News

Family devastated by tragic fire that claimed life of 5-year-old Alysia

Published

3 months ago

October 18, 2024

A TRAGIC fire that claimed the life of a five-year-old girl, described as the “happiest little girl who was always smiling,” started in her bedroom, an inquest heard today.

Alysia Salisbury, who lived with her mother, two sisters, and her mother’s partner in Pontyglasier, near Crymych, died in the house fire on 28 May last year. Pembrokeshire Coroner Paul Bennett revealed during the inquest that Alysia, who was autistic, had a particular fascination with sensory experiences, including fire.

Her mother, Tara Salisbury, noted that Alysia was often captivated by the shape and movement of flames, particularly during family celebrations. “On her birthday, she would become distracted by the candles on her cake,” Tara explained. As a result, the family took precautions to limit access to potential fire hazards in the home.

Alysia’s older sister kept a lighter securely locked in a click-lock box on top of a tall cupboard in her attic bedroom. The only other lighter was stored outside the house in the family’s catering van.

On the evening of 27 May, Alysia had been enjoying a “sister sleepover” in her sibling’s first-floor bedroom. At around 9:30 pm, her older sister briefly went downstairs to warm a brioche in the oven. At this time, Alysia’s eldest sister was in her attic bedroom, while her mother and her partner were in their room.

Five minutes after the oven was turned on, the property’s smoke alarm sounded. Tara initially assumed it was triggered by the oven, as had happened before, and went downstairs to try to silence it. Her partner and the two sisters also came out of their rooms to investigate. There were no immediate signs of fire, and the door to Alysia’s bedroom remained shut.

However, moments later, smoke began to descend the stairs, and the family realised there was a fire in Alysia’s room. Tara and her partner rushed to open the bedroom door, only to find the nearby wooden desk fully engulfed in flames. The fire rapidly spread across the ceiling and out of the room, reaching the attic stairs.

Despite their efforts to control the fire, they were forced to leave the house as the flames intensified. Seconds later, the windows shattered, and the fire spread further. Firefighters arrived at the scene but were unable to save Alysia, who was found at 1:05 am the next morning.

In a heartfelt statement, Tara described Alysia as “one of a kind” and shared that the family would “miss that little smile every day for the rest of their lives.”

Jason Woodman, a fire investigator with the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service, reported that the lighter from Alysia’s sister’s attic bedroom had been used to ignite something on the desk in the first-floor bedroom. Although there were scented candles on the desk, he could not definitively say whether they or another flammable item had started the blaze. The room had what was described as a “heavy fire load,” which caused the fire to spread quickly.

Tara explained that Alysia, despite her young age, was capable of using a lighter. Due to her autism, she had no fear of danger and would likely have been mesmerised by the flames as the fire grew.

A post-mortem conducted by Dr Stephen Leadbeatter at the University Hospital of Wales concluded that Alysia died from exposure to fire and fire effluent. Pembrokeshire Coroner Paul Bennett described the tragedy as unimaginable. “I cannot begin to imagine the horror and sheer sense of helplessness that Tara and Joshua went through,” he said. “To lose a young person is tragic, but to do so in such desperate circumstances cannot be comprehended.”

Mr Bennett recorded a verdict of accidental death and extended his deepest condolences to Alysia’s family. Tara concluded her statement by saying, “We miss her terribly. She was very, very loved and will be very, very missed for a long time.”

News

Pembrokeshire town set to be rejuvenated as £12m investment approved

Published

3 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

SENIOR Pembrokeshire councillors have backed a near-£12m ‘levelling up’ project to rejuvenate parts of Pembroke, with £1.2m of council funds.

At the January 13 meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet members backed the signing of a memorandum of understanding for a UK Government Levelling Up Fund 3 award for the £11,715,141 Pembroke town Westgate to Eastgate project.

The project attracted a grant award of £10,543,627, with a commitment of £1,171,514 match-funding from the council to comply with the grant offer requirements, some 10 per cent.

Applications for ‘levelling-up’ funding for this part of Pembroke have a history going back several years, with a June 2022 bid for the second round of levelling up funding unsuccessful; a third-round bid based on an amended version of that scheme getting the thumbs-up last year.

