Issue-364.Pdf

The Week in East Bristol & North East Somerset FREE Issue no 364 26th March 2015 Read by over 30,000 people every week In this week’s issue ...... page 4 Minister visits Hanham crash site . Ross and Clare's family release crash images page 6 Jail for fraudster . Wick man tricked investors out of millions page 16 Nurses hoping for video hit . Health awareness song goes on You Tube in 2 The Week • Thursday 26th March 2015 AmongPeople those who gathered gather in Kingswood Park onto Friday watch the eclipse morning to witness the partial eclipse of the sun were pupils from the nearby Park Primary School with their pinhole projectors. As the sky grew dark as the moon past between the sun and the earth, the Friends of Kingswood Park played music from Holst's The Planets to add to the eerie atmosphere. Pupils from Park Primary Schools across the area celebrated the eclipse. At King's Oak Academy in Kingswood, more than 50 Year 7 students watched it as part of their science lesson through either welding masks, a telescope fitted with a specially adapted lens or pinhole cameras made from cardboard boxes. And in the eerie high light, all the pupils at Staple Hill Primary School were outside with pinhole cameras and also peered into water buckets to try to glimpse the reflection. The next similar eclipse will not take place over Britain until 12th August 2026. Keep in touch, let us know what you think, send us your news Science lesson at King's Oak www.facebook.com/theweekin in The Week • Thursday 26th March 2015 3 Hanham TheJustice Justice Secretary Chris GraylingSecretary has visited the crash visits fatal crash site site in Hanham where a young couple were killed in 2013 by a disqualified driver. The family of Ross and Clare Simons, who were from Hillfields, have been campaigning for tougher penalties for drivers who kill and after meeting them at local MP Chris Skidmore's office in Kingswood last Thursday, Mr Grayling accompanied them to Hanham Road where flowers were laid and a minute's silence held. Disqualified driver Nicholas Lovell, from West Street, Oldland Common, was behind the wheel of a Citroen Picasso which he was driving at speed when he killed the couple as they rode their tandem bike. Lovell, a serial offender with 69 previous convictions, 11 for dangerous driving, was given the maximum sentence but with a guilty plea, this was reduced to 10 years and six months. Due to early release conditions he is expected to be out in May 2018. The Week in Since the death of 34-year-old Ross and 30-year-old Clare in January 2013, his parents Edwin and Dawn, from Longwell Green, and sister Kelly Woodruff, from North Common, have been campaigning for tougher sentences for dangerous drivers. Their efforts have already brought about change. The law was amended last year so that disqualified drivers face longer jail sentences for death by driving, from two years to 10 years. Barrs Court, Bitton, Brislington, Cadbury Heath, Compton Dando, Corston, Downend, Emersons Green, Fishponds, Hanham, Hillfields, Keynsham, Kingswood, Longwell Green, Mangotsfield, Marksbury, North Common, Oldland Common, Pucklechurch, Saltford, Staple Hill, Stockwood, St George, Warmley, Whitchurch, Wick, Willsbridge. 15,000 copies are distributed through retail outlets, libraries, pubs, community centres each week. Verified pick-up rate of 97%. Publisher Keynsham & Saltford Times Ltd, 8 Temple Court, Keynsham. BS31 1HA 0117 986 0381 www.theweekin.co.uk ISSN: 2052-9767 Managing Editor Stephen Rodgers [email protected] Editorial Becky Feather 07973 839936 Christine Rogers Advertising Jodie Deason and Tracy Broderick 0117 986 0381 [email protected] @theweekineditor No material in this publication, nor its associated website (www.theweekin.co.uk) may be reproduced without the written permission of Keynsham & Saltford Times Ltd. All rights reserved. in 4 The Week • Thursday 26th March 2015 y visitsNow the family fatalwant to see a changecrash the maximum jail site sentence for death by dangerous driving, which is currently 14 years. Mr Grayling said that visiting the site and talking to the family again had been very moving. He said: “In this particular case the judge expressed a desire to be able to give a longer sentence. “I think we address the issue that they are concerned about by looking again at the longer sentence.” He also promised that he would look at whether sentences should be awarded concurrently or consecutively in cases where a number of people are killed as a result of dangerous Chris Skidmore lays flowers at the scene driving. “I am absolutely of the view that we give the courts the discretion to be as