Connect with us
Advertisement
Advertisement

News

Pair guilty of ‘sordid’ insurance scam

Published

on

BMW_X5_II_20090913_rearA WOMAN from south Pembrokeshire and a man from Carmarthenshire admitted an attempt to defraud the Tesco Car Insurance Company at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Helen Jane Arthur, 43, of Ridgeway, Saundersfoot, and Paul Biella, 26, of College Square, Llanelli, stood in the dock together as they both entered guilty pleas to fraud by false representation, contrary to the Fraud Act 1996.
CPS Prosecutor Gerald Neave told the court that the co-defendants had “met by chance” at the Cross Roads service station in Kilgetty.
Gerald Neave explained: “Arthur had pulled into the garage in her BMW X5. As she was buying petrol, co-defendant Biella noticed the for sale sign in the car window. He offered Arthur £4,000 for the car, but she felt this was not enough and they could not agree a price.”
He added: “Several weeks later when times were hard, a friend suggested to Arthur that she should accept the offer and she searched through her mobile phone to find his number and then eventually got into contact with him.”
Mr. Neave continued: “However, on contacting the co-defendant rather than offering the £4,000 he said that if Arthur paid him £500 he would arrange for the car to be ‘stolen’ and she could claim for the loss of the car against her Tesco car insurance policy.”
“They agreed on this plan of action, and Biella affixed new number plates to the car and collected it from Saundersfoot” Mr. Neave told the court: “At 4.15pm on June 28, Arthur called the police and reported her vehicle stolen. PC Jones attended and took a report. Although Arthur claimed to be in possession of the spare keys, she could not produce them to the police. Police number plate recognition cameras revealed no trace of the car,” he said.
Mr Neave added: “However police were alerted to another vehicle with a different registration mark leaving Pembrokeshire and heading towards Llanelli. When they checked the details they found that the co-defendant Biella was an insured driver. A search of this Llanelli home revealed documents including a service manual for Arthur’s car. He was then arrested and eventually admitted the offences in interview.”
Arthur also admitted to police that she was part of the scam.
Defending, Michael Kelleher said: “Arthur is a lady of clean character hitherto, she has entered a timely guilty plea. She has never been involved with any dishonesty before, and wonders how she got involved in this sordid scam. She has had several family problems. She had bought the BMW X5 and a horse with inheritance money; she wanted a strong car for a horse box.”
Mr. Kelleher said things went wrong when she had various difficulties with her children, which The Herald cannot report as the court has placed us under reporting restrictions.
“The result of these problems was that she needed to sell this vehicle,” Mr Kelleher said.
He added: “It is still Arthur’s position that she was not the prime mover, however we have to accept that this could not have happened had she not agreed to report the vehicle stolen. So they are both in this together.”
Mr Kelleher told the court that he had three character references for Arthur which showed her to be a hard-working parent holding down a part time job at a supermarket.
“The vehicle was returned and Tesco did not pay out. The only person who lost out here was Arthur for paying half of the £500 which her co-defendant had asked for,” he said.
Before retiring for lunch the chairman of the bench said that he was considering all sentencing options from a community sentence to custody.
Following the adjournment, Probation Service Officer, Mrs Norman explained to the court that Biella wasn’t sure what he was going to do with the car, and hadn’t thought that far ahead.
Mrs Norman told the court: “Biella has been suffering from anxiety and depression but is actively looking for work in order to get his life back on track.”
When asked by the probation officer where he would have got the money from when he originally offered £4,000, he said he would have got the money from his parents.
The court was told by probation that it was money issues had prompted this behaviour from Biella.
On sentencing Biella, magistrates said: ”We seriously considered your situation because you’ve got a criminal record already. It was almost a split decision whether or not we should send you to prison.”
For his part in the plot he was given an 18 month community order and ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work. He was also fined £145.
On sentencing Arthur, magistrates said: “We have decided to sentence you to a community order. We have reduced your sentence from 16 to 12 months, because of your guilty plea.”
Arthur was also ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work and fined £145.
The chairman of the bench said to the pair: “If we see you in court again you are likely to go to prison”.

