News
Haverfordwest: Demonstration planned to seek Crabb’s resignation as Mencap patron
PEMBROKESHIRE People’s Assembly Against Austerity are organising a demonstration outside Stephen Crabb’s office on Saturday, April 2.
Organisers have said they plan for the demonstration to take place between 1100HRS and 1300HRS in Market Street, Haverfordwest.
Activists will be demanding that Mr. Crabb recognises what they view as “public opinion” and resigns as Pembrokeshire Mencap’s patron.
Stephen Crabb recently voted to cut ESA by £30 for some disabled people.
Despite not going forward with the announced cuts to PIP and announcing there will be no further welfare cuts, Mr Crabb has stood by the cut to ESA appearing to suggest that placing claimants on the lower JSA rate would be to their benefit, but failing to take account of the purpose of ESA to support those with additional support needs for finding work.
Organisers say the reason for the demo is that as there has been no statement from Stephen Crabb’s office, nor Mencap Pembrokeshire indicating that Crabb is to resign as Mencap patron. They say that they have no other option but to press ahead with the demonstration.
An online petition calling for Mr Crabb to resign as patron of Mencap Pembs is close to reaching 12,000 signatures
Jim Scott, who started the petition told The Herald: “There is now overwhelming pressure from all quarters for Crabb to resign this post. The Mencap Facebook page has been inundated with comments requesting that Crabb be removed as their patron.
“A great many people have written and emailed Mencap locally as well as nationally.
“Many people have even said that they will be withholding their donations until this matter is resolved.
“The petition continues to grow.
“Public pressure as well as the efforts of DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) has already forced four MP’s to resign their patronages of other disability charities.
“It is just a matter of time now. Mr Crabb simply cannot and will-not get away with voting in Westminster for cuts such as the ESA cut which is a ‘done-deal’ now for Mr Crabb and cannot be ‘undone’ .
“Yet then masquerade as some kind of champion for disabled people while back in Pembrokshire, his game is up! These cuts have already caused widespread poverty, destitution, homelessness and many suicides among our most vulnerable and deserving members of society. Crabb, and all other ESA voting MP’s simply have to go.”
Romayne Phoenix, National Co-Chair of The People’s Assembly said: “With Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation and the government forced to backtrack on Osborne’s disastrous budget, there are many more British people now recognising the hypocrisy of having Tory patrons of these disability charities & charities which focus on care.
“The pressure is on – and Crabb’s appointment looks to have been a mistake made in a hurry that the `Tories will regret for a long time.”
Natalie Bennett – Green Party leader has publically signed the petition. Bennett was joined in by Alice Hooker Stroud – Wales Green Party leader, Chris Overton – Withybush Hospital campaigner and Kay Dearing of SOS (Save our Sixth Forms Pembrokeshire).
Organisers say that organisations who have been invited to Saturdays demonstration include, National People’s Assembly Against Austerity, DPAC (Disabled People Against cuts) and other local disability groups, Wales Green Party, Plaid Cymru, The Labour Party, The Green Party, The Lib-Dems, Plaid for Pride, Welsh Green Pride, TUSC and others.
Last week Stephen Crabb MP posted on his Facebook page following an act of criminal damage to his office in Haverfordwest.
He wrote: “A few days ago my constituency office was vandalised in response to my recent vote to approve changes to the Employment Support Allowance (ESA). This was not an isolated attack as other MPs offices were targeted by individuals involved in a social media campaign.
“I’m disappointed that some individuals choose to do this instead of making an appointment to see me to discuss their concerns. Sadly all these individuals achieved on Saturday was to create an inconvenience to my office staff, local residents, and the Police. There are lots of ways to communicate to convey concerns but criminal damage just isn’t an option.
“There has been a lot of miscommunication about this vote which I want to put right. A decision was taken by MPs to change the benefit awarded to a specific group of people who receive Employment Support Allowance. These people are in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) and they do have a disability or illness but are considered able to work with support in the future.
“The overwhelming majority of people in this group say they want to work, and so I think it is right that we do all we can to help them get back into work. The changes mean that this group will now access the same level of benefit as those on Job Seekers Allowance, but will be given better tailored support to help them into employment. It doesn’t affect anyone who is already claiming ESA, they will receive the exactly the same amount of benefit as they do now.
“The truth is that not all disabilities prevent people from working. A great many disabled people get enormous fulfilment from being in work. They would be extremely offended not to be considered equal in the job market, and this benefit change means that more people will be able to take these important steps from being benefit-dependent to the workplace.
“Of course we absolutely continue to protect those who are ‘too ill to work’. There is no question about that. Those with the most severe health conditions and disabilities will quite rightly continue to get a higher rate of benefit and support. And despite the political banter from Labour, the disability budget is actually going to be rising by more than £1 billion over the next 5 years which means that more money is being spent in real terms on support for disabled people than at any point under the previous Labour government.”
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.
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.
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.
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chizy
March 28, 2016 at 1:14 pm
Oh dear, the stratospheric rise to the top is experiencing some turbulence.
And what with his council house upbringing and Thatcher inspired views from such a tender age, I would like to say that I feel for him. But I can’t because I don’t.
And anyway, what’s Labour got to do with it? Your party is in office,your party proposed the cuts,you voted for it,you got ‘promoted’ for being a good egg,even more public opinion goes against you,you backtrack,pretend it was someone else and it didn’t really happen.
Patronising your constituents is not cool Stephen, they are way more clever that you think. People of Pembrokeshire will always recognise a wrong ‘un, like all decent minded people they don’t like being punished for not voting Tory.
Lisa
March 30, 2016 at 7:07 pm
I am exceedingly concerned by the lack of knowledge about living with disability shown in the above article by Mr Crabb.
The UK chose to be a country that supported the rights of disabled people to live, independently, in the community. Calling people ‘benefit dependent’ is erroneous. For people living with disabilities, the Government chose to support them through Disability Living Allowance and the ‘Sickness’ benefits to cover the £550 per week average costs for a disabled person to live and work in the community – rather than in residential homes. The Government has scrapped: DLA, sickness benefits (which have been replaced by smaller PIP and ESA), the Independent Living Fund – these weren’t ‘dependencies’ – these were payments that helped to keep 41% of disabled people in work. They’ve closed specialist remploy factories, got rid of disability access workers and disability access to work scheme funding.
So all these things that kept disabled people employed are gone. Instead you’re going to ‘incentivise’ people by making further cuts to their income after the bedroom tax and sanctions. Who will get their money cut? You could have Parkinsons, or a brain tumour or a learning disability or arthritis. It’ll be the luck of the WCA test.
Disabled people now are not going to think ‘we’re alright, he’ll bring it in for the newly disabled or those who reapply through job loss’. It’s cruel and unfair. Changes to health and social care are supposed to go by the ‘nothing about me without me’ consultation, discussion and planning. When you are making cuts that charities think are reprehensible and you are cutting the ability of the disabled to work, you do not get to call them ‘benefit dependent’ to justify your intolerant behaviour.