Merthyr Express

FAMILY LEFT WITH NOTHING IN BLAZE

A FAMILY lost everything when fire ripped through their dream home on Boxing Day evening. Sarah Nicholas, her oldest son Kenzie, 17, and her partner Gavin Griffiths were settling down for the evening after a lovely day when a neighbour banged on the...

THOUSANDS FOLLOW ‘REALISTIC’ RUNNER

A WOMAN is running marathons and half marathons for fun after worrying there wasn’t a place for her in the running world. Now Jade Driscoll, pictured, has set up her own running club and her impressive running journey has racked up more than 11,000...

PET BAN FOR MAN FILMED ABUSING DOG

A MAN has been banned from keeping animals for life after he kicked and hit a dog. The cruelty caused by Christopher Michael Pillage, 40, came to light when the RSPCA obtained footage showing him kicking a dog named Snoopy, pictured, which was deaf and...

TWO KILLED IN BLAST AND FIRE

‘IT’LL BE GREAT FOR TOWN’

Residents give a big thumbs-up to plans for UK’s longest ski-slope and waterpark

A MAJOR STEP FORWARD FOR RESORT PLAN

PLANS for a new ski slope and leisure resort in South Wales have just taken a huge step towards becoming a reality. Merthyr Tydfil County Council has confirmed that it has received a letter from the Welsh Government to confirm that the Rhydycar West...

‘I’D RATHER KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS’

‘I didn’t have any typical symptoms’ – young woman diagnosed with glandular fever had cancer

A YOUNG woman was misdiagnosed with glandular fever before discovering she had cancer. Katie Baber, 22, is now cancer-free and thriving as she trains to become a primary school teacher – a lifelong ambition she held onto throughout her cancer...

60 JOBS BOOST WITH COAL TIP AUTHORITY HQ

DEFEND YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW.

A nightclub could open next door without you being consulted! Plans for licensed premises in your neighbourhood could be hidden from view if new government proposals for secret alcohol licensing notices get the green light.

‘WE WILL NEVER FORGET THEM’

PLAYERS from an ex-mining village’s growing football club have come together to remember the victims of one of Wales’ biggest mining disasters. Aberfan FC’s new women’s team joined with players from the men’s and junior teams to lay a wreath at the...

‘PLEASE COME FORWARD – DO THE RIGHT THING’

A FORENSIC review is to be carried out 30 years after the deaths of a young mother and her two daughters in a house fire. Diane Jones, 21, her two-year-old daughter Shauna Hibberd and 13-month-old daughter Sarah-Jane Hibberd died at their home on the...

KIDNAP GANG JAILED FOR 75 YEARS

A MAN was repeatedly stabbed and threatened with an imitation firearm after being pushed into a car and abducted before his kidnappers attempted to murder him. It was only because the victim’s father hatched a plan to rescue his son and rammed the...

BUTCHER SOLDFOOD OUT OF DATE

A POPULAR Valleys butcher has been convicted of selling out-of-date food. Craig Wall, the director of Craig’s Meat Shack, Merthyr Tydfil, pleaded guilty to seven offences relating to the sale of unsafe food. The discovery was made on October, 29,...

TEEN BURGLAR CAUGHT AFTER TRIGGERING STORE ALARM

CCTV captured a prolific teen criminal breaking into a supermarket with two members of his “gang” before swaggering around and triggering an alarm which led to their arrest. The footage shows Cody Bond, 18, and his accomplices running amok at Merthyr...

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DRUGS GANG LEADER MADE £3m

THE leader of an organised crime gang involved in a conspiracy to supply £72m worth of heroin and cocaine has been ordered to pay back £198,000. He was found to have personally benefited from the conspiracy by more than £3m. Kerry Evans, 35,...

‘DRUNK BULLY‘ ATTACKED THREE POLICE OFFICERS

A “VIOLENT, drunken bully” who was behaving aggressively and refused to leave a shop, then headbutted the police officers who tried to stop him, has been jailed. In total, Nathan Phillips headbutted and injured three different officers before...