 

News

Two rescued from rocks near Pendine after tide alert

Published

on

TWO PEOPLE were rescued from rocks near Pendine after Tenby’s lifeboats were called out on Monday evening.

Both the all-weather lifeboat and inshore lifeboat were requested to launch at 6:15pm on Monday (Apr 27), while crews were preparing for their weekly exercise.

The alarm was raised following a report that two people were possibly cut off by the tide at Gilman Point, near Pendine, around six miles north-east of Tenby.

Choppy conditions meant the inshore lifeboat made slower progress, with the all-weather lifeboat arriving first on scene.

As crews reached the area, members of Tenby Coastguard Rescue Team, who were positioned on the cliffs above, alerted them to two people on the rocks.

The all-weather lifeboat’s Y-boat was launched to get in close to the rocks and make contact with the pair. They confirmed they were in difficulty and were taken aboard the Y-boat before being brought safely ashore at Pendine, where Coastguards were waiting.

The inshore lifeboat arrived shortly afterwards and collected the casualties’ bags before also returning to shore.

Once everyone had been accounted for and it was confirmed nobody else was in difficulty, both lifeboats returned to Tenby and continued with their exercises.

 

Continue Reading

News

Energy bills put at centre of Senedd election debate

Published

on

CAMPAIGNERS are calling on Wales’ political leaders to act faster on energy bills, saying electrification could help cut costs for families, businesses and community institutions.

Electrify Cymru, the Welsh arm of Electrify Britain, has published an open letter to party leaders ahead of the Senedd election.

The campaign, backed by EDF, Octopus Energy and E.ON, is calling for greater support for solar panels, heat pumps and electric vehicles, arguing that the technology needed to reduce bills is already available.

Public First polling for Electrify Britain found that 44% of Welsh voters put energy bills among their top three concerns, ahead of NHS waiting times on 43% and growing the economy on 30%.

The campaign says the next Welsh Government will be judged on whether it makes electrification easier and more affordable for households, businesses and community organisations across Wales.

The call comes ahead of a live Senedd Sources debate at the Electric Brewery Field in Bridgend on Tuesday (Apr 28), where senior figures from Labour, Reform UK and Plaid Cymru will discuss energy, the economy and the election.

Those due to take part include Huw Irranca-Davies, Labour’s Deputy First Minister of Wales, Jason O’Connell from Reform UK, and Luke Fletcher from Plaid Cymru.

The venue is home to Bridgend Ravens, where Electrify Cymru recently became the club’s official stadium partner. The campaign says the historic rugby club, which is approaching its 150th anniversary and relies heavily on volunteers, is among the community institutions being squeezed by rising energy costs.

Electrify Cymru claims a club such as Bridgend Ravens could save hundreds of thousands of pounds over the next Senedd term through electrification, including solar power and heat pump technology.

Camilla Born MBE, chief executive of Electrify Britain said: “If we want lower bills, warmer homes and yes, better rugby, we have to Electrify Cymru.

“The next Welsh Government will be judged on this. Not on warm words, but on whether families and businesses are paying less, homes are warmer, and clubs like Bridgend Ravens are thriving.

“We are ambitious about what an electrified future for Wales can look like. It’s where the world has to go in the face of so much uncertainty, so let’s make Wales a leader, not a follower.”

In its open letter, Electrify Cymru asks party leaders to meet the campaign at the Brewery Field to discuss how electrification could be delivered across Wales.

It also calls on the next First Minister to put electrification on the agenda for their first meeting with the Prime Minister, arguing that the powers needed to deliver change sit across both Welsh and UK governments.

The Senedd Sources live podcast recording will take place at the Electric Brewery Field, Bridgend, from 7:00pm to 8:30pm on Tuesday (Apr 28). Street food will be available from 6:00pm and tickets are free through seneddsources.com/live.

 

Continue Reading

News

Starmer faces Commons showdown over Mandelson vetting row

Published

on

PRIME MINISTER ACCUSED OF MISLEADING PARLIAMENT OVER AMBASSADOR APPOINTMENT

SIR KEIR STARMER is facing a Commons vote over whether he should be investigated for allegedly misleading Parliament about the vetting of Lord Mandelson.

