Latest news with #NeathPortTalbot
Sky News
12-06-2025
- Sky News
David Ejimofor: More deaths possible at beach where teen drowned, coroner says
Why you can trust Sky News More deaths are possible at a beach where a teenager drowned, a coroner has warned. David Ejimofor, 15, died when he got into difficulty after jumping off a pier in Neath Port Talbot, South Wales, on 19 June 2023. An inquest into his death last month concluded that his cause of death was consistent with drowning. David's parents have previously called for tougher safety measures at the breakwater in Aberavon. His father, Alex Ejimofor, told Sky News: "If we can save one life there on that beach, we're happy. David is happy as well." A prevention of future deaths report has now been issued by Coroner Edward Ramsay following the conclusion of the inquest. In it, Mr Ramsay said there were "no lifeguards stationed at the breakwater during higher risk periods in the spring and summer months" and that the breakwater was "known to be dangerous". The practice of placing a lifeguard at the breakwater during higher-risk times "had been in place historically and was known to be effective at reducing the risk", he noted. He also said he had not been given a "satisfactory" explanation in evidence as to why the measure had ended, and that he had also not been shown any evidence that other deterrence measures introduced since David's death were working "effectively to reduce the risk". 'Lack of effective deterrents' Mr Ramsay said at David's inquest that there had been a "lack of effective deterrents on the day in question" to stop him jumping in. Had a lifeguard been on duty at the time, Mr Ramsay said it was possible David "would not have jumped and therefore not have drowned". The inquest heard from David's mother, Maria Ejimofor, who described him as a "cautious" swimmer but said her son had received swimming lessons in the past. As he jumped into the water, David "found himself in immediate difficulty" and despite the "frantic efforts" of his friends, his swimming ability "was not sufficient to keep him afloat", Mr Ramsay said. An RNLI spokesperson said providing lifeguard cover was "one of a range of safety measures a landowner or council can implement to mitigate risk". The Associated British Ports, owners of the breakwater, said it was continuing to work "with local stakeholders and partners regarding water safety at Port Talbot". A spokesperson for Neath Port Talbot Council said it and the RNLI were "in the process of monitoring activity for the 2025 season and will continue to review beach safety provision".
BBC News
11-06-2025
- BBC News
Aberavon beach deaths warning after David Ejimofor death
More people could die at a beach where a teenager drowned unless a lifeguard is stationed there at high-risk times, a coroner has Ejimofor, 15, died at Aberavon beach, Neath Port Talbot, on 19 June 2023, after jumping into the sea with friends while celebrating the end of their coroner Edward Ramsay also said he had seen no evidence that other measures put in place since David's, such as clearer signs, were "working effectively to reduce the risk".At the inquest into David's death, Mr Ramsay said a lifeguard on duty could have stopped him from dying. In a prevention of future deaths report, Mr Ramsay said a lifeguard had previously been stationed at the beach in spring and summer and it "was known to be effective at reducing the risk".He said he was not given a satisfactory explanation why that had been removed before David's death, "nor why that measure continues to be absent today". The report was issued to Neath Port Talbot council, Associated British Ports and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, urging action to prevent future inquest heard from fisherman Ethan Clarke who said he heard the boy telling other teenagers he "couldn't swim". He added that he heard the teenagers telling the boy "it would be fine" despite him telling them he could not Clarke said the teenager jumped in and began to panic as soon as he entered the mother, Maria Ejimofor, described her son as a "beautiful young boy", who was "bright and sporty".
