News
Determined pensioner seeks private prosecution against police and CPS
A PENSIONER, who has been convicted of speeding by Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court last spring, and again on appeal to The Crown Court last June, appeared at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (Jan 11) to seek the leave of a judge to start a private prosecution.
He wants to prosecute police staff involved in his case, and the CPS.
Niall Taylor, 68, is determined that the police stopped him on Arnolds Hill on the A40, which is a 60mph zone – but the police told two courts that Taylor was sighted by the Toyota Garage just outside Haverfordwest in a temporary 40mph zone, and was stopped on the nearby roundabout.
Taylor says that he has asked for number plate recognition (NPR) information from data cameras near the scene – all that is needed to prove his innocence according to him – but he claims he has been repeatedly blocked in his request.
Arnolds Hill: Where Mr Taylor claims he was stopped
At Llanelli court the District Judge Parsons told Taylor that he would have to make some corrections to his paperwork before he could consider the private prosecution to proceed.
Taylor told The Herald: “The judge appeared to be trying to help me with this prosecution. I cannot trust the police or CPS, they have lied and lied again and I want to prove that I am innocent of speeding and their case was all a lie.”
Taylor insists that the data will show that he was not stopped where the police say, and that the two police officers involved are liars.
Speaking at the Magistrates’ Court hearing in February he said: “I am in total disbelief at this. The officer is not telling the truth. I would not go to all this effort just to dodge a speeding fine.”
But data from the two police officer’s TETRA Airwave radios showed that the police were parked on a nearby roundabout, which supported the police’s side of the story in court. At the appeal, the police ICT specialist Suzanne James, however, was unable to confirm how accurate the radio location data was.
The police traffic car involved did not have any operational CCTV cameras according to official statements.
The PC said: “None of the RPU vehicles, including the [vehicle I was driving], are fitted with dash cams, CCTV or any other video recording equipment. Neither myself, or my colleague, were issued with or in possession of personal body cams.”
The officer, of Haverfordwest’s Road Policing Unit, had told Haverfordwest Magistrates’ Court in February last year that he and a colleague had been conducting speed checks on the A40 near the Toyota dealership on August 22, 2016.
Taylor says this is untrue.
EMERGENCY services were called after a car crashed into a house on Nun Street in St Davids on Thursday (Apr 24).
Dyfed-Powys Police and Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene at around 4:35pm following reports of a single-vehicle collision.
On arrival, they found that a car had collided with a residential property. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
The road remained open while the vehicle was recovered.
A spokesperson for Dyfed-Powys Police said: “Dyfed-Powys Police attended a report of a single-vehicle road traffic collision where a car collided with a property on Nun Street, St Davids, at around 4:35pm yesterday. No injuries were reported, and the road remained open while the vehicle was recovered.”
POLICE are appealing for information to help locate a 54-year-old man who has been reported missing from the Milford Haven area.
Neil is described as being around 6ft 2in tall with a shaved head. He has tattoos on his arms and one of his fingers, and sometimes wears glasses.
He was last seen on Friday afternoon (Apr 26) wearing a black Superdry hoodie, ripped jeans, and orange and black Nike Air trainers. Neil is believed to be on foot.
Anyone with information that could help is urged to contact Dyfed-Powys Police: 
| Online portal
| 101@dyfed-powys.police.uk
| Call 101, quoting reference 262 of April 26.
Wales joins UK’s largest firefighting aid convoy
MID and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service (MAWWFRS) has taken part in the UK’s largest ever convoy delivering vital firefighting equipment to Ukraine, joining 17 other Fire and Rescue Services (FRSs) from across the country.
The convoy, coordinated by FIRE AID and supported by the UK Government, left the UK in early April. It travelled through France, Germany and Poland, delivering over 30 fire service vehicles and more than 15,000 items of equipment to support Ukrainian firefighters on the front line of the ongoing war.
Since the Russian invasion in 2022, UK fire services have donated 119 vehicles and over 200,000 pieces of equipment to Ukraine. Each participating service ensured local needs were met before donating surplus kit.
Watch Manager Rob Kershaw represented MAWWFRS on the convoy. He said:
“It’s been a privilege to be part of this convoy and to represent both FIRE AID and Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
We received invaluable support and assistance from fire and police services across every country we passed through. Their help in coordinating, escorting, and hosting the convoy was outstanding.”
Chief Fire Officer Roger Thomas KFSM added:
“MAWWFRS is proud to support our colleagues in Ukraine by donating and delivering essential equipment.
The events in Ukraine have deeply affected the fire and rescue community, and this convoy is a demonstration of our ongoing commitment to helping those still working under extreme conditions.”
The donated equipment will support firefighters in Ukraine who continue to operate in war zones to save lives and protect property—often at great personal risk. Since the conflict began, 100 Ukrainian firefighters have been killed and 431 injured. A total of 411 fire stations and 1,700 firefighting vehicles have been destroyed.
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