Casualty falls into the water during tense early-morning rescue

FOUR people were rescued in the early hours of Thursday (Dec 11) after a 24-metre guard vessel ran aground near Aber Hywel, triggering a major response from Fishguard RNLI in rough seas and darkness.

The alarm was raised at around 3:30am, with HM Coastguard requesting the launch of Fishguard’s all-weather lifeboat. Crews faced a southerly force 7 wind and choppy conditions as they made their way to the stranded vessel.

Cliffs and underwater hazards added to difficulty

Coxswain Gemma Gill said the vessel’s close position to cliffs and submerged obstructions prevented the all-weather lifeboat from getting alongside.

“Because of the casualty vessel’s proximity to the cliffs and the underwater hazards between us, we were unable to safely transfer the four people onboard. I requested the launch of our inshore lifeboat, and we were aware the Coastguard helicopter had also been scrambled.”

The inshore lifeboat was launched minutes later. The crew deployed its anchor and veered down towards the vessel’s stern to begin recovering those onboard.

Casualty swept away in darkness

Crew member Cedwyn Rogers said the plan was for the four people to climb down a rope ladder into their liferaft before being taken aboard the inshore lifeboat.

Two made it safely — but the third slipped and fell into the sea.

“When there is a person in the water you become hyper-focused,” Cedwyn said. “We threw a throw bag, but they were unable to catch it and were starting to be swept further away.”

Helm Warren Bean, an RNLI volunteer with more than 30 years’ experience, manoeuvred the lifeboat alongside the drifting casualty. Crew member Huw was able to reach them, and the team hauled them aboard.

All four casualties were wearing lifejackets and proper safety equipment, which RNLI crews said made a critical difference.

The fourth person was then recovered safely before the inshore crew cut their anchor line to clear nearby rocks.

Lifeboats return to station

All casualties were transferred to the all-weather lifeboat for care and shelter on the return journey. Both lifeboats were back at Fishguard station by 5:25am.

Coxswain Gill praised the volunteers: “This rescue in the early hours, in poor weather and darkness, shows our crews are ready to respond whenever the call comes in. I’m proud of the teamwork shown by everyone, with the successful rescue of four people who will now get the chance to spend Christmas with their families.”

RNLI launches Christmas Appeal

Fishguard RNLI volunteers remain on call throughout the festive period. Last Christmas, RNLI lifeboats across the UK and Ireland launched more than 100 times.

The charity has now launched its annual Christmas Appeal, which helps fund essential kit and training for crews. Donations can be made at: RNLI.org/WinterAppeal.

Judge says defendant’s mental health “needs sorting out”

A MILFORD HAVEN woman who stabbed her partner in the back and bicep walked straight into Haverfordwest Police Station and told officers: “I stabbed my ex-partner earlier.”

Amy Woolston, 22, entered the station at around 8:00pm on June 13 and openly confessed to the attack, Swansea Crown Court heard this week. She later pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding and has now been jailed for 12 months.

‘He’s alright – he let me walk off’

Prosecutor Tom Scapens said Woolston told officers she and the victim had both taken acid earlier in the day and that she reacted after “feeling stab marks in her back”.

Police went to the victim’s home to check on his welfare. Although he was not there initially, he returned soon afterwards. Officers noted he was sober and not under the influence of any substance.

Asked what had happened, he replied: “Just a couple of things,” before gesturing to his back. He had three puncture or stab wounds to his back and a further wound to his bicep.

He told officers that Woolston had been “a bit shifty” when he returned from the shop before grabbing either a knife or a shard of glass from a windowsill and stabbing him. He refused medical treatment and added he had “had worse from her before”, confirming he did not support any prosecution.

Twenty previous convictions

Woolston, of Dartmouth Street, Milford Haven, has 20 previous convictions from 10 court appearances, including several for battery and assaults on emergency workers.

Mitigating, Dyfed Thomas said Woolston has long-standing mental health issues and had stopped taking prescribed medication for paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the incident. She was now medicated, remorseful, and engaging with support.

Judge: ‘Nobody knows what the outcome will be’

Sentencing her, Judge Geraint Walters said: “Whilst having an episode, no doubt, you stabbed your partner – something he adopted a rather blasé approach to. We need to sort out your problems. You taking a knife to somebody – you or somebody else – nobody knows what the outcome will be.”

Woolston was handed a 12-month prison sentence. As she had already served the equivalent time on remand, she was told she would be released imminently.

Judge Walters said a 12-month licence period would be “more helpful” to her going forward.

Church in Wales facing scrutiny over long-held report not given to police for more than a decade

A LEAKED handwritten report has revealed that former Church in Wales bishop Anthony Pierce allegedly admitted sexually assaulting a teenage boy while he was still a parish priest – years before he was appointed Bishop of Swansea and Brecon.

Pierce, now eighty-four, is currently serving a four-year prison sentence handed down earlier this year for separate historic indecent assaults on another boy. The newly disclosed document, seen by the BBC, claims he confessed to what the report’s author described as a “criminal act” involving a fifteen-year-old.

The report, around twenty-five pages long, was written in early 1999, only months before Pierce was elevated to bishop. It was kept within the Church in Wales for eleven years before finally being handed to police in 2010, two years after Pierce stepped down. By that time, the alleged victim – referred to as Dean – had died.

Allegation raised twice before Pierce became bishop

According to lawyers acting for Dean’s family, his mother first raised concerns in 1993, making a formal complaint to the then Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, the Rt Rev Dewi Bridges. The leaked report states that it was after this complaint that Pierce admitted the incident to its author, who was a personal friend rather than an official investigator.

Dean’s mother raised the allegation again in January 1999, only weeks before the report was written and shortly before Pierce was chosen to succeed Bishop Bridges. Despite those warnings, there is no record of Pierce being disciplined.

Church officials say the document was not commissioned by them and will be examined fully as part of an ongoing review into how allegations were handled.

Derogatory comments about the victim

Lawyers for the family say the report paints a deeply unfair picture of Dean and appears designed to protect Pierce’s reputation. The document focuses heavily on the teenager’s personality and sexuality and describes him in disparaging terms. It suggests Pierce, then in his late forties, was “naive”, “confused” and somehow unable to resist the attention of a fifteen-year-old boy.

The report states that Pierce felt “intensely guilty” about what happened and feared losing his ministry if his behaviour became public. It also includes comments about how Dean had “broken through” Pierce’s emotional “barriers”.

A solicitor representing the family, David Greenwood, said the contents of the report had caused “immense distress”. He said similar attempts to discredit complainants were common in historic child abuse cases.

“It appears designed to undermine Dean’s credibility and discourage any further investigation,” he said. “It raises serious questions about whether individuals within the church were seeking to protect Pierce rather than the child.”

Church’s actions under renewed scrutiny

The Church in Wales said it passed the material to police again in 2016 as part of its submissions to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

A previous BBC investigation found that concerns about Pierce had reached senior clergy as early as the mid-1980s, although the church has no record of formal action being taken at the time.

In correspondence released to the BBC, one church employee said the report “should never have been written” using “highly confidential information” and “certainly should not have formed part of any decision-making process”.

Pierce declined to comment when contacted in prison.

The Church in Wales review into how Dean’s allegation was handled is expected to be published in the new year. Pierce is currently serving a sentence of four years and one month after admitting five counts of indecent assault against another child between 1985 and 1990.