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Man charged after two killed and child seriously injured when family hit by car in Ramsgate

A man has been charged following an incident in Kent that left two people dead and a child seriously injured, police said.

A black Alfa Romeo hit five pedestrians, all members of the same family, outside a multi-storey car park on Leopold Street in Ramsgate, on Wednesday at about 9.35pm.

Yoram Hirshfeld, 78, and his daughter, Noga Hirshfeld, 40, a Cambridge physicist, were killed, and a young girl of primary school age suffered serious injuries and is in a serious but stable condition in a London hospital.

A man in his 40s and a boy of primary school age sustained minor injuries.

Nitesh Bissendary, 30, of Highlands Glade, Manston, Kent, has been charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He was also charged with failing to stop at the scene of a road traffic collision, drug-driving and failing to provide a sample for analysis.

He will appear at Margate Magistrates' Court on Saturday.

A vigil was held on Thursday evening on Leopold Street to pay tribute to the family, who were on holiday in Ramsgate.

Friends of Mr Hirshfeld, a former mathematics professor at Tel Aviv University in Israel, have spoken of his kindness.

Meanwhile tributes have also been paid to Ms Hirshfeld, also known as Noga Sella, who was a Girl Guides leader with 2nd Milton Guides and Milton Rangers in Cambridgeshire.

Officers investigating the incident also arrested a 58-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman on suspicion of assisting an offender and possession with intent to supply class A drugs.

Both have been released on bail until 8 September.