11/03/?? - Man in custody in kidnap charge
By PAUL SMITH
Evening Echo

A SOUTHEND man has been charged with the assault and kidnap of Darren Kerr, the 26-year-old victim of an alleged acid attack in Purfleet.

Thomas Watkins, 24, of Southchurch Hall Close, was remanded in custody by magistrates until Friday on charges of GBH with intent, and kidnap in Purfleet on August 31 last year. While Mr Kerr was recovering in St Andrew's burns unit in Billericay, he was shot at point-blank range in the shoulder by a gunman dressed as a clown.

And Mr Kerr, who is under police protection at a secret address, is now facing firearms charges himself. Police are still searching for the gunman. Mr Kerr, who is also known by the alias Matthew Evans, was released on bail when he appeared at Basildon magistrates court on March 5 facing firearms charges.

Police have played down reports made by a Sunday newspaper of links between the shooting of Darren Kerr and the murders of Pat Tate, 37, Tony Tucker, 38, and Craig Rolfe, 26, in a Range Rover at Rettendon in December.

A spokesman said: "There is nothing to tie those two incidents together, though we are keeping an open mind. It may be that one day a link does emerge. "If we went on all these rumours which fly around the inquiry would go on for ever."

Mr Kerr, who is married with an eight-month-old son. has to wear a plastic mask because of terrible scars to his face following the alleged acid attack. The shooting came just over a month after the killing of Billericay jeweller Julian Shone and two months before the horrific Rettendon murders.

Describing how he had come within inches of death in the shooting last year Mr Kerr told the Sunday Mirror: "I saw the gunman late. He was aiming for my head. It was an instinctive reaction to twist away, and that is what saved my life.