ARREST AFTER ‘STABBING’

A MAN has been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm, following an incident which forced a road to close in Merthyr Tydfil. A 40-year-old man was admitted to Prince Charles Hospital with stab wounds which are serious but are not...

FAMILY LEFT ‘TERRIFIED’ AS KILLER GOES ON THE RUN

A WOMAN says her family have been “torn apart” after a man convicted of murdering her mother failed to return to prison. Derbyshire Police has issued an appeal for information that could help find Vincent Raymond Lee, who failed to return to HMP...

MUM’S ‘TRAPPED NERVE’ WAS A FATAL BRAIN TUMOUR

MUM’S ‘TRAPPED NERVE’ WAS A FATAL BRAIN TUMOUR

SMASH & GRAB RAID AT CASTLE

CCTV footage captured the brazen moment a man stole a candelabra worth tens of thousands of pounds from Cyfarthfa Castle, in full view of a group of schoolchildren. Tyson Wilsher entered Cyfarthfa Castle, in Merthyr Tydfil, on April 8, during an event...

TEEN DIED AFTER BEING HIT BY A CAR

A MUCH-LOVED young rugby player tragically died after he was struck by a car while walking on an unlit road with no street lighting. An inquest at Pontypridd coroner’s court heard Ceirion Galliers, from Abercanaid, Merthyr Tydfil, died at the...

‘HE’S KILLED MY WIFE AND RUINED OUR LIVES’

ALLAN Bradford continues to “dread” coming home to an empty house, cooking for himself and going to bed alone without his beloved wife. Catherine, 52, was out jogging along High Street in Dowlais on September 19, 2022, when Alex Rickwood lost control...

CARE HOME RESIDENT DIED AFTER 14-HOUR WAIT FOR AN AMBULANCE

70-YEAR-OLD OPERATED A ‘THRIVING’ HEROIN TRADE

A PENSIONER drug peddler was caught with enough heroin for 700 street deals, a court has heard. A judge said it was clear the 70-yearold was running a “widespread and financially-thriving business” from his home. Ross McQuillan-Johnson, prosecuting,...

‘I’M NOT MOVING’

PICTURES show a new £2bn road that curves past a man’s home after he refused to have it knocked down – but did lose his beloved garden. John Watkeys, 75, was initially told that officials would not need any of his land or house of 65 years to build...

FARAGE RECRUITS MERTHYR COUNCILLORS

REFORM UK leader Nigel Farage used a keynote speech in Wales to announce that two more Welsh councillors have defected. Speaking in Port Talbot on Monday, he announced independent councillors Andrew Barry and David Hughes, both members of Merthyr...

KNIFEMAN SHOUTED SUPPORT FOR THE KU KLUX KLAN

A KNIFEMAN shouted his support for the KKK white supremacist group as he racially abused and assaulted a police officer. Daniel Barnham was being arrested for carrying two knives in public when he kicked the officer to the chest and launched into a...

OUT OF THE DEPTHS...

THE long dry spell has exposed a historic bridge usually submerged in water. An aerial view shows the twoarched stone bridge believed to date back to 1800. It can be seen clearly owing to low water levels at the Llwyn-on reservoir in the Taf Fawr...

‘GARETH’S LIFE WAS TAKEN AND OURS WERE RUINED’

THE partner of a motorist who was killed after a careless driver drove into the side of his car described how a “massive mistake” had “destroyed our family”. Sharon Griffiths also told the court how she and her sons “collapsed into each other in...

‘AMAZING WOMAN’ KILLED IN CRASH

A MAN has admitted causing the death of a “loving and caring” woman by dangerous driving. Alex Rickwood, 32, was behind the wheel of an MG ZR car in a collision with pedestrian Catherine Bradford, who suffered fatal injuries, Merthyr Tydfil...

CHAMPIONS!

CHAMPIONS Merthyr put the crowning glory on their Admiral Premiership title triumph with 16 tries as they dismantled third-placed Neath 104-0 at the Wern. The Ironmen, having been confirmed as champions the previous week, were presented with the...