The project delivery period is planned to run from April 2025 until March 2028, consisting of three works packages, Cabinet members heard in a presentation by Deputy Leader Cllr Paul Miller.

The three planned works packages consist of, firstly, connecting The Commons to Westgate and Main Street, including an improved pedestrian connection into the town centre running from Common Road, via the Parade to Long Entry and exiting onto Westgate Hill and public realm improvements, improved lighting and public art.

The second package, Eastgate, is described as “both the principal investment and the critical path to the overall programme,” with the works seeing “selective demolition and making good to the elements of the school building, which encroach, onto [a] projected highway corridor, and for construction new retaining walls as necessary,” along with “An enabling contract to ready East End School for development to shell and core, readied for development for currently undetermined use”.

The third work package, ‘Connecting Townscape, Landscape and Soundscape’ includes: “Pembroke’s network of public realm and green infrastructure will be enhanced along Main Street and connect through underused route ways to its flanking green space of The Commons and the Upper and Lower Mill Pond”.

Cllr Miller warned that inflationary pressures since the original proposal would lead to some adaptions to the scheme, the value of the funding being less than it was in 2022.

Seconding Cllr Miller’s proposal the scheme be backed, Leader Cllr Jon Harvey, county councillor for the Pembroke St Mary North ward, said: “I’m extremely pleased about the levelling-up money coming into this town; Pembroke is a wonderful town, but it is underperforming, with businesses struggling.”

He stressed a need for collaborative work on the project: “Community ‘buy-in’ is very important, we need to work closely with the community and the town.”

Members backed a recommendation to approve the scheme and the match-funding element, along with the signing of the memorandum.

Crime

Haverfordwest shoplifter admits theft and criminal damage

Published

3 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Sarah Jane Absalom

A 23-YEAR-OLD Pembrokeshire man has been sentenced by magistrates after admitting stealing cans of Hooch and a bottle of wine from the B&M store, Haverfordwest.

Rhys Wheeler was seen stealing three cans of Hooch and a bottle of wine from the store on December 4. As a result, he was arrested by police officers and placed inside a police van.

“He started shouting and swearing and was put in the back of the van, in a cage,” Crown Prosecutor Nia James told Haverfordwest magistrates this week.

“En-route, officers stopped to make a phone call to the defendant’s mother and this was when he kicked out and spat towards one of the officers, causing saliva to land on the perspex of the cage. He later said he had HIV.”

Wheeler, who is currently on no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to the theft of the drinks, valued at £8.70, and of causing criminal damage to the police cage.

He was represented in court by solicitor, Tom Lloyd.

“He’d lost his job at a sushi bar and things have been difficult for him since then,” he said.

“He wasn’t in quite the right frame of mind and didn’t know what he was doing.

“There are no excuses for what he’s done and if you sit down with him today, he would tell you how genuinely sorry he is for what he’s done.”

Wheeler was ordered to pay £100 compensation to Dyfed-Powys Police for the damage caused to the police van and £8.70 compensation to B&M, Haverfordwest. He was fined £80 and ordered to pay £85 court costs and a £32 surcharge. “

Crime

Father-of-two sentenced for destroying car

Published

3 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Sarah Jane Absalom

A MAN has been sentenced for trashing a car that had been left in a car park in Fishguard town centre.

Father-of-two Daniel Mitchell walked up to the car, which was owned by Mr Lloyd Bowen, during the night of September 13, 2024 and:-

SMASHED each of the passenger side windows;

SMASHED the boot window;

SMASHED each of the rear lights and

SCRATCHED the paintwork on the car bonnet and the driver’s door.

“The car was completely destroyed,” Crown Prosecutor Nia James told Haverfordwest magistrates this week.

“It was surrounded by broken glass and it looked as if the damage had been caused by a weapon.”

The court was told that Mr Bowen had parked the car close to his father’s property in Harbour Village, Fishguard, at around 9.30pm, but when he returned to it just before 7.30am the following morning, he discovered it had been extensively damaged.

Mitchell, 29, of Dunster Close, Rugby, pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage to the vehicle.

He was fined £600 and was ordered to pay £500 compensation to Mr Lloyd Bowen, a £240 court surcharge and £85 costs.