News

Council doesnt deny Head’s appointment was rigged

Published

10 years ago

December 30, 2015

THE APPOINTMENT of a head teacher to a Pembrokeshire school was ‘rigged’ to favour one candidate. That is the allegation that has been made to The Pembrokeshire Herald by a member of the panel for the selection of a head teacher for Ysgol Gelli Aur/ Golden Grove School in Pembroke. Pembroke Town Councillor, Mel Phillips told The Herald: “After the former head teacher of Gelli Aur, Les Johnson announced his intention to retire, the Council provided a shortlist of two candidates – Andrew Williams, who formerly taught at Broad aven School and a teacher from Brynconin School. Curiously, I had been told by a friend that Mr Williams would be the new head teacher, even before the job had been advertised as vacant.”

Mel explained that she was puzzled as to shortlist’s brevity and challenged the ‘adviser’ appointed by the Council to assist the Governors in selecting a head teacher as to why that was the case. The adviser, Sue Painter, told selection panel members that the post had been advertised in the Times Education Supplement (TES). Melanie Phillips expressed dissatisfaction at the shortlist’s length and checked with the TES whether an advertisement had been placed. Her enquiries revealed that was not the case and the selection panel demanded it was done properly and in accordance with the regulations governing the appointment of head teachers. After the post had been advertised, a further shortlist was produced. The second shortlist contained only three names: the original two candidates and a Mr Condon from Angle School.

The panel interviewed all of the candidates and at a meeting held at the County Archives, Haverfordwest, were unanimous in considering that the teacher from Brynconin School had performed the best in interview and was the best candidate for the job. Mel Phillips told The Herald: “Sue Painter then intervened and told the selection panel that there were ‘issues’ about the panel’s choice. “When we asked why his name had been put forward, we were told – ‘We didn’t expect him to get this far’.” However, Mel told us, when panel members asked what the issues were Sue Painter refused to say and told panel members it was a confidential matter. “Well, as you can guess, that left us hanging. We asked whether allegations had been made against him, but she would only answer it was ‘confidential’. That left us all hanging, inviting us to draw the worst of adverse conclusions.

“It stank then and it stinks now, Jon. I quickly concluded that the whole process was a stitch up from start to end and that whatever the allegations were they could not be that serious as the candidate was still teaching at another school. However, such was the doubt that Sue Painter had sown that panel members decided to reconsider their decision. “Two of us on the panel, me and Hywel Edwards, walked out in protest. In our absence, Mr Williams was appointed.” Mel explained how distressed she was by the events: “I tell you, I could not sleep. That poor man had been so badly served and so let down. He was clearly the best candidate for the job and I believe he would have been a terrific head teacher at our school. After a couple of days fretting, I had to phone him him and put him in the picture as to what had happened.

I assured him that we had all concluded he was the best candidate for the head teacher’s post and it was only the intervention of Sue Painter right at the end of the process that prevented his appointment. “In fact that there was NO issue regarding the panel’s choice. He has since been appointed to the head teacher’s post at another school.” The events have left Mel with a sour conclusion: “This whole thing was a stitch up from start to end. The best candidate was not appointed, the Council had clearly decided who was going to get the job and the so-called ‘adviser’ was simply there to make sure it got its way.”

The Herald put Mel’s detailed account to the Council as a series of bullet points and asked for a response from the Head of Education, Kate Evans-Hughes. The Herald made it clear that the inference to be drawn from Mel Phillips’s account was that the process had been rigged to favour one candidate over others. The Council DID NOT deny Mel Phillips’s account was truthful or accurate. Instead a spokesperson told The Herald: “The Staffing of Maintained Schools Regulations (Wales) clearly defines the recruitment process to be followed in the case of Head Teachers, with the governing body having responsibility for selection decisions and the Local Authority acting as an ‘adviser’. “This is the role the Authority played in this particular case.” No allegation of wrongdoing is made against the successful candidate and current head teacher at Golden Grove in relation to the selection process. However, the incident highlights concerns about further appointments to head teacher positions made by the local authority since 2012.

Crime

Swansea man dies weeks after release from troubled HMP Parc: Investigation launched

Published

3 hours ago

December 4, 2025

Tom Sinclair

A SWANSEA man has died just weeks after being released from HMP Parc, the Bridgend prison now at the centre of a national crisis over inmate deaths and post-release failures.

Darren Thomas, aged 52, died on 13 November 2025 — less than a month after leaving custody. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) has confirmed an independent investigation into his death, which is currently listed as “in progress”.

Born on 9 April 1973, Mr Thomas had been under post-release supervision following a period at HMP/YOI Parc, the G4S-run prison that recorded seventeen deaths in custody in 2024 — the highest in the UK.