BBC News
11-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Money to make coal tips safe only 'scratching the surface'
The amount of public money available to make Welsh coal tips safe "only scratches the surface", according to evidence heard by a parliamentary Welsh Affairs Select Committee was told there was a "disparity between the scale of the challenge and available funds" to remediate high risk coal from four local authorities explained some of the challenges they face in dealing with the legacy of Wales' industrial past.A shortage of the appropriate skills to manage coal tip safety and remediation was also highlighted as a concern. Earlier this year, the Welsh government said it had invested more than £100m in coal tip safety during the current Senedd term as a result of its own spending and money from the UK government.A new mining remediation authority has also been established to inspect coal tips identified as posing the highest risk to Pearce from Neath Port Talbot council said the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill will "not be effective until there is sufficient public money in place to enable continuous monitoring or regular monitoring as well as being able to access those funds to undertake remediation work where it's necessary". However, Ms Pearce said the council had received £14.4m from the Welsh government since 2020 to carry out "significant work" on one large coal tip within its added about £12m will have been spent on making one coal tip safe and there were 617 tips across the Neath Port Talbot Williams of Caerphilly council said: "My authority has received just shy of £3m for the year 2025-26 - and it only scratches the surface."The money will be spent on a range of maintenance tasks. We have 205 tips in Caerphilly borough - 89 of which are in local authority ownership."He said the cost of inspecting these tips is about £15,000 a year and that more money from UK government was needed."Money that's being passported is really helpful but it's really only useful for monitoring and routine maintenance, it won't really address any remediation costs."He also reiterated concerns around a shortage of engineers with the necessary skills for the work needed to make coal tips safe, although said he believed the Welsh government had recognised this and was trying to address these challenges.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Yahoo
Our mum went to jail for stealing our inheritance
Two sisters whose mother went from being their best friend to stealing their £50,000 inheritance say they have been left feeling anxious and unable to trust anyone. Katherine Hill, 53, from Alltwen in Pontardawe, Neath Port Talbot, and her 93-year-old father Gerald Hill from Fairwood in Swansea were found guilty of fraud by abuse of power after a trial last year. They were sentenced to 30 months in prison and a 12-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, respectively. On Monday, Hill was ordered to repay the money, which was left to her daughters Gemma and Jessica Thomas by their grandmother Margaret Hill. "I'll never have a relationship with my mother now," said Jessica. Swansea Crown Court previously heard, due to inflation, the sum stolen by the "greedy and spiteful" Hills was now worth about £65,000. Katherine Hill put the money in an instant access Barclays Everyday Saver account, despite being advised not to, and both she and her dad had cards to access it - draining the contents within a year. Between March 2016 and March 2017, the account where the money was held was emptied in 10 withdrawals, with £35,000 withdrawn in three transactions alone, the court heard. Scammers target widowed nan's loneliness - family Trio took more than £400,000 off vulnerable siblings 'I was conned out of my inheritance - by a friend' Gemma and Jessica grew up in Neath Port Talbot with their parents, and said Hill was a "good mother". "She was like my best friend", said Gemma, now 26, adding "no-one saw this coming". She said Hill did not have a good relationship with her own mother Margaret Hill - who split from her father when Hill was a teenager - though the girls did not know why. Margaret Hill died in 2014, while [Katherine] Hill was divorcing the girls' father, Chris Thomas. At the time Jessica was just 12 and not told about the inheritance, but Gemma, who was 15 "understood a little bit more". The £50,000 was placed in a trust fund with their mother as a trustee - to be accessed when they were 25. Following the divorce, the girls stayed living with their mother for about six months, but say she would often leave them alone for long periods of time while she visited her new boyfriend. "It would start where she was going on dates and stuff. And I think I was at that perfect age of 'my mother's going out for the night, I can have friends over', and I was kind of loving it for a while," said Gemma. "But it got to the point where it was happening every weekend and people expected that I wasn't going to have a parent at home, and I would be like, 'please will you stay home this one time?'