GAME OVER!

A MUM has issued a warning after her nine-year-old daughter spent over £1,000 on Roblox – unaware she was spending real money. Emma Bell didn’t realise that her PayPal account was linked to her iPad and had no idea that her daughter could spend the...

LEGAL ACTION OVER QUARRY RESTORATION

AN ACTION group plans to take a coalmining firm to court over its alleged refusal to pay for the restoration of the UK’s last opencast coal mine. The Ffos-y-Fran site in Merthyr Tydfil operated between 2007 and 2023 by Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd. In...

SEARCH FOR THE STOLEN TREASURE

WOMAN FLED IN HER UNDERWEAR TO ESCAPE VIOLENT PARTNER

A WOMAN was stripped naked by her partner who bit her on the face and suffocated her before telling her to get dressed so they could go back to the pub, a court has heard. Daniel Hale, 26, carried out a violent assault against his partner after they...

CALL FOR ACTION ON MINE SITE PLAN

A CALL has been made for plans to restore an opencast coal mine to be called in by the Welsh Government. Delyth Jewell MS, Plaid Cymru member for South Wales East, has requested a call-in of the revised restoration plan for Ffos y Fran which has been...

TOWN’S ROADS ARE ‘LIKE THE WILD WEST’

NEW TWIST IN £300m SKI SLOPE PLAN

COUNCILLORS have thrown their support behind a “once in a lifetime” £300m ski slope development – in defiance of a recommendation to turn it down. The ambitious Rhydycar West development in Merthyr Tydfil includes plans for an indoor snow centre, an...

‘WE NEED THIS’

“IF IT is not going to happen here, it is going to happen somewhere else. We need it is as a town, we need it as a community” – that’s what Jorge D’ascencao thinks about the £300m Rhydycar West ski slope and resort development proposed for Merthyr...

PARENTS PAY PRICE FOR PUPILS’ SCHOOL ABSENCES

‘I lost my premature baby, then history began to repeat itself’

A MOTHER has shared her pain of seeing not just one, but two of her babies being taken into intensive care as soon as they were born – one of them, unfortunately, did not survive. Pepsi Evans and Scott James, from Merthyr Tydfil, were excited to...

DRIVER HIT 80 IN 20MPH ZONE TO ESCAPE POLICE

A DANGEROUS and disqualified driver reached speeds of 80mph in a 20mph residential area during a police chase. He had previously appeared in court after “racing” with others on the Severn Bridge. Samuel Garratt, 26, was driving northbound on the A470...

PARTS OF CASTLE ‘COLLAPSING’

CONCERNS have been raised about the time being taken on major plans for Merthyr Tydfil’s Cyfarthfa Castle. The comments come as the council received an update on works to the building at a meeting on February 5, which said the castle is approaching a...

EX-SOLDIER’S EMOTIONAL INSPIRATION FOR TV ‘DEAL’

A FORMER soldier has spoken about the touching reason he appeared on ITV1’s Deal or No Deal, leading to host Stephen Mulhern saying he had “never seen such emotion” before on the show. Matthew Evans, 41, joined the Welsh Guards in 2000 and served for...

‘PARASITE’ KILLER DIES IN PRISON

A MAN who brutally murdered his neighbour after “milking” his vulnerable victim for alcohol and money has died while serving a life sentence. Merthyr-born Emmett Morrison, 40, was found dead less than two years after being jailed for the murder of...

‘NIGHTMARE’ BUILDERS JAILED

ROGUE builders left their customers’ houses in a state of disrepair with shoddy and uncompleted work and left them out of pocket by almost £125,000. The brothers left an intensive care nurse’s house looking like a building site and open to the...

MAN DIES IN HOUSE FIRE TRAGEDY

PICTURES show the devastating scale of a fatal house fire in Merthyr Tydfil. The incident began at about 9.40pm on Wednesday, January 8, at a house on Marshall Crescent, Penydarren. Locals reported seeing a large emergency service presence in the...

