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Crime

Precept increase ‘tackles financial challenges and boosts local policing’

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POLICE and Crime Commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn has announced the police precept for 2025/26 following the Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Panel’s unanimous approval at a meeting on Friday (Jan 24). The precept, which forms part of council tax funding for policing, will see an 8.6% increase for an average Band D property—equivalent to £28.65 annually or approximately £2.39 per month.

Dyfed-Powys Police Crime Commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn (Image: Supplied)

Transparent budget-setting process

Mr. Llywelyn’s proposal was praised by panel members for its transparency and thorough scrutiny over several months. The Commissioner factored in inflation, cost pressures, service demands, reserves, and community feedback before finalizing the precept.

“The operational and financial landscape remains unpredictable,” Mr. Llywelyn said. “This funding will enable the Force to focus on delivering my new Police and Crime Plan for 2025-2029 and improving outcomes for the community.”

Strengthening local policing

Community police in Milford Haven (Image: Herald)

The increase will bring significant enhancements to police services, particularly through Local Policing Teams. The precept, along with a £0.7m Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee Grant, will fund 35 additional full-time officers. This allows experienced officers to shift from desk-based roles to frontline policing, bolstering neighbourhood and response teams.

Further investments include upgrades to critical operational equipment, technology, and staffing to improve efficiency and case handling. Vulnerable callers will benefit from strengthened support, and training initiatives will ensure the Force remains responsive to community needs.

Mr. Llywelyn emphasized the importance of visible policing: “We understand the burden any increase places on taxpayers, but this decision is vital for sustaining essential services and increasing visible policing. These investments will help safeguard our communities’ safety and well-being.”

Public consultation informs decision

The Commissioner sought public input, with 54.7% of 707 respondents supporting a precept increase above 9% to protect services. The approved 8.6% rise will set the Band D precept at £360.68 for 2025/26, raising £86.366m and contributing to total funding of £153.304m—a £9.4m (6.5%) increase from last year.

Future plans

The Commissioner’s new Police and Crime Plan for 2025-2029 will outline objectives for improving performance and outcomes.
“I extend my thanks to the public for their input and to the Police and Crime Panel for their continued support,” Mr. Llywelyn added.

 

Crime

Haverfordwest man jailed for seven years for historic rape and sexual assault of girl

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A HAVERFORDWEST man has been jailed for seven years after being convicted of raping and indecently assaulting a girl during the 1980s.

Alan Pyart, aged 60, of North Court, Haverfordwest, was found guilty following a trial at Swansea Crown Court earlier this year.

Pyart had denied raping and indecently assaulting the victim, who was under the age of 16 at the time of the offences.

The case returned to court for sentencing after being adjourned for more than two months so that a further psychiatric report could be prepared.

Judge Geraint Walters sentenced Pyart to seven years in prison for rape and four years for indecent assault. The sentences will run concurrently, meaning he will serve an overall custodial term of seven years.

Pyart was also made subject to an indefinite restraining order and will remain on the sex offenders register for life.

He had previously been remanded in custody while awaiting sentence.

Reporting restrictions are in place which legally protect the identity of the victim.

Detective Inspector Sarah Totterdale, of Pembrokeshire CID, praised the victim for coming forward many years after the abuse took place.

She said the case demonstrated the lasting effect sexual abuse can have on victims and their families, adding that it was never too late to seek justice.

DI Totterdale said: “I would like to commend the victim for the immense courage she has shown in coming forward and speaking about what happened to her all those years ago.

“Abuse of this nature can leave deep and long-lasting scars, but it is never too late to seek justice.

“We hope this conviction and sentence sends a clear message that Dyfed-Powys Police will pursue offenders, no matter how much time has passed.”

She encouraged anyone who has experienced sexual abuse, either recently or in the past, to contact police, saying they would be listened to, supported and taken seriously.

Information about reporting rape and sexual assault, as well as details of available support services, can be found through the Dyfed-Powys Police website.

 

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Crime

NHS trust which treated Haverfordwest-raised attacker faces manslaughter probe

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Police examine care given to Valdo Calocane before he killed three people in Nottingham

THE MENTAL health trust responsible for treating Haverfordwest-raised Valdo Calocane before he killed three people in Nottingham is now the subject of a corporate manslaughter investigation.

Northumbria Police has begun examining the care and treatment provided to Calocane by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust between 2020 and 2022.

The outside force is conducting the investigation on behalf of Nottinghamshire Police, whose own contact with Calocane before the attacks has been scrutinised during a separate public inquiry.

The trust has confirmed that it will cooperate fully with detectives.

Calocane grew up in Haverfordwest after moving to Britain with his family and attended the former Sir Thomas Picton School, now part of Haverfordwest High VC School.

He later moved to Nottingham, where he studied mechanical engineering at the University of Nottingham.

In the early hours of June 13, 2023, Calocane fatally stabbed 19-year-old students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar as they walked home after celebrating the end of their university exams.

He then killed 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates before stealing his van and deliberately driving into three pedestrians, leaving them seriously injured.

Calocane pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and three counts of attempted murder.

He was sentenced in January 2024 to an indefinite hospital order and is being held at a high-security psychiatric hospital.

The decision to investigate the NHS trust represents a significant escalation in attempts to establish whether the deaths resulted not only from individual errors, but from serious organisational and management failures.

There has been no decision to prosecute the trust, and the opening of an investigation does not mean that any criminal offence has been proven.

Under corporate manslaughter legislation, prosecutors would need to establish that the way an organisation’s activities were managed caused a death and amounted to a gross breach of a duty of care.

The involvement of senior management must also have been a substantial part of the alleged breach. An organisation convicted of the offence can receive an unlimited fine, although individuals cannot be prosecuted for corporate manslaughter itself.