robust as they need to be when they deal with horrendous cases like this,” the minister added. Mrs Woodruff said Mr Grayling had really listened to what they had to say and she was very encouraged: “There's more to come from this campaign.” And Mr Simons said: “Everyone is pulling together, the Prime Minister, Chris Grayling and Chris Skidmore. We want to thank them all.” Mr Skidmore said it had been an emotional meeting and that the change in law the family had achieved would already have saved lives as offenders would be locked up for longer instead The horrific crash scene in 2013 of being out and behind the wheel. in The Week • Thursday 26th March 2015 5 Serial fraudster from Wick is jailed Serial fraudster Simon Eason from Wick has been jailed for £520,000 and Eason's actions had led to the breakdown of his four years and eight months at Bristol Crown Court for family. He has also suffered from depression, including suicidal offences totalling more than £1m. thoughts. Father-of-four Eason, 58, of High Street, had previously Giles Nelson, defending Eason, told the court that his client was admitted four charges spanning six years and was back in court of previous good character. He had got himself into financial last Friday to be sentenced. troubles and had tried to trade himself out of his problems. He had pleaded guilty to two charges of obtaining money He said Eason was currently suffering from depression and had through deception totalling £520,000 from a man who said his endured a campaign of hate, including a brick through his life had been wrecked as a result, as well as admitting a fraud window, car tyres punctured by nails and death threats. He had involving a farmer's £244,000, and a further fraud totalling not been unable to work since his arrest in 2013 and his £330,000. His victims in that case were two businessmen who reputation had been destroyed. ran a car dealership in Weston-super-Mare. In his summing up, the judge Mr Recorder Lawrie said that Eight further counts - one of theft, five of fraud, one of obtaining although he did not condone the actions of those who had money by transfer and one of obtaining property by deception - upset Eason, he told him “you bear some responsibility for will lie on file. those people's actions and the impact this has brought on your The public gallery in Court 9 was packed with people who had family”. waited many years for justice. He told Eason he was “a thoroughly selfish and dishonest The court heard that Eason, a one-time successful individual”. He said he was as cowardly as he was dishonest, businessman, who used to live in Saltford, took advantage of adding: “I don't detect a shred of regret over what you have people who were financially vulnerable but instead of sorting done.” out their problems he took their money and used it to prop up his own failing businesses. When his victims tried to find out what had happened to their money, he spun them a web of lies and delaying tactics that went on for years. The court heard that Dave Partington, from Dundry, lost Bristol Crown Court Eason had persistently taken advantage of people who were financially vulnerable to feed and sustain his own greed, he went on, and there was a “shrapnel effect” to what Eason had done, with his victims “shackled to their past because of your actions”, with their credit rating destroyed and unable to secure a mortgage. The judge told Eason that his depression was “because you are about to go to prison and your own life now lies in ruins”. As he sent him down he told him to reflect on the victim impact statement written by Mr Partington: “Let it be a constant reminder of your selfish actions.” Eason, wearing a grey suit and open-neck dark blue striped shirt, showed no emotion during the hearing or when he was sent down for four years and eight months. With good behaviour he will serve just half of his term. Mr Partington was not in court for the sentencing but his mother Margaret was. Afterwards she told The Week In that even double that sentence would not have been sufficient to compensate for what had happened to her family. in 6 The Week • Thursday 26th March 2015 k is jailed Avon & Somerset police have thanked all the victims and witnesses who took the time to give statements to support proceedings against Eason. “He has systematically defrauded his victims of £1.1m over a six- year period, showing no remorse for the distress and anguish he has caused by his actions. “He has abused the trust they had in him to complete the work he was employed to do and he persistently lied when confronted by the victims in an effort to cover his fraudulent activity.

Load more