PC Bradley Corke, 27, died on Saturday, after he was critically injured in Farningham on Thursday evening.

He and a colleague, who remains critically ill in hospital, were responding to an "immediate" call when their marked police car was involved in the crash.

A member of the public who was in a second vehicle continues to be treated for serious injuries.

"Bradley selflessly gave up his life while trying to save the lives of others who were in danger," Kent Police said.

"His bravery, dedication, and passion for helping others will not be forgotten."

The incident, involving a marked Ford Focus police car and a VW Scirocco, happened on the westbound A20 London Road at the junction with Button Street at around 7.45pm on Thursday.

PC Corke served with the force since May 2022. He was based in Tonbridge and spent his police service in the towns of West Kent. The force is supporting his family and colleagues, who are devastated.

Neil Mennie, chair of Kent Police Federation, said: "We are all absolutely heartbroken to learn of this news.

"Bradley was a popular colleague who will be much missed and we will be doing all we can to support his family and close colleagues at this time.

"Policing is a family and words cannot describe the pain we are all feeling and how this news will affect us in the days, weeks and months ahead.

"This sad incident serves as a horrific example of the risks police officers face and how police officers can sadly make the ultimate sacrifice as they strive to keep the public safe."

Read more from Sky News:
Number of cases falls for first time in meningitis outbreak
The party drug 'that's readily available to children'

A spokesperson for the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it would assess a mandatory referral from Kent Police.

The spokesperson said: "Our thoughts are with all those affected by this tragic incident.

"We received a mandatory referral from Kent Police on Friday afternoon, which we will assess in due course before deciding whether any further action is required from us."

Kent Police is appealing for anyone with information about the collision to come forward.

Witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage should contact the serious collision investigation unit.

They can also reach the unit on 01622 798538, quoting EW/AL/025/26.

He is one of two officers at Greater Manchester Police who have been specially trained to find the platforms, forums and sites being used by criminals to sell drugs.

"It's effectively run like a legitimate business in the way that Amazon sells legitimate items," he says.

"The platforms that are being used, it's Snapchat and Telegram, we see a lot of stuff on WhatsApp, basically in an attempt to avoid traditional policing tactics."

What the social media investigator describes is a game of cat and mouse, driven by a Class B drug that is being taken in record numbers.

"It's basically trying to catch up with criminals. If you put it in terms of cars, criminals are driving around in sports cars and things like that," he says.

"Police are driving round in Fiestas and Astras, and this is exactly the same thing. But we only have to be lucky one day, they have to be lucky every day."

Against the backdrop of increasing media coverage and greater public awareness of ketamine, the popular party drug is now firmly in the sights of police forces across the country, including GMP.

Detective Superintendent Joseph Harrop, who leads the force's serious organised crime division, says ketamine is presenting officers with unique challenges.

"I think one of the issues is that it's readily available and it's really cheap, which is why I think it's attractive to children and young people," he says.

"There is a worrying trend that younger and younger children are using it. We've got children as young as 10, either with ketamine or involved in the supply of ketamine."

Read more:
The drug addiction leaving users in chronic pain
Could ketamine be used to treat depression?

DSI Harrop says another way organised crime groups are making a profit from ketamine is by exporting the drug to countries where it is more tightly regulated or less easily available.

He says GMP seized 50kg of ketamine in the financial year before last, a figure he believes increased substantially in 2025, because his officers made the substance more of a priority.

In his words, ketamine seizures went up "exponentially", while there was also a "massive rise" in the amount of intelligence the force has collected on the drug.

"One of the big challenges is because you've not got that traditional street supply," he adds.

"So that does impact on some of our intelligence streams. It is all online, so there's a sense of anonymity, and you've kind of got to get behind another layer before you can see who's truly involved, but we've adapted to that."

Online menus and faceless transactions

The social media investigator I spoke to is a core part of GMP's attempts to adapt to the challenges ketamine poses.

He spends time trying to trace the online stores being set up on social media by drug dealers. The criminals curate menus, ask for reviews and even offer people perks, like free sweets being delivered along with their drugs.

Ketamine, he says, is often sold alongside other popular party drugs like cocaine and MDMA, in varying strengths and quantities. The purchases are often made using what he calls "faceless" transactions involving cryptocurrency, while the drugs are often delivered in the post, rather than by a courier.