." Mr Thomas decided his daughters would be better living with him, so the girls moved out of their family home and with him, while Hill moved in with her current partner, Phillip Lloyd. The sisters said their mum would sometimes take them out on a weekend, to a pub or McDonalds, but the conversation would often centre around their father and her upset that they left. "I think she just could never get over the fact that we were choosing to live with him over her," said Gemma. Jessica said it was "clear from then that we weren't really a very important thing to her". "I remember when she came to see me on my 13th birthday, and took me out for the day, saying she had to leave early because she was going out with [her boyfriend] and his family. "It wasn't like she'd spend a lot of money on us... not 50 grand's worth, anyway." They said, looking back, there were signs of extravagance from Hill and her partner, such as building a back garden pub and hot tub, and going on holidays. But nothing set off alarm bells, as Hill had also received her own money from her late mother. Now, the girls said, they know it was really them paying for their mum's lifestyle. It was when Gemma phoned her mum to ask about accessing the money early, as she planned to buy their childhood home from their dad, that the claims the inheritance never existed began. She said her mum told her "the money's not yours" and blocked her number, before later claiming in court it had been posted through the girls' letterboxes. Jessica, who is now a nurse, recalled the shock of discovering the money existed, and then immediately that it was gone. "How can you grieve something you never had? But [also] she's robbed me of an opportunity not a lot of people get." She and her boyfriend currently live with his parents, and she said saving up to move out without her inheritance would take a very long time. Gemma said she was angry, adding she found it frustrating the more time went on and the more Hill lied. She said the initial confusion and hurt was hard, given their happy memories of their mum, and the woman she saw in court did not seem like the same person. "I'd sit there and be like, 'What if we're all wrong? What if she hasn't done it?' "But I have to accept that she has." Gemma said giving evidence in court was stressful, but the relief came more from feeling validated, than from money or the sentences. "When it actually was the case that she was being sent down... it was like we were being told that we're not crazy," she said. The girls said they saw people on social media claiming they were in prison with their mum and she "was still saying that she was innocent". "And people would believe in her... that's the most shocking thing to me," said Jessica. "Even though the relationship had started to break down before this, it could have possibly been fixed, whereas we're at that point now that we'll never go back to how we used to be." She added their mum had "showed no remorse for anything she did". "She would look at me while we were standing up giving evidence, and she was shaking her head as if I was the one telling lies," she said. "It's like she'll never take responsibility for what she's done." Jessica said she had been going to counselling for many years, to address "massive issues with trust", while Gemma said she became "very needy in friendships". "[I thought] 'if my mother doesn't love me, who the hell is going to love me?'" Now a mother herself to a two-month-old boy, she said she saw the betrayal on a new level. "I came home [after court] on Monday and I was feeding my son. I was looking at him, and I was like, I could not go 10 days, not even 10 hours really, without knowing how he was or what was going on in his life. Never mind the past 10 years. "It doesn't make any sense, she's missing out on all of that." Jessica was still living and working in the same area as her mum brought her anxiety and she lived with a tic, which a doctor told her had been triggered by trauma. "The whole thing has just had a massive effect on me, mentally and physically." She added she did not know how they would have coped without each other, or their father, who supported them emotionally and financially through the long legal process. Now, with the result they wanted, they hope they will eventually see the money and "let go of this part of our lives". They say they want to forget their mother, and the end of court proceedings has brought a kind of closure, allowing them to "finally breathe". Mum must repay £50,000 she stole from daughters 'Spiteful' mum stole daughters' £50k inheritance Lives 'shattered' by scam builder as victims warn others
The Guardian
04-06-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Climate crisis is more worrying than Putin
If only we were moving towards 'war-fighting readiness' (Report, 1 June) in the defence of our country against climate change, which is 100% likely to occur, unlike a Russian attack. Although I don't disagree with the need to do a bit of sabre‑rattling towards Vladimir Putin, the threats of disastrous floods, storms and droughts are what I worry about much more for my children and StoneSheffield There are plenty of male authors being published ('Men need liberation too': do we need more male novelists?, 31 May). Richard Osman, the Rev Richard Coles, Graham Norton and Bob Mortimer are across all the supermarket bookshelves. All that we authors need to do is become TV celebs, and all our publishing issues are ParkeSelf-published author, Carrshield, Northumberland I recall my old English teacher writing on the blackboard and asking the class to punctuate: 'time flies you cannot they fly at such irregular intervals' (Letters, 3 June). We were all Wagstaff Ammanford, Neath Port Talbot Elon Musk is a 'special government employee' (Report, 30 May), Russia's war on Ukraine is a 'special military operation'. These days, 'special' never seems to signify anything de BrunnerBurn Bridge, North Yorkshire The best colon advice I have ever received is 'eat sufficient fibre' (Letters, 28 May).Chris OsborneWest Bridgford, Nottinghamshire Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
