Greenock Telegraph
‘UNACCEPTABLE’
WEST College Scotland’s principal has warned that the Greenock campus is in an ‘unacceptable’ situation and says ‘nothing is off the table’ as she looks to secure its future. In an exclusive interview with the Telegraph, principal Anne Campbell said...
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‘THEY LIVED THE SWEETEST LOVE STORY’
THE heartbroken daughters of a devoted Greenock couple who passed away within days of each other have told of their comfort at their parents now being together again. Myra and Dunky Thompson were two very well-known faces in the town and friends and...
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FROM CIVIL WAR TO THE BEACON
A BRAVE Syrian refugee forced to flee after his father was killed in front of him has made Greenock his home and is now starring in a smashhit musical in the town. Mohammed (Mo) Almalarashid was only seven years old when civil war broke out and in his...
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‘CYCLE PATH HAS COST US SIX FIGURES’
BUSINESS owners on West Blackhall Street say they are sustaining heavy losses due to cycle lanes. he lost more than £100,000 in turnover last year.
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BABY KILLER SHOWS NO REMORSE
A KILLER mum has been jailed for a minimum of 19 years for the murder of her 19-dayold daughter in an act of ‘catastrophic deadly violence’.
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PERVERT DODGES PRISON AFTER SENDING SEXUAL MESSAGES TO ‘GIRL’ CREEP TARGETED ‘13-YEAR-OLD’ BEFORE BEING CAUGHT IN STING
A GREENOCK sex offender who told police he was ‘more confident’ talking to children has been spared jail time for sending sexual messages to a ‘13-year-old’ online. Gordon Gray was snared after he sent explicit messages to the ‘girl’ over a six-week...
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HOMES SET FOR GREEN LIGHT
MAJOR plans to regenerate Port Glasgow by building 135 new homes on the rundown Clune Park estate are set to go before councillors at a crunch meeting next week. The proposed development is the next step in Inverclyde Council’s masterplan to...
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DRUG GANG BOSS JAILED
AN INVERCLYDE gangster has been jailed for his role in importing cocaine worth more than £1 million into Scotland hidden in dog food.
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SCAMMER TIME
CRUEL crooks have swindled locals out of almost £1 million using bogus concert ticket sales, sophisticated social media schemes, and cyber scams, a Telegraph investigation has revealed. Scammers have posed as pet sellers, traders and even their...
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SON’S WORLD CUP WISH FOR DAD
THE devoted son of a Port Glasgow footballing legend battling Alzheimer’s says it will be emotional to watch the World Cup together as his condition deteriorates. Record goalscorer Hugh McIlmoyle was diagnosed with the devastating condition believed...
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PLAN FOR 150 NEW HOMES REVEALED
PLANS for a major residential development which could see more than 150 houses built in Greenock are being considered by housing bosses, the Telegraph can exclusively reveal. Property developer Keepmoat is understood to be in talks with River Clyde...
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PERVERT EXPOSED HIMSELF TO KIDS
A PERVERT ‘blew kisses’ at two young children as he carried out a sexual act on himself while staring at them through a window at his Greenock home. Alasdair Higgins, 58, was this week found guilty of intentionally exposing himself in a sexual manner...
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‘DAD WAS ALWAYS IN MY CORNER’
A BRAVE young boxer has told how he fought through the tragedy of suddenly losing his beloved dad to lift a trophy just a fortnight later. Greenock fighter Maison Carter was crushed by the sudden death of his father, Willie Carter, who died aged...
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NEIGHBOUR ROW SPARKS FIREBOMB STAND-OFF
A CRAZED thug wielded an Irn-Bru bottle bomb in a Greenock flat following a neighbour spat - sparking a two-hour police stand-off and shutting down a street. Would-be firebomber Russell Hunter has been jailed for the terrifying stunt which drew a huge...
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MORE THAN 600 ATTACKS ON SCHOOL STAFF
SCHOOL staff in Inverclyde have been physically attacked more than 600 times in the last three years, the Telegraph can reveal. Shocking figures obtained via a freedom of information request to Inverclyde Council lift the lid on the scale of assaults...