MPs are due to debate on Tuesday whether the Prime Minister should be referred to the powerful Commons Privileges Committee, which investigates claims that MPs have broken parliamentary rules.

The row centres on Sir Keir’s statements that “full due process” was followed when Lord Mandelson was appointed as Britain’s ambassador to the United States, and that there had been “no pressure whatsoever” on Foreign Office officials involved in the process.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has agreed to allow the debate after requests from a number of MPs, including Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch. He stressed that his decision did not amount to a judgment on whether the Prime Minister had done anything wrong.

Lord Mandelson was later sacked from the Washington post following renewed scrutiny of his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The appointment has since become a major political headache for Sir Keir, with questions over whether the vetting process was rushed and whether officials were put under pressure to approve the appointment.

Sir Olly Robbins, the former senior civil servant at the Foreign Office, told MPs last week that there had been “constant pressure”, although he said it did not affect his decision to approve Lord Mandelson’s security clearance.

Sir Keir has denied misleading Parliament and has sought to draw a distinction between improper pressure and the ordinary pressure of government to get things done quickly.

Downing Street dismissed the move as “a desperate political stunt by the Conservative Party” ahead of the May elections.

A No 10 spokesperson said the Government was already co-operating with parliamentary processes looking into Lord Mandelson’s appointment, adding that the Conservatives had “no answers on the cost of living or the NHS”.

Mrs Badenoch accused Sir Keir of misleading Parliament “multiple times” and urged Labour MPs to “look into their consciences” before voting.

The Liberal Democrats, Reform UK and the Greens have also indicated support for an inquiry.

However, Labour’s large Commons majority means the motion is unlikely to pass unless a significant number of Labour MPs rebel or abstain.

If the matter is referred to the Privileges Committee, it could examine whether Sir Keir knowingly misled MPs or failed to correct the record quickly enough.

The Ministerial Code states that ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament are expected to resign, while inadvertent errors should be corrected at the earliest opportunity.

 

Continue Reading

Local Government16 hours ago

Council pays tribute to long-serving councillor Brian Hall

PEMBROKESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL has paid tribute to long-serving Pembroke Dock Market councillor Brian Hall, following his death. Cllr Hall first...

Sport2 days ago

Bluebirds reach European play-off final after penalty drama in Barry

Haverfordwest County beat Barry Town United 3-1 on spot-kicks after 1-1 draw at Jenner Park HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY are one win...

News3 days ago

Barley Saturday brings bumper crowds to Cardigan

CROWDS lined the streets of Cardigan on Saturday (Apr 25) as Barley Saturday once again brought the town centre to...

Community3 days ago

Freshwater West memorial honours crews lost in wartime tragedy

VETERANS, standard bearers and civic representatives gathered at Freshwater West on Saturday (Apr 25) for a moving service of remembrance...

News3 days ago

Haverfordwest Hemp hustings to explore role in Wales’ future economy

Debate at Haverhub to link agriculture, sustainability and Senedd election issues A UNIQUE political and environmental debate is set to...

News3 days ago

Parties use postcode-targeted social media adverts in Senedd campaign

LABOUR has spent more than twice as much as any other Welsh political party on Facebook and Instagram advertising in...

News4 days ago

Pressure builds as Labour ducks farming hustings

NOT one of Labour’s seven list candidates for the Ceredigion Penfro seat turned up for farming hustings in either Pembrokeshire...

News5 days ago

Kemi Badenoch warns over loss of industry during Valero visit

Conservative leader says Wales cannot afford to lose more strategic jobs as she attacks Reform and backs Darren Millar KEMI...

News5 days ago

Waiting lists fall for ninth month — but cancer, A&E and ambulance pressures grow

Labour points to “real progress” on treatment backlogs as surgeons and Conservatives warn the next Welsh Government still faces a...

Crime5 days ago

Man on trial over historic sex offence allegations

Pembroke Dock defendant faces charges spanning from 1984 to 2008 A MAN from Pembroke Dock is standing trial at Swansea...

Popular This Week