Pontypridd & Llantrisant Observer
FIRST MINISTER’S LUCKY ESCAPE
First Minister Eluned Morgan has spoken about a plane crash she and her family were involved in while returning to Wales from a holiday in Spain when she was just 11. Mrs Morgan’s mother had to be pulled out unconscious and her brother was left with a...
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WELSH POLITICS SET FOR BIG SHAKE-UP
EVERYTHING from the way people vote, to the number of MSs elected, where politicians sit, and even the party in charge looks likely to change later this year. On May 7, voters will be asked to vote for the person they want to represent them in the...
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BIKER DIES IN CRASH AFTER FUNERAL
A BIKER has died in a crash while he was travelling back from being part of a motorcycle convoy at a boy’s funeral in Pontypridd. Chris Bailey, pictured, who was a dad to a baby boy, died on December 19 at the A438 between Glasbury and Clyro near his...
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BUDGET FUNDING BOOST FOR COUNCIL
RCT council’s budget position is more positive than previously expected – but challenges remain, councillors have warned. The council’s cabinet received an update on the current budget position for next year. The authority had previously been looking...
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THAT’S MAGIC!
A DOGS’ home has received a huge donation from a pop star. Will Young took a break from his latest panto role as Spirit of the Beans at Bristol Hippodrome to dash across to Llanharan in Rhondda Cynon Taf to drop off 64,000 meals to Hope Rescue. Will,...
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MUM USES HER SON’S LEGACY TO HELP OTHERS
THIS month marks a decade since Wales became the first part of the UK to change organ donation laws. The week also marks the anniversary of a horrifying incident where seven-yearold Fraser Bates and his dad died after they were hit by a car on their...
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HEARTBROKEN FAMILY PAY TRIBUTE TO ‘BEAUTIFUL HAPPY BOY’
A 14-YEAR-OLD from Pontypridd – who was the youngest person to be diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) – has died. Kyle Sieniawski was diagnosed with the most common and aggressive form of MND, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), aged just...
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FOOD GIANT’S APOLOGY FOR ‘MOCKING’ WOMAN
FAST-FOOD giant KFC has apologised after one of its official social media accounts posted a video which appeared to mock a Welsh woman’s stammer. The clip featured influencer Jessie Yendle, from Pontypridd, who has always lived with a stammer and now...
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BIRTHDAY TREAT FIT FOR A KING
THE King celebrated his 77th birthday by taking the controls of a tramtrain as he officially opened a new rail depot in South Wales. Charles was in Taff’s Well on Friday to formally unveil the South Wales Metro Depot as part of a series of engagements...
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FAILINGS FOUND WITH HOUSING ASSOCIATION’S HANDLING OF URGENT REPAIRS
A WATCHDOG has found serious failings in how a South Wales housing association handled urgent repair issues for vulnerable tenants and their families. Pontypridd-based Trivallis, which provides homes for around 25,000 people across Rhondda Cynon Taf...
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HOMES GO-AHEAD FOR TOWN PLANS
IT’S been nearly a decade since plans for nearly 2,000 homes, a new school and a new town centre in part of South Wales were given the overall green light. On a former opencast coal mining site in the west of Rhondda Cynon Taf, on the outskirts of...
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MAN ATTACKED NEIGHBOUR IN ROW OVER NOISE
A MAN barged into his neighbour’s home and attacked him because he couldn’t hear the television. Conner Clissord-Gough, of Beechwood Street in Rhydyfelin, Pontypridd, became so angry over noise coming from his neighbour’s house that in a rage he...
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BLACKMAILER BEFRIENDED YOUNG VICTIMS ONLINE
A YOUNG man befriended children aged between 10 and 16 on social media, gained their trust and then convinced them to send him explicit photos and videos before blackmailing them in order to make sure they carried on. Cory Jones, 19, from Ynyswen,...
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TWO CHARGED WITH MURDER OF DISGRACED SINGER IN PRISON
TWO inmates have appeared in court charged with murdering former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins at HMP Wakefield. Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, both of HMP Wakefield, appeared at Leeds Magistrates’ Court on Monday, October 13, after...
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ARREST AFTER ARMED POLICE CLOSE STREET
ARMED officers descended on a town as a man was arrested on suspicion of threats to kill and false imprisonment. Residents in the Graig area of Pontypridd reported seeing a large number of officers and police vehicles being sent to the scene on...