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‘NASTY’ SHELTERED HOUSING CROOK JAILED
A HEARTLESS thief who preyed upon elderly and vulnerable residents in sheltered housing complexes across Greenock to fuel his drug habit has been jailed. Wicked Michael Dorrian targeted John Galt House, Jamaica Court, Seafield House, and MacLehose...
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‘SIMPLE BLOOD TEST SAVED MY LIFE’
A GREENOCK councillor who is fighting a brave battle against cancer says he owes his life to an unplanned blood test. John Crowther was diagnosed with prostate cancer in November 2024, despite having shown no symptoms. A trip to his GP and blood test...
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CIGNA SWINGS THE AXE
JOBS are set to be axed at a Greenock call centre as its bosses slash nearly 200 roles across the central belt. The Telegraph can reveal that around 193 roles are set to be affected across Cigna International Health’s sites in Glasgow and its local...
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A MIRACLE MUM WITH HALF A BRAIN DEFIES ODDS
COURAGEOUS mum who was born with half a brain has defied all of the odds to lead a normal life despite daily battles with her serious health conditions. Kimberley Johnstone began experiencing epileptic seizures when she started school, but it was not...
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‘YOU HELPED BRING DAD HOME’
THE devastated family of a popular Greenock man who passed away while he was on holiday in Spain have thanked the people of Inverclyde for helping them to bring their dad home. Heartfelt have been paid to Martin Docherty who died on May 1 while on a...
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Short-term let granted by mistake
INVERCLYDE planning officials have admitted they mistakenly approved the wrong property for a change of use to a short term let.
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NAT’S THE WAY TO DO IT
THE SNP’S Stuart McMillan has told of his pride after being re-elected to serve as Inverclyde’s MSP for a third time. There was jubilation from the party’s supporters as his victory was declared in Greenock Town Hall. His majority was reduced and...
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TRAINER DEFIED DOCTORS AND NOW CHANGES LIVES
A SPORTS fanatic who defied doctors after being told he would never recover from horrific football injuries is now helping a vital local charity change lives. Jordan Waldron hit rock bottom after suffering devastating damage to both knees and being...
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MANAGER ADMITS STEALING £13,000 FROM STORE
A DEVIOUS shop manager filled money bags with pieces of paper and fliers to cover up his theft of almost £13,000 from a Port Glasgow store. Ross Wilson, 44, has pledged to pay the money back in instalments, with help from his parents.
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EPILEPTIC TENANT ‘STUCK’ IN DOORLESS, FREEZING FLAT
AN EPILEPTIC man has told how he is ‘desperate’ to get out of his ‘uninhabitable’ home which does not have a secure front door or heating system. Ian Cunningham has run up £8,000 in debt trying to keep his flat in Dougliehill Terrace warm using...
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ANGER ON THE STREETS
OUTRAGED elderly residents living in a sheltered housing complex in Greenock have taken to the street in protest at the decision to axe their lifeline warden service. Residents of John Galt House have stepped up their campaign to keep their wardens,...
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HUGE TOLL OF BLAZES LAID BARE
RECKLESS firebugs have caused hundreds of thousands of pounds of damage across Inverclyde targeting scores of cars, bins and common closes. Police records uncovered by a Telegraph freedom of information request give details of 178 fire-raising...
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ASBESTOS AT NINE SCHOOLS
NINE Inverclyde primary schools are among 31 council buildings that contain asbestos. Inverclyde Council has insisted the cancer-causing substance is being ‘safely managed’. The figures have been released in a Freedom of Information request.
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JUSTICE FOR THEA: MOTHER GUILTY OF MURDER
A MOTHER has been found guilty of murdering her 19-day-old daughter by inflicting ‘catastrophic’ head and neck injuries on the baby – before creating a ‘false narrative’ in a bid to cover up her actions. Nicole Blain was convicted of killing Thea June...
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BRAZEN THIEVES RANSACK TOWN HUB
A ‘DESPICABLE’ thief scaled the gates of a Greenock community centre and smashed their way inside during a ‘brazen’ daylight break-in. Staff and volunteers at Broomhill Gardens and Community Hub told how they were left devastated.
