News

Western Telegraph threatens Herald over advertising standards

Published

11 years ago

August 31, 2014

Herald boss: Thomas Sinclair at WHSmith in Cardigan

THE NEWLY appointed publisher of The Western Telegraph has challenged its new rival newspaper, The Pembrokeshire Herald, to provide evidence on print figures or face being reported to the authorities.

In a letter to Herald acting editor Thomas Sinclair, The Telegraph’s confident new boss, Dean Merrick, described how he believed that claims The Herald has been making over the number of copies being printed per week were ‘untrue’.

In the letter Mr. Merrick said: “It has come to my attention on your marketing pack that is accessible on your website that you claim that you print 20,000 copies weekly of The Pembrokeshire Herald. We believe your claim to be false.”

He added: “I hereby provide you with seven days notice from August 29 to respond to confirm your print figures. If you fail to respond within the 7 day period my complaint will be passed onto the Advertising Standards Authority who will investigate the matter further.”

County Show 2014: 17000 readers

Thomas Sinclair hit back saying: “Our old pre-launch media pack claims a print run of 20k, but we have a new revised version. The number of copies printed each week, however, is immaterial for newspaper advertisers. It goes without saying that what businesses need to know is how many readers a publication has – or the circulation.”

Mr Sinclair said: “Something has clearly rattled The Western Telegraph. The latest JICREG data, updated on April 1, 2014 shows that the WT’s circulation is at an all-time low of 15,753 copies.”

The Herald boss added: “We clearly and repeatedly explain to our customers that we have 17,000 weekly readers. This has been printed on the front page of The Herald several times. It is in all our marketing material. It is what our sales staff consistently tell customers. It was even on the huge banners on top of our two storey stand at the County Show this year.”

Clear message: 17000 readers on banners at Milford Carnival this year.

Mr Sinclair added: “The media pack, which is being referred to, is the one which was designed before the Herald was launched. As reported on the BBC we did launch the paper with a 20,000 print run at launch, but cut this fairly soon after starting. The new and improved media pack which we have been circulating since then quotes a print run of 10,000 copies per week. We do print more than this but we have kept the number to the lowest we print. Contrary to what The Western Telegraph’s publisher has claimed, the old media pack is not accessible via the Pembrokeshire Herald homepage.”

Mr. Sinclair concluded: “Print figures aside, there is one thing which is clear. The Pembrokeshire Herald readership is on the way up, and the Western Telegraph’s is quite obviously on the way down.”

“With what the JICREG data has revealed this year, combined with what our stockists are telling us, I would not be surprised if we have eclipsed the Western Telegraph in reader numbers already.”

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13 Comments

s james

August 31, 2014 at 7:06 pm

I’d rather read the herald than the telegraph. The price had gone up on it but news coverage had gone down. It’s all adverts and once you remove them your left with hardly any pages… go herald.
Gez George

August 31, 2014 at 7:32 pm

I wont be buying the Telegraph again. Seems to be run by vindictive, envious petty minded bigots. The Pembrokeshire Herald is the only newspaper worth reading. Perhaps if the Telegraph concentrated more on putting readable information in their paper and concentrated less on school playground bully antics they may find people buying their paper. Heres on less customer anyway !!
Peter Warrennder

August 31, 2014 at 8:08 pm

The Herald is a great local paper, the Western Telegraph is American owned rubbish. I never buy the WT anymore, it has poor news coverage and is not value for money. Keep up the good work the Herald and your readership will grow and grow.
Claire

August 31, 2014 at 9:45 pm

The Western Telegraph have had a massive presence in the county for as long as I remember. Sadly though it has not done its best to cover the issues that are relevant to the people of Pembrokeshire. The Mercury is finally doing a good job of showing what is actually happening in our county both in and outside the county hall offices. It is somewhat shaken by competition it seems. Maybe if they focussed on writing the news instead of threatening letters, people would read it again!
Chris

