News

Pembroke: Bus driver hit and killed woman ‘he failed to see’

Published

10 years ago

November 25, 2015

Tom Sinclair

Picture by Mike Hillen/Herald

AN EXPERIENCED bus driver failed to see a pedestrian using a crossing in the centre of Pembroke and killed a woman “liked by all and loved by many.”

There was still no explanation why driver Stuart Heeps did not see Mrs Margaret Hanks until it was too late even though she would have been in full view for at least seven seconds.

Heeps, aged 55, of Appley Terrace, Pembroke Dock, today admitted causing death by careless driving and was jailed for 14 months, suspended for two years.

He was also banned from driving for three years and told to take an extended driving test before getting his licence back.

Swansea Crown Court heard that Heeps had been a specialist driver in the army and a bus driver for the last nine years.

Brian Simpson, prosecuting, said on March 7 Mrs Hanks, aged 75, had been walking along Northgate Street by the Mill Pond Bridge. She crossed the road on a pedestrian crossing and had almost reached the pavement on the far side when Heeps drove into her without braking or swerving.

The crash was caught by CCTV cameras and footage of the impact was shown to the court, with the agreement of Mrs Hanks’ family.

Heeps had been driving at between 17mph and 21mph in a 30mph area and did not react at all to Mrs Hanks being in front of him.

She suffered “catastrophic” head injuries and was declared dead while in an ambulance at the scene.

Heeps became so distraught he had to be comforted by passers by.

He said at the time, “She came from no-where.”

Mr Simpson said Heeps should have been able to see Mrs Hanks for 79 metres after turning into Northgate Street. He told police he had checked the exit of a car park and “scanned around” but did not see Mrs Hanks until she was on the ground.

Heeps’ barrister, Jonathan Tarrant, said he fully accepted his responsibility for the death of Mrs Hanks and had told him, “It was my fault. It was a personal failing.”

Heeps himself, added Mr Tarrant, would welcome an explanation as to why he had not seen Mrs Hanks even when she must have been right in front of his bus.

The court heard a victim impact statement from Mrs Heeps’ husband of 55 years, Derek. He said his wife had been “full of life,” a woman who would sing at the top of her voice at Haven Church, Pembroke.

He said he had lost the will to carry on with his own life and that his wife was deeply missed by her son Richard and daughter Marie, and her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Judge Huw Davies said Heeps’ driving had come “not far short” of dangerous and not just careless. There had been plenty of time for Heeps to see that someone was using the crossing but he had not reacted at all “and you just knocked her down.”

“This was a dreadful accident for which you bear the entire blame. Even you cannot explain why you did not react as you must have done times without number over the years.

“For one reason or another you allowed your attention to wander. It would have been simplicity itself to have braked and allowed her to continue crossing the road.

“The consequences have been desperately sad and Mrs Hanks’ husband is a very different man to the one he was before losing his wife.

“Margaret Hanks was liked by all and loved by many and they have struggled to cope with an irreplaceable loss.”

*Judge Davies criticised the Crown Prosecution Service for the way the case had been prepared. It was sub standard, he said, particularly for a case involving a fatality.

He said he did not criticise Mr Simpson but those in the CPS who “hid behind his presence while he took the flak.”

It appeared, he added, that the CPS took an early indication of a guilty plea as an excuse to stop doing any more work.

Crime

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

Published

3 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

3 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

4 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.