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ACCUSED MUM SAYS TOT’S DEATH WAS ‘ACCIDENT’
A MUM accused of murdering her three-week-old baby in Greenock sobbed as she told a court the child’s death was a ‘tragic accident’ and claimed she never saw what happened. Nicole Blain, 30, took to the witness box at the High Court in Glasgow on...
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IS TWENTY PLENTY?
ROLLOUT of 20mph speed limits on more than 1,000 local roads begins today. In the lead-up to the initiative’s implementation, some residents and businesses have expressed their support for the measures. Others have criticised the plans, claiming they...
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WAR HERO FINALLY HONOURED
THE last surviving family member of a heroic Gourock Royal Marine killed while serving in Cyprus has been traced and presented with one of the highest military honours on the 70th anniversary of his death – thanks to the Greenock Telegraph. An appeal...
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SON’S EPIC TRIBUTE TO MUM
A DEVOTED son who watched his late mum’s ‘distressing’ two-year battle with a chronic lung disease is honouring her memory by taking on a gruelling endurance challenge. Ann Rice passed away in 2024. Her death devastated her son Allan Rice, who...
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MOTHER DENIES MURDERING WEEKS‑OLD DAUGHTER
A MOTHER has gone on trial charged with murdering her weeks-old baby daughter at a flat in Greenock almost three years ago. Nicole Blain, 30, denies repeatedly shaking Thea June Wilson and inflicting blunt force trauma upon her by means unknown to...
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SEWAGE MISERY MAKES HOME ‘UNLIVEABLE’
A DISGUSTED woman says parts of her home have become virtually unliveable thanks to weeks of human waste being released into her garden and damp spreading through its walls. Belle Deans told the Telegraph she has been cut off from using her back...
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HEROES RUSH TO RESCUE
HEROIC neighbours rushed to the rescue of a ‘seriously injured’ driver after a blaze erupted in his crashed car yesterday. Greenock residents grabbed water bottles from inside their homes and - with the assistance of a handy fire extinguisher - put...
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EPILEPTIC MAN FEARS FOR SAFETY IN HIGH‑RISE
A DISABLED Greenock man who suffers from debilitating epilepsy that leaves him unable to care for himself is pleading for housing bosses to help him move into sheltered accommodation. Alexander McLennan suffers from brain damage, cerebral palsy and...
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SURGE IN RECKLESS DRIVERS
THE number of reckless drivers caught speeding in Inverclyde has skyrocketed – with mindless motorists clocked going more than double the limit outside local schools. One irresponsible driver was caught travelling at almost 80mph on Inverkip Road,...
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‘HE IS MY LITTLE MIRACLE’
A BRAVE Greenock woman whose beautiful baby boy endured two major operations to treat a life-threatening illness when he was just days old says she’ll forever be indebted to the ‘angelic medical team’ who saved her son’s life. Jennifer Kathleen...
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EX-PRIEST JAILED FOR SEX CRIMES
A FORMER priest who committed ‘horrendous sexual crimes’ against two young boys has been jailed for nine years. Vincent Cassidy, 84, was found guilty by a jury of historic indecent sexual assaults on two children in the 1970s. He preyed on his...
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NO-GO ZONE
TOWN hall bosses have scrapped their proposals to host a World Cup fan zone in Inverclyde after local pub landlords cried foul. Inverclyde Leisure’s plans to show the Scotland team’s World Cup fixtures in either Greenock or Port Glasgow Town Hall came...
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‘WATER WAS GUSHING DOWN THE WALLS’ SICK GRAN’S HOUSE LEFT SOAKED AFTER TOILET OVERFLOW
A DISTRAUGHT Greenock grandmother was left ‘hysterical’ when her house flooded because of a blocked pipe – just after she’d been treated in hospital for pneumonia.
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TRIBUTES TO YOUNG DAD KILLED IN BIKE CRASH
TOUCHING tributes have poured in for a young dad who died following a motorbike crash in Greenock. Josh Renfrew, from Greenock, was fatally injured when his off-road bike collided with a parked car on Friday, April 10. He was pronounced dead a short...