‘I WOULDN’T BE HERE WITHOUT THEM’

A MAN unleashed a stream of abuse at a police call handler after phoning 999 to report his former partner. Nathan Smith, from Cwmbran, claimed his ex was about to commit a crime but when asked to provide more detail he became aggressive, Newport...

GANG’S DRIVE-BY BOOZE RAID ON STORE

CCTV has captured the moment three people take stock from a family-run business before fleeing in a car just days after Christmas. About £300 worth of stock was stolen from outside the Premier Trelewis Post Office and Mini Market in Treharris on...

MAN HOSPITALISED AFTER BEING ATTACKED IN HIS HOME BY HIS PARTNER’S FORMER BOYFRIEND SHE PAID HER EX... TO BEAT UP HER PARTNER

A WOMAN paid her former boyfriend £200 to attack her partner in his Valleys home and he turned up with a replica gun and an army knife. Wayne Thomas held the knife to the victim’s throat and shot a blank cartridge in the gun. Louise Parry, 41, had...

RESIDENTS RETURN AFTER SINKHOLE MADE SAFE

A GROWING PROBLEM...

SOME 15 flood alerts and warnings were still in place in Wales on Monday as the clean-up operation from Storm Darragh continued. Winds were forecast to gradually ease with noticeably less rainfall by Wednesday but temperatures will stay in single...

‘IT SEEMS TO BE GETTING BIGGER’

IT IS believed the huge sinkhole in Merthyr Tydfil developed over six days after flooding caused by Storm Bert. The leader of Merthyr council has issued an update on the 50ft sinkhole which opened up on a road in a cul-de-sac in Nant Morlais,...

THE RIVER RISES

FLOODING hit large areas of Wales after Storm Bert delivered torrential rain on the weekend. Weather warnings were issued and roads were closed. A railway line was underwater in the Cynon Valley with pictures showing Cwmbach train station entirely...

WARNING OVER OPENCAST SITES

OPENCAST mine developers have repeatedly “cut and run”, breaking promises on restoration and costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds, a Senedd committee warned. Llŷr Gruffydd, who chairs the climate change committee, led a debate on a report...

DAD DIED IN FREAK FALL AT BEAUTY SPOT

A DEVOTED dad died in a freak fall in front of his six-year-old daughter when he fell into a beauty spot pond, an inquest has heard. Decorator Phillip Hill was trying to reach a tree branch for his daughter when he lost his footing and fell around...

MUM’S ‘SIXTH SENSE’ FOR HER GIRL’S ILLNESS

WHILE 10-year-old Poppy is like many other girls her age who are obsessed with Taylor Swift, unlike most children, she has spent a huge part of her life in hospital. Poppy, who is from Merthyr Tydfil, is described by her mum Sam as a pocket rocket,...

‘A BEAUTIFUL PERSON – INSIDE AND OUT’

POLICE have confirmed the body of a woman located on Saturday evening has been formally identified as 49-year-old Joanne Jones. South Wales Police has also said her death is not being treated as suspicious and her next of kin have been informed. In a...

COCAINE USER STRANGLED OFFICER IN ROW OVER CIGARETTE

‘CONSTANT FIGHT’ OVER ROADWORKS

AS A visitor to Cefn Coed you can’t miss the hum of construction work and the beeping of diggers and lorries. But for the people living there, this is “nothing” compared to how it was. As one resident put it: “You’d have neighbours over and they’d...

‘PRESSURED MATERNITY STAFF ALMOST REDUCED TO TEARS’

A NEW mother has told how overstretched maternity unit staff have been left close to tears. The maternity unit at Prince Charles Hospital (PCH) in Merthyr is currently having to cope with an increase in patients due to the temporary closure of the...

THE MAN IN CHARGE OF £72M DRUG PLOT

KERRY EVANS FROM MERTHYR DUBBED THE ‘ORCHESTRATOR’ OF A CRIME NETWORK INVOLVED IN LARGE-SCALE DRUGS DEALS