August 31, 2014 at 10:51 pm

When the Mercury under the Stoddart family ownership started to grow and their print runs were increasing regularly, The Western Telegraphs owners bought it out!! They felt extremely threatened. If the Heralds print run keep increasing at this rate – Mr Sinclair The Western Telegraph may be making you a big offer – you could be a millionaire. They do not like to be beaten. I have to say, the Herald is a far better read, keep it up
Welshman23

September 1, 2014 at 5:51 am

Well done Herald the new editor should concentrate on yhe news that everyone wants to read. Herald you have rattled the cages of PCC and now it\’s the PCC supported Old Telegraph.
Maud Amy

September 1, 2014 at 12:56 pm

Trouble is the WT stopped reporting anything negative about PCC and any of its councillors and this is what put people off buying it.
Maud Amy

September 1, 2014 at 12:58 pm

People doing wrong on these official bodies should be named and shamed otherwise they just carry on doing what they have always done with no consequences ‘Concerned Pembs’
wendy king

September 1, 2014 at 1:51 pm

As a small business in pembrokeshire I advertise in the herald and the telegraph, However after receiving a phone call from the sales team at the TELEGRAPH asking me to place an ad, I declined, to the response from the member of staff at the TELEGRAPH to “well you advertised with the HERALD last week! why not us! they dont even print or sell copies!” My response was that the HERALD had placed an ad for FREE for me paying off my monthly account each month, looking after a customer 🙂 TELEGRAPHs response was more fool them giving out FREE ads! I was not happy with this conversation. I am not surprised to see this pathetic bickering from the TELEGRAPH, they are tired, dated and I WILL NOT BE ADVERTISING WITH THEM AGAIN!
Burt

September 1, 2014 at 3:23 pm

What can i say the WT have been ripping off small business in pembs for years to the point i couldn’t afford to put my business out there anymore, thank god for the Herald as i9 can now advertise without breaking the bank and everyone i know has given up buying the Wt and will only get the Herald from now on!! keep up the fantastic paper!!
Tenby Skipper

September 1, 2014 at 4:37 pm

The Western Telegraph still doesn’t get it. People want some backbone in their reporting, not soft pedalled puff pieces and press releases, and now there is an alternative which offers what people want. The Herald has done more hard reporting and proper journalism in a year than the WT has in a decade. If the Herald’s sales figures haven’t already overtaken the WT, it’s surely only a matter of time.
Teifion

September 2, 2014 at 1:26 pm

The WT has behaved like the PCC in house magazine over the years – the relationship between the meedja was once described as the relationship between a dog and a lampost – sadly the WT was the lamp-post and has been partly to blame for the shenanigins at the PCC
Mister H

September 7, 2014 at 10:26 pm

A friend of mine once said, if he wanted to buy a car or a house then he would buy the WT. Sooooooo true!!!

Crime

Swansea man dies weeks after release from troubled HMP Parc: Investigation launched

Published

9 hours ago

December 4, 2025

Tom Sinclair

A SWANSEA man has died just weeks after being released from HMP Parc, the Bridgend prison now at the centre of a national crisis over inmate deaths and post-release failures.

Darren Thomas, aged 52, died on 13 November 2025 — less than a month after leaving custody. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) has confirmed an independent investigation into his death, which is currently listed as “in progress”.

Born on 9 April 1973, Mr Thomas had been under post-release supervision following a period at HMP/YOI Parc, the G4S-run prison that recorded seventeen deaths in custody in 2024 — the highest in the UK.

His last known legal appearance was at Swansea Crown Court in October 2024, where he stood trial accused of making a threatening phone call and two counts of criminal damage. During the hearing, reported by The Pembrokeshire Herald at the time, the court heard he made threats during a heated call on 5 October 2023.

Mr Thomas denied the allegations but was found guilty on all counts. He was sentenced to a custodial term, which led to his imprisonment at HMP Parc.

Parc: A prison in breakdown

HMP Parc has faced sustained criticism throughout 2024 and 2025. A damning unannounced inspection in January found:

Severe self-harm incidents up 190%
Violence against staff up 109%
Synthetic drugs “easily accessible” across wings
Overcrowding at 108% capacity

In the first three months of 2024 alone, ten men died at Parc — part of a wider cluster of twenty PPO-investigated deaths since 2022. Six occurred within three weeks, all linked to synthetic drug use.