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INFECTION FEARS AND LEAKING WARDS AT HOSPITAL
STAFF at Inverclyde Royal have raised the alarm about water pouring into wards from leaking windows.
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BAG £200 TO SPEND AT TESCO COACH HIT WITH CONTACT BAN FOR SEX ASSAULT
A DISGRACED rugby coach has been put on the sex offenders register after he groped a woman during a ‘celebration’ event at Greenock Wanderers’ clubhouse.
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POLICE PAIR SERVE JUST WEEKS OF 17-MONTH SENTENCE
A POLICE officer and a former constable who were jailed after they ‘seriously abused’ their positions in the force are back on the streets. The Tele can reveal that former policemen Connor Claire Amber Young Beggs and Kevin Montgomery have both been...
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‘I HAD TO TELL THEM THEIR DAD WAS GONE’
A LARKFIELD mum and her three young children will walk in the footsteps of much‑missed dad John Kane — one year after he took his own life. Stacey Watson, 36, was left heartbroken when her former partner and the father of her children died last July...
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DARREN SHARES STORY OF GETTING THE DEVASTATING NEWS IN BID TO HELP OTHERS ‘I GOT CANCER DIAGNOSIS WEEKS AFTER ENGAGEMENT’
A BRAVE Gourock man who learned he had testicular cancer just weeks after getting engaged has urged men to set any embarrassment aside and put their health first. Darren Orr was diagnosed with the illness on July 30, 2025 – a few days after he turned...
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INJURY AGONY PUSHED NICKY TO THE BRINK
A GREENOCK football ace has bravely revealed that he tried to take his own life several years ago. Nicky Low started to experience severe depression when he was injured during a spell playing for Derry City in the League of Ireland.
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‘I KNOW THEY ARE BACK TOGETHER AGAIN NOW’
A DEVOTED son who lost his beloved parents within weeks of each other said knowing his mum and dad are ‘together again’ is providing him with a lot of comfort as he grieves. Owen Coyle’s dad Alex died on October 19 last year aged just 61. Only four...
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ABUSER STARVED DOG TO DEATH
5 A CRUEL animal abuser starved his pet dog to death after failing to adequately feed her over a seven-week period. Andrew McLaughlin, from Port Glasgow, handed the dead bulldog Luna into the Small Animal Hospital in Glasgow on November 26, 2024.
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BIKE LANE FINES HIT 88 DRIVERS SHOPKEEPERS AND CYCLISTS SAY IT’S ‘TIP OF THE ICEBERG’
THERE have been 88 fines for ‘dangerous’ parking on Greenock’s cycle lanes and footpaths have been handed out according to new data - but shopkeepers and cyclists say the issue is far worse than figures show.
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KEPT WAITING
THE number of patients waiting in ambulances for more than an hour to be seen at Inverclyde Royal Hospital has more than tripled in the space of five years. Shocking new figures from the Scottish Ambulance Service show that last year almost 700...
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ON THE LAMB
SHEEP and cows wandering the streets of a new Greenock affordable housing development are making life a daily misery for the people living there – and are presenting a ‘serious safety risk’. For months livestock have been escaping from a field near...
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LIFELINE WARDENS FACE AXE
A DEVASTATED Greenock pensioner was on the verge of tears as he told of his fears that a lifeline warden service could be axed at the sheltered housing complex where he lives.
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BUTCHER HIT BY VANDALS AGAIN
THE owner of a Port Glasgow business which has been repeatedly targeted by thieves is counting the cost of another attack. Vandals smashed the door of Duncan Craft Butcher in Church Street in the early hours of Monday morning in an attempted...
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TEEN PULLED KNIFE AT PUPIL PARTY
A GREENOCK teenager has avoided jail time after he pulled a knife from his waistband when a fight broke out as youngsters celebrated the last day of school. Hundreds of pupils had gathered to mark the end of their time at secondary school.
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‘LUCKY TO BE ALIVE’
A PENSIONER who was left with serious spinal injuries after being knocked down by a car travelling at 20 miles an hour says she would be ‘in a box’ if the vehicle that hit her had been going any faster. Mhairi Harvey is still recovering from a...