Repeated contact with mental health services

Calocane was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had repeatedly come into contact with mental health professionals and the police during the three years before the attacks.

He was sectioned four times while under the care of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

Despite concerns about violence, his refusal to take medication and his repeated failure to attend appointments, Calocane was eventually discharged from specialist mental health services and referred back to his GP.

A statutory public inquiry has heard that members of the Early Intervention in Psychosis team had effectively “lost” contact with him.

An independent NHS England investigation published in February 2025 identified clear failings in the care and treatment provided to Calocane.

NHS England apologised to the victims’ families and said the system, including the health service, had got the case wrong.

Mental health trusts across England were subsequently instructed to review their procedures, including policies which allowed seriously ill patients to be discharged simply because they had stopped attending appointments.

The police investigation is separate from the Nottingham Inquiry, which is being chaired by former senior judge Her Honour Deborah Taylor.

The inquiry’s main evidence hearings took place between February and June this year, during which evidence was heard about risk assessments, communication between agencies, decisions surrounding Calocane’s treatment and the failure to arrest him on an outstanding warrant.

Closing submissions are scheduled to be heard on September 8 and 9, with the inquiry’s final findings and recommendations expected in 2027.

Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby Webber, described the corporate manslaughter investigation as the “beginning of the reckoning”.

She said the development should send shockwaves through public services and called for everyone involved to cooperate with complete candour and transparency.

Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said: “Northumbria Police, acting on behalf of Nottinghamshire Police, have begun an investigation into matters relating to the care and treatment of Valdo Calocane.

“We know how important the independent inquiry and police investigation are for the affected families, the survivors and our local communities.

“We will, of course, be co-operating fully with Northumbria Police.”

 

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Crime

Women jailed after man chased through Milford home and attacked with knives

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Kelly Rees receives further 27-month sentence while already serving prison term for notorious taxi robbery

TWO women have been jailed after chasing a man through a Milford Haven home before inflicting deep wounds with knives.

Demi Oliver, aged 26, and Kelly Rees, aged 36, appeared before Swansea Crown Court for sentence following the serious attack on Warren Harper at a property in Precelly Place.

Jailed: Demi Oliver
Was already in jail for taxi robbery, but given extended sentence, Kelly Rees

The women had originally been charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, an offence under Section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

During an earlier hearing at Swansea Crown Court, both defendants denied the more serious charge but pleaded guilty to the lesser alternative offence of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Oliver was sentenced to 17 months’ imprisonment, while Rees received a further 27-month prison term in addition to the sentence she is already serving for a separate knife-point taxi robbery.

The court heard that Oliver and Rees had been drinking at Rees’s home in Precelly Place on July 28, 2024, when Harper joined them at the property.

Police attending a different incident at the same address in 2024 (Image: Herald)

Mr Ibrahim, representing Rees, said she had also been smoking crack cocaine before an altercation developed.

Both women began chasing Harper through the house, eventually forcing him to lock himself inside the downstairs bathroom.

The court heard that Harper remained behind the locked door before eventually saying: “This stops.”

When he came out, he was confronted by Oliver and Rees, who were both armed with knives.

Rees produced what was described in court as a Stanley knife and slashed Harper’s left wrist, causing an extremely deep and damaging wound.

Oliver then approached him carrying a black-handled knife and inflicted a deep laceration to his left shoulder.

Harper later told police that he felt “a deep sharp pain” during the attack.

In a desperate attempt to escape the women, he ran upstairs and entered another bathroom.

He considered jumping from the bathroom window but realised that the drop was too high.

Harper eventually managed to get downstairs and escape from the property through the front door.

Harrowing Ring doorbell footage shown to the court captured him fleeing the house covered in blood.

He ran to a friend’s home, where he was described as sweating, shaking and covered in blood.

An ambulance was called and Harper was taken to Withybush Hospital.

He required surgery to repair damage to his muscles and tendons caused by the wounds.

After seeing photographs of the injuries, Judge Huw Rees intervened to emphasise their seriousness.

“These are not just slash marks,” he said.

“These are very deep cuts, of which I can see his muscle.”

Prescelly Place, Milford Haven, where the incidence took place in 2024

Oliver had no previous convictions

Mr Singh, representing Oliver, told the court that his client deeply regretted her actions.

He said Oliver had no previous convictions and drew attention to the fact that she had been supported in court by the two grandparents who had raised her.

Oliver, of Precelly Place, had been released on bail following the earlier plea hearing while pre-sentence reports were prepared.

The judge concluded that the seriousness of the violence meant an immediate custodial sentence was necessary.

She was sentenced to 17 months in prison, with the sentence beginning immediately.

Rees described as “seasoned offender”

Rees, who was already being held at HMP Downview, was treated differently because of her extensive record of previous offending.

Addressing her directly, Judge Rees said: “You are a seasoned offender.”

The judge noted that she was already serving a prison sentence for the notorious robbery of a Milford Haven taxi driver.

That attack took place on October 18, 2024, less than three months after the assault on Harper.

Rees and fellow defendant Ashlee Rees targeted the driver after he collected them in Milford Haven.

During the robbery, the driver was threatened with a knife and attacked with a needle before a bag containing his takings was stolen.

The driver was left fearing that he may have contracted an infection and was required to undergo blood tests following the attack.

He also suffered recurring nightmares and anxiety as a result of the ordeal.

The case attracted widespread attention in Milford Haven, with members of the community later raising money to support the driver.

Kelly Rees had admitted robbery but denied using the needle. She was convicted of that element of the offence following a trial and was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.

For the attack on Harper, Rees received a further sentence of 27 months’ imprisonment, to be served in addition to the sentence she is already serving.

 

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