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TRANSPORT PLAN BACK ON TRACK
AN extra £11.5m will be spent on areas like roads, schools, and parks in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT). As part of RCT Council’s investment priorities, cabinet and full council both agreed to the extra spend at meetings on Monday, September 22, and...
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‘CRITICAL GAPS’ IN SUPPORT FOR FLOOD VICTIMS
COMPENSATION for flooding victims in Wales “fell far short” of covering the true cost of damage and disruption families and businesses faced, a review into two “devastating” winter storms has found. An inquiry by the Senedd’s climate change,...
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‘SHAMBLES’
PARENTS and grandparents have described the chaos of returning to school after changes to school transport in a South Wales county. Overcrowded buses and large volumes of traffic in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) have been described as “absolute carnage” and...
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BATTLE OF THE BUS STOP
A COUPLE say they have been left in disbelief after they returned home from work last week to find a bus stop had been put at the end of their driveway. Christopher Harris and Michelle Smith said they had been aware of plans for the bus stop in the...
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DEADLY BLAST WAS CAUSED BY MACHINE FAULT
A FAULT in a machine caused a horrific explosion which claimed a Swansea woman’s life and created panic in a neighbouring gym as radiators blew off walls and rubble rained down on a car park. We have obtained a South Wales Fire Service report into the...
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CLUBBING TOGETHER
A FORMER newsagents at the end of a row of shops might not be the first location which comes to mind when you think of the ideal village pub. But for a group of 11 men it became a space which was so valued that when the pub announced its permanent...
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STAFF ‘TERRIFIED’ AS GLASS FALLS FROM BUILDING
LARGE sheets of glass have fallen from multiple floors at a UK Government office building in Wales. Some staff based at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) site in Treforest industrial estate, Rhondda Cynon Taf, are scared to go in after two...
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BUS STATION SEX ASSAULT
A MAN subjected a woman to a horrifying sexual assault at a bus station. The woman was reading a book on her own at Talbot Green bus station when drunk Terry Columb licked her, grabbed her and threatened to rape her. A sentencing at Cardiff Crown...
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RACE TO SAVE HISTORIC ‘CWM RHONDDA’ CHAPEL
A COMMUNITY is in a race against time to save a Grade II-listed chapel in the heart of a former coalmining village from potentially being bought by property developers. Capel Rhondda, in Hopkinstown, near Pontypridd, was recently put up for sale for...
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‘Vivacious, joyful and elegant’
SINGER Iris Williams, who was awarded an OBE for her contributions to music, has died at the age of 79, it has been announced. The Welsh star rose to fame in the 1980s for her music, and was honoured with an OBE for her contributions to music in...
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FAMILY PASS FIVE DENY MURDER AFTER WOMAN SHOT DEAD
FIVE people have pleaded not guilty to murdering a woman who was shot dead in Talbot Green. Joanne Penney, 40, was pronounced dead after suffering fatal injuries at an address in the town on March 9. On Monday, seven people appeared before Cardiff...
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‘The greatest of his generation’
INTERNATIONALLY renowned Welsh tenor Stuart Burrows has been remembered for his “warmth, humility and extraordinary musicianship”, following his death at the age of 92 after a short illness. Born in Cilfynydd, near Pontypridd, his voice was...
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‘BOMB THREAT’ ON FLIGHT TO LANZAROTE
A GROUP of friends were caught up in the “surreal” moment a TUI flight from Cardiff Airport was escorted by fighter jets after a bomb scare. Cheryl Sainsbury and her three friends, Leanne Thomas, Cherie Gurner and Tara Pumford, all from Pontypridd,...
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TERRORIST GETS LIFE FOR POLICE ATTACK
AN ANTI-ISLAM terrorist who attacked officers with Molotov cocktails and a hatchet outside a police station has been jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 22 years in prison. Alexander Dighton, 28, knocked one officer unconscious and...
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POLICE WORKER LEAKED INFO TO DRUG DEALER LOVER
A FORMER police employee accessed unauthorised information on force computers to help her drug dealer boyfriend, a court heard. She was told by a judge she had “done serious harm to policing and the public interest”. Lucy Langmead, 44, was employed...
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MP ‘TERRIFIED’ BY ACTIONS OF PRO-PALESTINE ACTIVISTS
GENERAL use of the Welsh language by children and young people outside school is “limited” and there are “negative” attitudes towards the language among a “significant” minority, a survey from the Welsh Language Commissioner has found. With the Welsh...
