive his father.

His son-in-law Derek Marriott paid tribute to the "cornerstone" of the family, adding: "Beneath the quiet exterior of my father-in-law Alan Doe was an intelligent man who had the ability to listen, absorb and then act.

"He was a comparatively shy man but he did not let that stand in the way of him getting what he wanted.

"Many times at family occasions and in business meetings he was silent and many would think he had not really been paying attention to what was going on. Eventually he would make a short statement which put all that went before into sharp focus and would point the way forward so clearly."

Mr Doe was grandson of the company's founder Ernest Doe and still attended the firm's offices five days a week.

"I believe he saw the company and its employees as an extension of his family. He made many hospital visits when employees were ill. He took an interest in their children. He took pride in the number of employees who received their long-service gold watches," added Derek.

As an 11-year-old boy, Alan would rush home from school at harvest time to drive a tractor with his grandfather.

"He loved farms and farming and machinery. Some of his fondest memories were of his time as a schoolboy during wartime helping his grandfather bring in the harvest," said Derek, who also works in the family business.

"He was acutely aware of the legacy that his grandfather and father had bestowed upon him in both the family farm and the family business. He continued, in his own modest way, to carefully nurture the farm and significantly expand the business enterprises they had left in his charge."

Mr Doe took a prominent role in the business during the late 1950s and 1960s in the development and production of the Doe Dual Drive tractor which brought a high-horsepower four-wheel drive tractor to the farmers of East Anglia and worldwide.

There is even a corner named Doe Corner in Utling in tribute to the family's impact on the village.

He met his wife Jill at a Harlow Young Farmers Club, getting married on October 31, 1951, and the couple had three children – Diana, Colin and Marian.

Derek, who married Diana, told the Chronicle: "Alan loved his family deeply and always had the time to keep up-to-date with what all of us were doing and to offer a gentle word of advice or a helping hand. He was the cornerstone of the family and we will all greatly miss his love, friendship and judgement."

In February 1960, the first Doe Show was held, with Alan setting the foundations for the annual event which is still the company's most important occasion of the year.

From a young age Mr Doe had a love of the wireless which developed into an enthusiasm for hi-fi, fuelled by his love of jazz and his engineering skills. He liked to buy old radios and bring them back to life and he loved cars and motor sport, having learnt to drive in his father's 1938 Ford V8.

"Alan could always fix things properly and I believe he brought a lot of sound practical engineering sense into his business dealings. Decisions at times must have been hard but he always acted with fairness and everyone understood the reliability of his word," added Derek.

Born in 1929, Mr Doe was also a churchwarden at St Andrews in Hatfield Peverel for many years and is survived by his wife Jill and seven grandchildren.

"I will never be able to drink a glass of white Burgundy, especially if it is Meursault, without thinking of him. We are all grateful and thankful to have known him. And no one made a better gin and tonic," said Mr Marriott, 64.

There will be a private, family-only funeral and a service of thanksgiving, to which all are welcome, that will be held at 2.30pm on August 28 at Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd, Ulting, Maldon, with family flowers only.

Donations, if desired, for St Andrews Church, Hatfield Peverel or Broomfield Renal Unit, should be sent to Richards Funeral Service, 78 Newland Street, 01376 513 114.

Revellers in Chelmsford will be able to throw some shapes to live music later this month after Chicago's confirmed plans to bring back live music.

Clubbers will be able to see rock band Anthem on August 29, party band Funky Monkey on September 5, and Boogie Wonderband a day later on September 6.

The return of live music heralds change at the 100-year-old Moulsham Street entertainment venue, as they will also be renovating the building over the next few weeks to "help preserve it for the next generation. It will remain open to the public.

Colin Goodwin, the general manager of Chicago's Chelmsford, said: "It's brilliant to be able to bring live entertainment back into this beautiful building.

"The bands are all looking forward to playing such an iconic venue, and we're looking forward to putting on a real show.

"If any local people know of other bands or entertainers who would be interested in performing, or have requests for future events, we'd love to hear from them."

To contact Chicago's, email crc-chelmsford@chicagoleisure.co.uk