Once the investigator tracks down an account, he flags their content, in the hope that the tech giants who own the platforms will act quickly.

"Some companies are brilliant," he says. "Within 24 hours they'll get back to me and go, you know what? We agree and they'll remove that account.

"Other companies, if they don't see that perceived risk or that account as being a problem, they'll just say, 'thanks, but we'll leave it'. They will let that account continue."

If there is enough evidence, information found online can lead to warrants being carried out on the ground.

During a nationwide county lines week of action, I joined GMP officers on a dawn raid in Salford.

The operation targeted a county line involving the supply and distribution of popular party drugs like ketamine, cannabis, cocaine and MDMA.

Once officers had stormed a flat, they made two arrests, leading a pair of men into a van that was waiting outside.

The officer in charge of the warrant on the day said party drugs are an increasing issue in the area, which is popular among young professionals and students.

"There are multiple people that are known to us, continuously supplying drugs. We're working hard to disrupt this criminality, executing lots of warrants and getting these guys inside and remanded," he said.

"So with ketamine, it's a drug well-used by students, so the younger target market here is rife."

'You can't arrest your way out of people using drugs'

The drugs being seized aren't just leading to convictions and custodial sentences. In another element of GMP's drugs strategy, there is a focus on not just enforcement but harm reduction too.

GMP works closely with Manchester Drug Analysis and Knowledge Exchange (Mandrake), England's first publicly-funded permanent, city-centre based testing and harm reduction facility.

The samples seized by officers on the raids are sent to the Mandrake testing facility at Manchester Metropolitan University so the team there can check exactly what's in circulation on the illegal drugs market.

That information is then shared with the police, council and health bodies, so they can issue public warnings.

Dr Oliver Sutcliffe, who leads the team at the facility, says that of the 600-700 samples they received for testing in the last 12 months, ketamine is "about the second or third" most seized sample.

In the week we filmed with Dr Sutcliffe, Mandrake issued a public health warning about ketamine being contaminated with medetomidine, a high-strength sedative used by vets on large animals.

Dr Sutcliffe showed me three samples of ketamine that all look the same, but were actually of different purities. One of them contained medetomidine.

"It's an anaesthetic and if you combine that with another aesthetic, then what you get is a synergistic effect. So that enhances the sedation," he said.

"And that potentially might put you in positions where if you're more sedated, you might have an accident."

Pointing to the three samples, he said: "If you just visually look at the crystals, they are exactly the same, so from a user's point of view, you would not necessarily be able to tell the difference."

The route a sample takes from a crime scene to Dr Sutcliffe's lab is perhaps the biggest example of how the police are being forced to change course with a drug like ketamine, which is now so commonplace.

DSI Harrop explained how GMP is trying to police the drug differently.

He said: "There was a near-fatal overdose yesterday, where some powder was recovered. The people with the individual who is currently in hospital have suggested she may have taken ketamine.

"We found some powder, but rather than look to do any kind of prosecution, which I think to some extent is fairly futile, I spoke to the Manchester Met (Manchester Metropolitan University) panel last night and they're going to test those for us."

"You can't arrest your way out of people using drugs," he added.

The US version of SNL, broadcast in America on NBC, is a pop culture institution which has been running for 50 years, and launched the careers of stars including Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson, Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell.

While expectations have been high at Sky HQ that a UK version of the format will be successful, others have pointed out the challenges of creating new event TV in such a fragmented media world.

But, according to Steve Bennett, writing for the British comedy website Chortle, the SNL UK debut has delivered. "Whisper it, but I think they might just have nailed it," he writes

"[The show has] been greeted with either feverish excitement that it could instantly become as successful as its parent, reviving British sketch comedy at a stroke, or aggressive pessimism that it'll be shit - an unwelcome transatlantic invasion that couldn't possibly work with our more cynical sense of humour.

"Neither is absolutely true but tonight's episode, a very strong opener, offers great hope it's the former."

The show was seen by 226,000 viewers in its 10PM slot on Sky One and won a 3.2% share of the available TV audience at the time, according to official BARB figures reported on the Deadline website.

Read more: 'The idea that it's going to be a bit naff, it's just insane to me'

Elsewhere, the Independent's Nick Hilton gave the debut three stars out of five, for "some hits, some misses, and a bang-on Princess Di impression".

"Judging a show like SNL off its opening episode is foolish", he writes, before adding: "What SNL UK's opening episode does demonstrate is a willingness to push the envelope, to risk bad taste.