His last known legal appearance was at Swansea Crown Court in October 2024, where he stood trial accused of making a threatening phone call and two counts of criminal damage. During the hearing, reported by The Pembrokeshire Herald at the time, the court heard he made threats during a heated call on 5 October 2023.

Mr Thomas denied the allegations but was found guilty on all counts. He was sentenced to a custodial term, which led to his imprisonment at HMP Parc.

Parc: A prison in breakdown

HMP Parc has faced sustained criticism throughout 2024 and 2025. A damning unannounced inspection in January found:

Severe self-harm incidents up 190%
Violence against staff up 109%
Synthetic drugs “easily accessible” across wings
Overcrowding at 108% capacity

In the first three months of 2024 alone, ten men died at Parc — part of a wider cluster of twenty PPO-investigated deaths since 2022. Six occurred within three weeks, all linked to synthetic drug use.

Leaked staff messages in 2025 exposed a culture of indifference, including one officer writing: “Let’s push him to go tomorrow so we can drop him.”

Six G4S employees have been arrested since 2023 in connection with alleged assaults and misconduct.

The danger after release

Deaths shortly after release from custody are a growing national concern. Ministry of Justice data shows 620 people died while under community supervision in 2024–2025, with 62 deaths occurring within 14 days of release.

Short sentences — common at Parc — leave little time for effective rehabilitation or release planning. Homelessness, loss of drug tolerance and untreated mental-health conditions create a high-risk environment for those newly released.

The PPO investigates all such deaths to determine whether prisons or probation failed in their duties. Reports often take 6–12 months and can lead to recommendations.

A system at breaking point

The crisis at Parc reflects wider failures across UK prisons and probation. A July 2025 House of Lords report described the service as “not fit for purpose”. More than 500 people die in custody annually, with campaigners warning that private prisons such as Parc prioritise cost-cutting over care.

The PPO investigation into the death of Darren Thomas continues.

Crime

Woman stabbed partner in Haverfordwest before handing herself in

Published

3 hours ago

December 4, 2025

Court Reporter

A WOMAN who stabbed her partner during a drug-fuelled episode walked straight into Haverfordwest Police Station and told officers what she had done, Swansea Crown Court has heard.

Amy Woolston, 22, of Dartmouth Street in Milford Haven, arrived at the station at around 8:00pm on June 13 and said: “I stabbed my ex-partner earlier… he’s alright and he let me walk off,” prosecutor Tom Scapens told the court.

The pair had taken acid together earlier in the day, and Woolston claimed she believed she could feel “stab marks in her back” before the incident.

Police find victim with four wounds

Officers went to the victim’s home to check on him. He was not there at first, but returned shortly afterwards. He appeared sober and told police: “Just a couple of things,” before pointing to injuries on his back.

He had three stab or puncture wounds to his back and another to his bicep.

The victim said that when he arrived home from the shop, Woolston was acting “a bit shifty”. After asking if she was alright, she grabbed something from the windowsill — described as either a knife or a shard of glass — and stabbed him.

He told officers he had “had worse from her before”, did not support a prosecution, and refused to go to hospital.

Defendant has long history of violence

Woolston pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding. The court heard she had amassed 20 previous convictions from 10 court appearances, including assaults, battery, and offences against emergency workers.

Defending, Dyfed Thomas said Woolston had longstanding mental health problems and had been off medication prescribed for paranoid schizophrenia at the time.
“She’s had a difficult upbringing,” he added, saying she was remorseful and now compliant with treatment.

Woolston was jailed for 12 months, but the court heard she has already served the equivalent time on remand and will be released imminently on a 12-month licence.

News

BBC apologises to Herald’s editor for inaccurate story

Published

5 hours ago

December 4, 2025

Staff Writer

THE BBC has issued a formal apology and amended a six-year-old article written by BBC Wales Business Correspondent Huw Thomas after its Executive Complaints Unit ruled that the original headline and wording gave an “incorrect impression” that Herald editor Tom Sinclair was personally liable for tens of thousands of pounds in debt.

The 2019 report, originally headlined “Herald newspaper editor Tom Sinclair has £70,000 debts”, has now been changed.

The ECU found: “The wording of the article and its headline could have led readers to form the incorrect impression that the debt was Mr Sinclair’s personal responsibility… In that respect the article failed to meet the BBC’s standards of due accuracy.”

Mr Sinclair said: “I’m grateful to the ECU for the apology and for correcting the personal-liability impression that caused real harm for six years. However, the article still links the debts to ‘the group which publishes The Herald’ when in fact they related to printing companies that were dissolved two years before the Herald was founded in 2013. I have asked the BBC to add that final clarification so the record is completely accurate.”

A formal apology and correction of this kind from the BBC is extremely rare, especially for a story more than six years old.