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Crime

Pembrokeshire builder over twice drink-drive limit after homebrew session

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A SELF-EMPLOYED Pembrokeshire builder has been ordered off the roads for 17 months after driving home from a friend after downing homebrew.

Timothy Parkes, 60, was followed by police officers after they received a tip-off from a member of the public concerned that Parkes may have consumed alcohol prior to driving his Mitsubishi L200.

“It was on the evening of April 17 when police were asked to keep observations on the defendant as a result of information they’d received that he may have been drinking alcohol,” Crown Prosecutor Abigail Jackson told Haverfordwest magistrates this week.

“The officers illuminated their lights but the defendant carried on driving. They then saw him pull into the driveway where the vehicle was registered, dump it and run into the yard area.”

Parkes, of Isfryn, Pontyglasier, was subsequently apprehended by the officers and a roadside breath test carried out which proved positive. He was conveyed to a police custody suite where two further intoximeter tests gave the lowest reading of 78mcg. The prescribed legal limit is 35.

Parkes who pleaded guilty to drink-driving, chose to legally represent himself when he appeared in the dock.

“I was a bit foolish,” he told the magistrates. “I went to see my friend who had had an accident at work and he was given some homebrew by friends, and I drank some. I didn’t know how strong the homebrew was, to be fair.”

Parkes informed magistrates that he is a self-employed builder.

“I live in the countryside so now I won’t be able to go to work,” he said.

After considering the mitigation, Parkes was disqualified from driving for 17 months. He was fined £230 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £92 court surcharge.

 

Crime

Haverfordwest sex offender jailed over child abuse material

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Registered offender used library computers to hide social media accounts

A HAVERFORDWEST sex offender who used public library computers to exchange child abuse material and discuss the sexual abuse of minors has been jailed for 20 months.

Euwyn Draper, aged 22, of Hill Street, Haverfordwest, appeared at Swansea Crown Court after admitting four breaches of a sexual harm prevention order.

Recorder Greg Bull KC told him the courts had “bent over backwards” to assist him in the past, but said those efforts had failed.

He told Draper: “I’m not going to lecture you because I would be wasting my breath. You knew you had to comply with the order.”

Secret accounts

The court heard that Draper had been made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order in 2024 after earlier convictions for possessing and distributing indecent images of children.

The order banned him from holding social media accounts in any name other than his own and required him to disclose relationships or friendships to police when asked.

Despite this, Draper secretly maintained accounts on a number of platforms, including X, formerly Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and BlueSky. The BlueSky account had been registered under a false name.

His use of Snapchat was specifically prohibited because of the platform’s auto-delete function.

Library computers

Prosecutor Megan Williams said Draper’s latest offending came to light on May 5 this year during a routine meeting with his offender manager at Haverfordwest police station.

When asked about his internet use, Draper claimed he only went to the library to watch YouTube and listen to Spotify. He denied having any social media accounts or communicating with anyone online.

But as questioning continued, he became “flustered” and admitted he had been chatting to a male online and had an X account which had not been disclosed to police.

Officers attended the library with Draper the following day to examine his digital activity.

After he logged in using his library ID and opened his Google account, police reviewed his X profile and found sexually explicit conversations between Draper and another male in which the pair discussed sexual activity involving children aged five and above.

The court heard that explicit photographs had also been exchanged.

Police also discovered that Draper had reinstalled Instagram after previously deleting the account in front of officers.

Previous offending

Draper has three previous convictions for 14 offences.

In April 2024 he was given a suspended prison sentence and made subject to the sexual harm prevention order for possessing and distributing child sex abuse images.

Within months, he breached the order by maintaining an undisclosed social media account. In September 2024 he was jailed for 16 months for possession of further indecent images.

When interviewed about the latest breaches, Draper answered “no comment” to all questions.

‘Immature young man’

Alex Scott, defending, described Draper as an “immature young man” who lived an isolated life in rented accommodation and acted “impulsively” in relation to social media.

He said Draper had co-operated with police by accompanying officers to the library and recognised the need to address the underlying causes of his behaviour.

Jailed

Draper had previously pleaded guilty to four counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

After giving him a one-third discount for his early guilty pleas, Recorder Bull sentenced him to 20 months in prison.

Draper will serve up to half of the sentence in custody before being released on licence to complete the remainder in the community.

 

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Crime

Boy, 13, arrested after child seriously injured in rugby club fire

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11-year-old rescued from burning container at Trimsaran RFC

A 13-YEAR-OLD boy has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and arson after a fire at a Carmarthenshire rugby club left an 11-year-old boy seriously injured.

The blaze happened at Trimsaran RFC on Saturday afternoon, when a storage container used to keep equipment at the club’s ground was allegedly set alight deliberately.

Dyfed-Powys Police said the younger boy became trapped inside the burning container and had to be rescued by club members.

He was taken to Morriston Hospital with serious injuries, where he remains in a stable condition.

Police have confirmed that a 13-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and arson.

The investigation is ongoing.

 

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Crime

Suspended prison sentence for man who left dogs without vet care

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CEREDIGION man Rhys Ebenezer has been handed a suspended prison sentence after leaving three dogs without veterinary treatment, including one animal found to have been in chronic pain for at least two weeks.

Ebenezer, 27, of Llangeitho, Tregaron, appeared at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (May 21), where he was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison, suspended for two years.

He was also banned from keeping all animals for 10 years and ordered to pay £6,410.92 in costs, along with a £154 victim surcharge.

Ebenezer had previously admitted four offences under the Animal Welfare Act relating to causing unnecessary suffering and failing to meet the needs of three dogs.

The court also imposed a six-month curfew order, 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days, and a 12-month restriction on travelling abroad.

RSPCA officers were called to a property in Llangeitho on September 29, 2025, following reports that injured dogs were being kept in kennels.

When Animal Rescue Officers Holly Brown and Darryl Thomas arrived, they became concerned about two Patterdale terriers, four-year-old Charlie and two-year-old Twig.

In her witness statement, ARO Brown said: “Twig was curled up in her bed and appeared very lethargic and subdued. I observed a large blue bandage on her front right leg.”

She said she was told Twig had been involved in a fight with another dog, Champ, who was at the vets with Ebenezer, and that the animals had injured each other fighting through the bars of the kennels.

ARO Brown said Charlie appeared “bright, alert and active” but was underweight, with his ribs easily visible and his waist “very sucked in”.

She added: “I observed that Charlie was covered all over his body in scars and healing wounds in different stages of healing. Some appeared much more recent and others appeared healed.”

A vet who assessed Charlie estimated some of the wounds on his legs were around two weeks old, while others were around a week old. The vet said the injuries were “inconsistent” with Ebenezer’s explanation that the scarring had been caused by ratting.

Ebenezer told officers that Champ had been put to sleep and buried at his property.

ARO Thomas said Ebenezer took officers to a “remote field on the top of a mountain”, where an excavator was used to dig up Champ’s body.

In his witness statement, ARO Thomas said: “Using torches, the officers examined the deceased dog and I could see that this dog had what I would describe as a de-gloving injury to both sides of its lower jaw, and a chunk of its nose was missing.”

A vet who examined Champ’s body found injuries to his chin, nostril and ear. The severe chin injury was assessed as having happened at least two weeks before the dog was euthanised and would have caused “chronic pain and discomfort”.

The vet added: “It is my expert opinion that clearly all three dogs — Twig, Charlie and Champ — were caused to suffer as a consequence of the injuries that they had sustained.”

In mitigation, the court heard that Ebenezer had worked with animals and was highly thought of by his employer. He was also given credit for his early guilty pleas.

 

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