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‘UNSAFE SWAMP’
A GREENOCK mum-of-two has described her frustration at watching her garden turn into a ‘hazardous swamp’. Tenant Jade McLellann first reported issues with drainage at her Lothian Road home in May last year. But despite repeatedly asking for support,...
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CHILD ABUSE PERVERT ON TRIAL HID MORE SICK PICTURES
A SEX offender has admitted having indecent photographs of children on a device at his home while he was awaiting trial for similar offences. Robert Leith had the material on a PC at his Greenock flat between January 2023 and April 2024.
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COUNTING THE COST
AN ACCIDENT on a Greenock cycle lane caused by ‘obscured road markings’ sparked a £42,500 compensation payout to a member of the public, the can reveal.
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HAIRDRESSER IS JAILED FOR HAMMER ATTACK
A HAIRDRESSER who smashed a man over the head with a hammer at his salon in Greenock has been jailed.
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EX-PRIEST GUILTY OF ‘RAPING’ TWO BOYS
A FORMER Greenock priest is behind bars after being convicted of ‘horrendous sexual crimes’ on two young boys. Vincent Cassidy was found guilty by a jury of historic indecent sexual assaults on two children in the 1970s following a trial at the High...
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FOURTH IN COURT OVER DAD’S MURDER
A FOURTH accused has appeared in court charged with the murder of Greenock man Robert Best. The body of the 50-yearold was discovered in a field near High Mathernock farm, outside Kilmacolm, on Tuesday, November 11 last year. Mr Best, pictured, had...
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‘SOMEONE WILL GET SERIOUSLY HURT’
RESIDENTS are demanding action over fears for school children forced to use a ‘danger’ junction at one of Greenock’s busiest roads. Following a recent crash and a series of near misses Councillor Colin Jackson has raised the alarm about the junction...
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Update on train services as blaze clean-up begins
TRAIN services between Inverclyde and Glasgow remain significantly disrupted as work begins to demolish what little is left of the building destroyed by a huge blaze next to Glasgow Central Station. Work towards reopening the high level platforms at...
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BRAVE TEEN’S INSPIRING STORY HELPS OTHERS
A BRAVE schoolgirl who endured a gruelling six-and-a-halfhour spinal surgery when she was just two years old is now using her musical talents to help sick children. Connie Hunter was born with tethered spinal cord syndrome, which causes tissue to...
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TESCO SMASH DRIVER JAILED
A RECKLESS driver who came within metres of striking a child in a pram when he crashed his vehicle into a Greenock supermarket has been jailed for more than a year. Derek Partridge narrowly missed the pram and an elderly woman on a mobility scooter...
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WOMAN CANCELS SURGERY IN HOME ORDEAL
A GREENOCK homeowner had to delay an emergency stomach operation after a ceiling collapse forced her out of her house for three months. Desperate Helen McGoldrick is locked in a dispute with River Clyde Homes over repairs to the roof of her...
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‘ABSOLUTE DISASTER’
A DEVASTATED Greenock businessman who watched his family firm go up in flames as a massive inferno tore through it has vowed to rebuild his ruined premises. Alessandro Varese, who owns Glasgow’s iconic Blue Lagoon fish and chip shop and the...
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YES SIR, WE CAN BOOGIE
WORLD Cup fever is well and truly taking hold of football fans across Inverclyde with excitement building in pubs and clubs over the last few days following a landmark decision by Inverclyde Council. The licensing board has granted a ‘blanket...
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‘CYCLE LANE MUST GO’
A CONTROVERSIAL cycle path in Greenock town centre should be removed because it’s driving customers away from stores and isn’t being used properly, campaigners have claimed. Councillor Graeme Brooks is backing retailers who say footfall has halved in...
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‘THE BEST PERSON TURNED PURE EVIL’
A BRAVE young woman who suffered horrific abuse at the hands of her violent partner has described how he went from being the ‘best person in the world’ to ‘pure evil’ - with neighbours fearing he’d killed her one night. Kayleigh Dewar spoke to the...
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