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Beddau celebrate treble top
BEDDAU wrapped up their stunning season by completing the treble after defeating Aberdare 40-13 at Sardis Road to lift the Worthington’s Mid District Championship Cup. Victory was secured thanks to a first-half try brace from full-back Cody Baker, one...
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MURDER PROBE AFTER DEATH OF DAD IN BENIDORM
THE family of a Welsh dad-of-four who died falling from a cliff in Benidorm have told how they turned detective to prove he was murdered. Devoted father Nathan Osman, 30, from Pontypridd, was away with friends on his first-ever lads’ holiday when he...
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FARMER KILLED CYCLIST AGED 92 IN ROAD TRAGEDY
A FARMER towing a trailer filled with wool knocked over and killed a 92-year-old cyclist on a country road, a court has heard. Malcolm Perry, 72, was driving on an unnamed road known locally as Mountain Road near Pontypridd on the morning of September...
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‘I’M LOSING MY HOUSE OVER FENCING DISPUTE’
A 79-year-old woman says she is losing her house over a dispute with her neighbour over who owns the fence between their back gardens. Widow Muriel Middle, from Pontyclun, has been in a court battle with her neighbour Alexander Miles since 2023...
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ON THE MARCH TO ‘STOP THE QUARRY’
RESIDENTS have protested over concerns about the impact of quarrying near their homes. On April 23 they marched from Glyncoch to Rhondda Cynon Taf’s council offices in Pontypridd in protest over operations at Craig yr Hesg quarry. They are concerned...
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‘KIND-HEARTED’ NEIGHBOUR TRIED TO MURDER OFFICER
SUNLIGHT strikes the curtainless windows of the one-bedroom flat that Alexander Dighton called home. “He lived here two and a half years and he never put curtains in,” says one of his old neighbours in the social housing estate. “That was...
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‘A PLACE TO FIND ORDER IN THE CHAOS’
GROWING up with autism, the one place Sofie, pictured, felt in control was on the football pitch. But she has gone on to achieve a first-class degree and is now a huge part of Llantwit Fardre FC, where she is speaking up in the hope it will help and...
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PONTY POWER TO CUP GLORY
PONTYPRIDD .................... 43 CROSS KEYS ...................... 12 PONTYPRIDD ended their 11-year wait to taste glory at the Principality Stadium after defeating Cross Keys to lift the WRU Premiership Cup. After a tight first half, which Ponty...
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MAN ADMITS TRYING TO KILL POLICE OFFICER
A MAN with a grudge against authority has admitted attacking police officers as he ran amok outside a police station armed with a Molotov cocktail, a knife, a hatchet and a wooden pole. On March 28, Alexander Dighton, 28, pleaded guilty at the Old...
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Scenes of destruction
A BLAZE which was too dangerous for firefighters to tackle overnight turned huge parts of a mountain black. On Thursday, March 20, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service (SWFRS) were called to a fire on part of the mountain near Treorchy in the Rhondda...
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INJURY CLAIM THROWN OUT AFTER WOMAN CAUGHT ON CAMERA
A STABLE hand sued for £436,000 after hurting her arm in a fall from a horse – but a judge found she lied about her injury after private investigators secretly filmed her playing rugby and football. Hazel Boyd, from Rhondda Cynon Taf, was awarded...
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VALID ON GOLD CUP FRIDAY COMMUNITY IN SHOCK AS WOMAN SHOT DEAD IN TOWN
RHONDDA Cynon Taf County Borough Council has one of the largest usable reserve funds in Wales, holding £255m in a bank account. You read that right – a quarter of a billion pounds is just sitting there, waiting to be spent. Instead of spending this...
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ROW OVER BURNING WASTE IN GRAVEYARD
A ROW has broken out over the burning of waste in a graveyard. Pictures show waste being burned inside drums in the graveyard neighbouring Saron Chapel, which is being converted into flats. Rhondda Cynon Taf council said they have made contact with the...
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'PARKING FINE MIX-UP LEFT MY LIFE IN CHAOS'
A MAN is due to appear in court charged with attempted murder following an incident in Merthyr Tydfil. South Wales Police said they were called just after 10pm on Monday, February 10, with a report that a 28-year-old man had attended a hospital in...
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LIVING IN FEAR OF THE NEXT FLOOD
THE weekend marked five years since Storm Dennis hit South Wales, leaving devastation in its wake and affecting about 1,500 homes and businesses in Rhondda Cynon Taf alone. Weather warnings for rain were issued for most of the South Wales Valleys on...