"Borrowing a beloved American format might feel a bit stale, but there are notes of new ingredients that could offer something fresh."

Giving the same score, The Guardian's Lucy Mangan said that SNL UK's debut "didn't fail and it could have been a lot worse".

She added: "The general feeling, I think, will be that the inaugural episode of Saturday Night Live UK - Sky's version of the famous 51-year-old American original founded and still overseen by the infamous Lorne Michaels - did work."

"It could have been a lot, lot worse", she added. "And it could have been a lot better... honestly - it felt refreshing to see an ambition/piece of madness like retooling a legacy US brand for this septic isle even being attempted."

However, she did say one sketch was "an absolute piece of rubbish".

Read more from Sky News:
Ketamine crisis: The party drug sold online with free perks
UK not being drawn into Iran war, government insists

In The Sunday Times Charlotte Ivers was pleased that the show did not shy away from edgier humour, writing: "There's something quite refreshing about seeing TV comedians really push close to the line."

But, she added, "sadly, in many cases the jokes don't live up to the risk".

Some of the most positive - if not faint - praise came from The Daily Telegraph's Ed Power's four-star review, who gave credit to guest host Ms Fey and the "shockingly competent" debut.

"Funny in places and never actively harmful to your emotional well-being, it went about as well as could be hoped", he added.

"The only glaring issue was what sounded like deafening canned laughter throughout. If the chuckles genuinely were artificial, then it was surely overkill on the part of the producers.

"Against all reasonable expectations, this homegrown Saturday Night Live was more than capable of raising real laughs on its own."

Before the UK version aired on Saturday, Sky confirmed another two episodes had been commissioned, extending its run to eight shows

Saturday Night Live UK will return on Sky and Now on 28 March, hosted by Jamie Dornan and featuring band Wolf Alice. It will stream on Peacock in the US the following night.

The total marks a decrease from 34 cases reported on Saturday, and includes two - a 21-year-old student at the University of Kent and a sixth form pupil at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Faversham - who died from the virus last weekend.

It includes confirmed cases and those that remain under investigation.

Read more: The symptoms, treatments and if you need the vaccine

Explaining the fall in the total, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said: "Some cases initially classified as confirmed cases have been reclassified following further laboratory results and clinical investigation.

"As further laboratory assessments are completing, we expect some further probable cases to be downgraded in the coming days."

The latest figures include 20 "confirmed" laboratory cases, and nine which remain under investigation.

In a statement marking seven days since the first confirmed case of meningitis in Kent, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that it had been an "incredibly difficult week for those affected and for those working on the front line", saying he was "incredibly grateful to you all".

"As we look ahead to another challenging week, I wanted to pay tribute to the Herculean efforts of everyone who has worked tirelessly to care for those affected and keep people safe", he added.

"We are continuing to urge people in Kent and across the country to keep following the advice, keep living your lives, and keep looking after one another."

Dr Sherine Thomas, UKHSA infectious diseases consultant, said the agency would "remain vigilant for new cases", and added: "It's reassuring to have seen so many eligible young people come forward for antibiotics and vaccination, and we'd like to thank everyone involved in this effort so far.

"Although the risk to the wider population remains low, it is still really important that people know the symptoms of invasive meningococcal disease and seek immediate medical attention if they or anyone they know develops them."

Read more from Sky News:
'No way' UK could shoot down Iran missile
Saturday Night Live UK reviews are in

NHS Kent and Medway said that 8,002 vaccines had been administered, and 12,157 antibiotics had been handed out, as of 5.55pm on Saturday.

On Friday Kent County Council's director of public health, Dr Anjan Ghosh, speculated on three "rough" scenarios over the next four weeks.

He said the "most likely" scenario would see people travelling off campus outside Kent and then spreading the bacteria to others within a household.

The alternative scenarios would see cases remaining contained in Kent or, in a "highly unlikely" worst-case, the outbreak could result in another cluster outside the county.

This coming Friday, with time running out before the end of the tax year, we explain how many couples can reduce their tax bill using "interspousal transfers".

Every week subscribers get early access to our Money Problem feature, weekend long reads and, in our popular Money in your pocket section, a rundown of the best deals currently on the market for broadband, mortgages, savings, bank switching and energy.

So join our growing Money community - and thanks to the tens of thousands of you who already have.