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Pembroke Dock: Prince landlord narrowly escapes jail following benefits fraud
Suspended sentence: Keith
Francis
A “GREEDY and dishonest” Pembroke businessman fiddled more than £40,000 in benefits while banking over £2M pounds, a judge heard on Monday (Mar 30).
Keith Francis, aged 70, kept quiet about operating six bank accounts and owning pubs, a restaurant and apartments.
Francis, of Bush Rise, Bush Hill, admitted defrauding the Department for Work and Pensions out of pension credits worth £41,851.
Swansea Crown Court heard he had repaid just £2,431.
Merion Davies, prosecuting, said Francis applied for credits in 2004 but would not have been entitled to anything had he told the truth about his financial affairs. But he claimed to have no assets or investments, or any income.
Francis began to receive about £157 on top of his state pension.
But DWP officials found four bank accounts used by Francis and that £2.1m of income had passed through them while he continued to receive pension credits.
Francis had told the Department he had once been a publican, but had stopped in June, 2004, and would never return to the trade.
Officials then discovered he had a financial interest in The Moat House, Pembroke, which was being converted into 14 apartments, 11 of which had been sold.
He also bought the Molly Malone restaurant, Pembroke, in 2007, and also took over the Prince of Wales pub, Pembroke, and the Bush Tavern, Pembroke Dock.
“It begged the question,” said Mr Davies, “where all the money was coming from.”
Officials also discovered a mortgage application which stated that Francis made £50,431 a year and his wife Sylvia £50,250.
“That came as a complete surprise,” added Mr Davies.
Francis was interviewed by officials and still maintained he had no assets, income, pensions or savings, even though it was already known at that stage that he had been a director of six companies.
When told it could be proved he had banked £2.1m in four bank accounts alone between 2005 and 2012 “he just laughed.”
Mr Davies said to this day Francis had not provided the DWP with “a single document” and the department still awaited some sort of profit and loss account.
But, he stressed, it was not important whether Francis had been a successful businessman or not. He had been under a clear obligation to disclose income, irrespective of where it came from.
Francis’ barrister, James Hartson, said he was now £1m in debt. Most of the properties he owned were in negative equity and the courts had already issued a restraining order controlling £55,000 in assets.
That order, he said, would easily meet the £39,420 Francis still owed the DWP.
He described Francis as well thought of in the business community.
Judge Paul Thomas told rancis, “The case against you was overwhelming. There were several properties and businesses and it is inconceivable that you should be entitled to state benefits paid for by the rest of us.
“You are greedy and dishonest.”
Francis was jailed for nine months, but the sentence was suspended for 12 months because of his age, the state of his health, his lack of previous offending and his guilty pleas.
He was also ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work for the community.
Mr Davies said the DWP would ask Francis to pay a minimum of £1,200 in costs at a future hearing.
MID AND WEST WALES FIRE SERVICE LEADERSHIP CHANGE
MID and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service has announced the appointment of Craig Flannery as its new Chief Fire Officer, with effect from Monday, December 15, 2025.
Mr Flannery has served with the Service for more than twenty years, progressing through a wide range of middle management and senior leadership roles across both operational and non-operational departments.
During his career, he has been closely involved in strengthening operational delivery, risk management and organisational development. His work has included leading innovation in learning and development, overseeing the Service’s On-Call Improvement Programme, and driving investment in key enabling functions such as workforce development and information and communication technology.
The appointment followed a rigorous, multi-stage recruitment process led by Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Authority. Candidates were assessed through structured interviews, strategic leadership exercises and scenario-based assessments designed to test operational judgement, organisational vision and the ability to lead a modern fire and rescue service.
External professional assessors were also engaged to provide independent scrutiny, ensuring the process met high standards of fairness, transparency and challenge.
Mr Flannery emerged as the strongest candidate, demonstrating clear strategic leadership capability, detailed organisational knowledge and a strong commitment to community safety and service improvement.
Councillor John Davies, Chair of Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Authority, said: “Craig brings a deep understanding of our Service and a clear vision for its future. His appointment will strengthen our ability to innovate, support our workforce and deliver high-quality protection for the communities we serve.
“As we navigate a rapidly changing landscape, Craig’s experience in driving innovation and organisational development will be invaluable in helping us adapt and transform for the future.”
Commenting on his appointment, Mr Flannery said: “It is a privilege to lead this outstanding Service. I am committed to supporting our people, strengthening partnerships and building on the strong foundations already in place.
“As the challenges facing fire and rescue services continue to evolve, we must modernise and innovate, ensuring we have the skills, technology and capability needed to meet the needs of our communities. I look forward to working with colleagues and partners across Mid and West Wales to deliver a resilient, progressive Service that keeps people safe and places our staff at the heart of everything we do.”
PLANS to make Wales the best place in the UK for British Sign Language (BSL) users moved a significant step closer to becoming law with the Senedd’s unanimous support.
If ultimately passed, the BSL bill – introduced by the Conservatives’ Mark Isherwood – would end Wales’ status as the only UK nation without specific sign language protections.