Leaked staff messages in 2025 exposed a culture of indifference, including one officer writing: “Let’s push him to go tomorrow so we can drop him.”

Six G4S employees have been arrested since 2023 in connection with alleged assaults and misconduct.

The danger after release

Deaths shortly after release from custody are a growing national concern. Ministry of Justice data shows 620 people died while under community supervision in 2024–2025, with 62 deaths occurring within 14 days of release.

Short sentences — common at Parc — leave little time for effective rehabilitation or release planning. Homelessness, loss of drug tolerance and untreated mental-health conditions create a high-risk environment for those newly released.

The PPO investigates all such deaths to determine whether prisons or probation failed in their duties. Reports often take 6–12 months and can lead to recommendations.

A system at breaking point

The crisis at Parc reflects wider failures across UK prisons and probation. A July 2025 House of Lords report described the service as “not fit for purpose”. More than 500 people die in custody annually, with campaigners warning that private prisons such as Parc prioritise cost-cutting over care.

The PPO investigation into the death of Darren Thomas continues.

Crime

Woman stabbed partner in Haverfordwest before handing herself in

Published

9 hours ago

December 4, 2025

Court Reporter

A WOMAN who stabbed her partner during a drug-fuelled episode walked straight into Haverfordwest Police Station and told officers what she had done, Swansea Crown Court has heard.

Amy Woolston, 22, of Dartmouth Street in Milford Haven, arrived at the station at around 8:00pm on June 13 and said: “I stabbed my ex-partner earlier… he’s alright and he let me walk off,” prosecutor Tom Scapens told the court.

The pair had taken acid together earlier in the day, and Woolston claimed she believed she could feel “stab marks in her back” before the incident.

Police find victim with four wounds

Officers went to the victim’s home to check on him. He was not there at first, but returned shortly afterwards. He appeared sober and told police: “Just a couple of things,” before pointing to injuries on his back.

He had three stab or puncture wounds to his back and another to his bicep.

The victim said that when he arrived home from the shop, Woolston was acting “a bit shifty”. After asking if she was alright, she grabbed something from the windowsill — described as either a knife or a shard of glass — and stabbed him.

He told officers he had “had worse from her before”, did not support a prosecution, and refused to go to hospital.

Defendant has long history of violence

Woolston pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding. The court heard she had amassed 20 previous convictions from 10 court appearances, including assaults, battery, and offences against emergency workers.

Defending, Dyfed Thomas said Woolston had longstanding mental health problems and had been off medication prescribed for paranoid schizophrenia at the time.
“She’s had a difficult upbringing,” he added, saying she was remorseful and now compliant with treatment.

Woolston was jailed for 12 months, but the court heard she has already served the equivalent time on remand and will be released imminently on a 12-month licence.

News

BBC apologises to Herald’s editor for inaccurate story

Published

11 hours ago

December 4, 2025

Staff Writer

THE BBC has issued a formal apology and amended a six-year-old article written by BBC Wales Business Correspondent Huw Thomas after its Executive Complaints Unit ruled that the original headline and wording gave an “incorrect impression” that Herald editor Tom Sinclair was personally liable for tens of thousands of pounds in debt.

The 2019 report, originally headlined “Herald newspaper editor Tom Sinclair has £70,000 debts”, has now been changed.

The ECU found: “The wording of the article and its headline could have led readers to form the incorrect impression that the debt was Mr Sinclair’s personal responsibility… In that respect the article failed to meet the BBC’s standards of due accuracy.”

Mr Sinclair said: “I’m grateful to the ECU for the apology and for correcting the personal-liability impression that caused real harm for six years. However, the article still links the debts to ‘the group which publishes The Herald’ when in fact they related to printing companies that were dissolved two years before the Herald was founded in 2013. I have asked the BBC to add that final clarification so the record is completely accurate.”

A formal apology and correction of this kind from the BBC is extremely rare, especially for a story more than six years old.