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‘WORKPLACE BULLY’ LEFT COLLEAGUE IN A COMA
UNPROVOKED ASSAULT TOOK PLACE AFTER VICTIM STOOD UP TO TORMENTOR
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MAN IN COURT CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER
A MAN accused of attempted murder after he turned up at a police station and allegedly started damaging vehicles has appeared in court. He refused legal representation, saying he does not find the profession to be a “respectable one”. It is claimed...
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CARE HOME TO CLOSE DESPITE OPPOSITION
A CARE home will shut despite strong local opposition. Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) council’s cabinet has decided to close Cae Glas care home in Hawthorn, Pontypridd. The decision, made on January 22, came after the council said the home has not reached...
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‘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...
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Pair ‘running in the road’ before fatal crash
A MAN and a woman suffered catastrophic injuries and died after being struck by a car as they were lying and kneeling in the middle of a road. An inquest heard both were found to be heavily intoxicated at the time of their death. Kayleigh Cornwell,...
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END OF THE ROAD FOR A465 DELAYS
THE most expensive road building scheme ever carried out in Wales is set for completion this summer. The final stage of work to turn the A465 Heads of the Valleys Road into a dual carriageway is due to be finalised later this year. Work to convert...
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CARS TORCHED IN THE STREET
VEHICLES were torched in the latest in a string of arson attacks to hit South Wales. The most recent incidents involved three vehicles being set alight in Rhondda Cynon Taf – and police are appealing for help to identify two suspects caught on...
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Ace of Graves for Lemmy
TOP Welsh rock guitarist Phil Campbell said his late Motorhead bandmate Lemmy is “going to have a good view” of his favourite London club as some of his ashes were permanently laid to rest behind the bar. Singer and bassist Lemmy – real name was Ian...
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Gavin & Stacey seeking a ‘lush’ new home
A LITTER of 12 pups has been named after characters from Gavin & Stacey – and hope to be homed before the Christmas special. Hope Dog Rescue’s centre said their lurcher mum Jessie arrived heavily pregnant at the centre before giving birth to the...
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CLEAN-UP AFTER STORM DARRAGH
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...
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FLOOD WARNING SYSTEM SLAMMED
THE council leader of the area worst hit by flooding during Storm Bert has claimed people could have been warned earlier than they were. Hundreds of homes were flooded during Storm Bert’s torrential downpours over the weekend of November 23-24, with...
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NOT AGAIN!
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...
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ALL ABOARD AS NEW TRAINS ARE ROLLED OUT
THE first new tri-mode trains have been brought into service on the South Wales Metro this week. With electrification of the Core Valley Lines into Cardiff progressing, the first ever tri-mode trains in the UK, that are able to operate in electric,...
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‘RAP ARTIST WENT CRAZY’
A MAN smacked a dog to the head with a steel-toecapped boot and threatened to kill his friend’s parents as he tore through their property like a “whirlwind”. Reece Bates was staying in his friend Ben Staddon’s caravan when he launched into a series of...
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OPPOSITION MOUNTS TO SCHOOL CLOSURES
CONCERNS have been raised about the “terrifying” effect a school closure could have on one of the most deprived areas of South Wales. Rhondda Cynon Taf Council is consulting on a proposal to close Tref-Y-Rhyg Primary School in Tonyrefail, with pupils...
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‘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...
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‘TRUSTED’ CHARITY BOSS STOLE £25K
THE chief executive of a Welsh charity forged signatures and made fraudulent payments to herself, which resulted in the loss of £25,000. A former colleague said the fraudster had put her needs before those of the deaf community in Wales. Louise...
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CARE FAILINGS IN LEAD UP TO BRUTAL KILLING
FAILINGS have been identified in the case of a student who walked into the home of a much-loved great-grandmother and killed her. Luke Deeley, then 25, walked into June Fox-Roberts’ home in Pontypridd in November 2021 in a random attack where he...
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FATHER OF FOUR DIES IN FALL ON FIRST HOLIDAY
A 30-YEAR-OLD father of four from Pontypridd has died in Benidorm on his first holiday abroad with friends, leaving his family and friends heartbroken. Nathan Osman’s family have remembered him as an “incredible father” in a poignant tribute following...
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HONOUR FOR RUGBY HEROES AFTER FIRE
EIGHT heroic young rugby players ripped down a fence to allow people to escape from an explosion as buildings collapsed around them. The actions of the players may have saved many lives. The Rhydyfelin RFC players have now been honoured for the bravery...
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