Leading a debate on Wednesday December 17, Mr Isherwood said the Senedd supporting the bill’s general principles was a “huge step ahead” for the “vital” legislation.
Mr Isherwood, a disability rights campaigner for decades, explained his backbench bill would introduce legal requirements to promote and facilitate the use of BSL in Wales.
He said the bill, if passed, would be the most progressive piece of BSL legislation anywhere in the UK, recognising BSL is a language in its own right, not a communication support need.
He highlighted that the bill would establish a BSL adviser role, the first statutory post of its kind in the UK, describing its importance as something that “cannot be overstated”.
Mr Isherwood, who chairs cross-party groups on disability and deaf issues, told the Senedd: “This isn’t just my bill. This is the bill of the BSL community. Let’s make this happen together and be proud of it together on behalf of deaf people across Wales.”
Jenny Rathbone, the Labour chair of the Senedd’s equality committee, was convinced of the “overdue” need for legislation to give more standing to British Sign Language.
Ms Rathbone said the committee heard the biggest barrier “by some margin” was the availability of interpreters and the sustainability of the workforce.
She quoted a signer who told the committee: “The bill would make us feel respected and valued. But without proper funding, planning and deaf-led leadership, it won’t go far enough.”
Sioned Williams, Plaid Cymru’s shadow social justice secretary, told Senedd members: “Language is a part of our identity, our culture and our personal dignity.
“When someone cannot use their language, they are excluded from education, health care, employment and public life – and that is not acceptable in today’s Wales.”
Ms Williams warned that if the legislation fails to deliver real change, the deaf community would be left “angry, disappointed and very, very disheartened”.
She expressed concern that the bill does not legally require the BSL adviser to be a deaf person, arguing it is “not appropriate, possible or efficient” for non-signers to lead the way.
Mr Isherwood defended the decision not to require that the adviser must be deaf, warning a successful legal challenge to a single such provision could cause the entire bill to fail.
Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds warned of an immediate workforce crisis, with only 54 registered sign language interpreters in Wales as of July.
With many now approaching the end of their working lives, she said: “We cannot – we must not – allow this bill to fail because we didn’t have the foresight to address this crisis now.”
Support for the bill stretched across the political spectrum, with Reform UK’s Laura Anne Jones similarly welcoming the “long-overdue” and “vital” legislation.
Jane Hutt, Wales’ social justice secretary, confirmed the Welsh Government’s financial backing, committing £214,300 for the bill’s first year of implementation in 2026/27.
If it clears the final hurdles, Mr Isherwood’s proposal will be the first backbench bill to enter the statute book in about a decade following the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016.
NEARLY four in ten disabled children in Wales “never or hardly ever” play outside due to a “heartbreaking” lack of accessible parks, politicians have warned.
Rhys ab Owen, an independent, described the situation as “disgraceful” as he cited a Play Wales report showing 37% of disabled children are effectively shut out of playgrounds.
Leading a debate in the Senedd on Wednesday December 17, he read the testimony of a ten-year-old boy from Blaenau Gwent who said: “Nowhere disabled friendly – parks haven’t got disabled friendly equipment, so I can’t play.”
Mr ab Owen warned: “There shouldn’t be any discrimination… disabled children do face much greater problems in terms of park maintenance, and with accessibility and inclusion.”
He shared the experience of a 13-year-old girl from Newport who told researchers: “There’s nowhere I can play or hang out safely by myself as I use a frame to help me walk.”
The former barrister warned budget cuts were leading to a managed decline in standards, quoting a 13-year-old from Caerphilly who said: “Due to anti-social behaviour our equipment gets broken, burnt and vandalised and is then not replaced.”
The Conservatives’ Natasha Asghar was stunned by the scale of the crisis and revealed that only 11% of playgrounds in Wales are rated “green”, meaning they are fully accessible. By contrast, almost half are rated “red” for poor accessibility.
Listing the barriers families face, Ms Asghar highlighted that 30% of sites lack accessible paths and nearly one in five have gates too narrow for wheelchairs. “Those are just two of the barriers preventing disabled children from accessing play,” she said.
Jane Dodds, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in Wales, argued the shocking statistics should be a wake-up call for Senedd politicians.
“To hear that 37% of disabled children in Wales say they never or hardly ever play outside should be a figure to stop us all in our tracks,” she said.
Meanwhile, Mike Hedges pointed out that Wales became the first country in the world to put a duty on councils to secure “sufficient play opportunities” for children in 2010.
And Julie Morgan, a fellow Labour backbencher, celebrated Cardiff becoming the UK’s first Unicef-accredited child-friendly city in 2023.
Dawn Bowden, the minister for children, pointed to £5m to improve playgrounds this year but she too was “disappointed” by play satisfaction figures falling from 84% to 71% since 2019.
She said the Welsh Government has provided a “toolkit” to Wales’ 22 councils, “ensuring a holistic outcome-focused approach” to inclusive and accessible play.
The cross-party motion, which called for play to be protected from cuts – as well as improved access for disabled children – was agreed unanimously but does not bind ministers.
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