Rhondda Leader

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...

WELSH POLITICS SET FOR 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...

YOU HERO!

A 12-YEAR-OLD boy saved his mum’s life and probably his own when she fainted while driving. Nicola Crump and Zac Howells, from Ebbw Vale, had been on their way to Birmingham’s Christmas market on December 20, when Nicola suddenly felt really hot and...

COMING FACE TO FACE WITH SANTA

THERE were some special visitors for patients who will be spending Christmas in hospitals across South Wales. Father Christmas delivered presents to the Grange in Cwmbran, Prince Charles in Merthyr Tydfil, Morriston Hospital in Swansea, the University...

FOR THE LOVE OF CHRISTMAS

IF YOU take a drive around your neighbourhood you won’t be mistaken that it’s Christmas as homes across Wales are lit up with festive displays of varying effort. While some are quietly Christmassy with a simple wreath or fairy lights, others are...

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...

MUM AND DAD IN A MILLION

A COUPLE who sold their family business to devote their lives to fostering children have been crowned national care champions. Caroline and Tyrone Jones, from Tredegar, have been foster mum and dad to 25 children since giving up their bakery in...

Welcome back!

AS CHRISTMAS is approaching, decorations are going up in houses across South Wales. And there’s at least one house that you certainly won’t forget if you pass by. Lucy Ollis, her partner Michael and her two daughters Lilly, 11, and Emily, seven, have...

ALL CHANGE FOR ESTATE

THE first images showing the plans for a huge housing development in the Rhondda have been released. A regeneration project is planned for Penrhys, which was formerly home to the largest public sector housing scheme in Wales with more than 900...

FUNERAL FOR MAN WHO WAS ‘LOVED BY EVERYONE’

MOURNERS gathered for the funeral of a much-loved young man who is alleged to have been murdered. Liam Woolford, 22, from Porth, died during a disturbance in Rhydyfelin, Pontypridd, on September 23. A man from Porth has been charged with his murder...

DAD LEFT IN COMA AFTER BLEED ON BRAIN

A SOUTH Wales dad, who had cancelled a drive home from work in England because of blurred vision, is in intensive care after slipping into a coma. Damon Filmer, 38, had suffered a “catastrophic” brain bleed and was airlifted to hospital where he had...

‘SERIOUS CONCERNS’ OVER USE OF E-BIKES AND SCOOTERS

“SERIOUS concerns” have been raised over the use of e-scooters and electric bikes in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT), with damage to playing fields and dangerous riding. Councillor David Evans, of the RCT Independent group, proposed a notice of motion at full...

BLACKMAILER BEFRIENDED YOUNG VICTIMS ONLINE

REPAIR CAFE WORKER IS UNMASKED AS NOTORIOUS PAEDOPHILE

IAN Baldock came across to his bosses as an “unassuming, friendly fella”. The 56-year-old could be a little “quirky” but they reasoned that “kind of goes with the job he was doing”, fixing a wide range of items at a repair cafe in Maerdy, Rhondda...

MAN WAS FOUND DEAD IN RIVER

A 38-YEAR-OLD man was found dead in a river weeks after a huge search operation was launched to find him. An inquest heard Mark Bowden went missing on his birthday, March 28 in 2024. A search involving helicopters, police drones, thermal cameras,...

‘DEVASTATION’ OVER MUM’S CANCER DEATH

THE grief-stricken sister of a muchloved mum-of-two has paid tribute to her sibling after she sadly lost her battle with cancer. Jodie Matthews, from Gelli, Rhondda, died last month after battling cervical cancer. She was just 33. The former Gelli...

MURDERER WHO FILMED HIMSELF TORTURING MAN FOUND IN SOUTH WALES

A HOMOPHOBIC murderer filmed himself torturing his victim to death before fleeing by train to South Wales. Matthew Jonathan, 39, of no fixed abode, murdered 54-year-old Jamie Gawler in his home. He has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 32...

‘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...

‘AISLE’ STAND BESIDE YOU

WHEN Victoria Owen learned her father Frank Pumford was living with end-stage pulmonary fibrosis, she wanted to create a memory they would cherish forever. “For me, I wouldn’t get married if he wasn’t there to walk me down the aisle so I booked it...

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...

FAMILY’S GRIEF OVER ‘LITTLE PRINCE’

HEARTBREAKING tributes have been paid to a two-year-old “happy and bubbly” little boy who died suddenly. Sebastian Griffiths passed away at his home in Treorchy, on Sunday, August 3. His parents Louise and Nathan, and siblings Brooklyn, eight, and...

PAIR CAUGHT WITH COCAINE WORTH OVER £100k

A DRUG-DEALING couple were found in possession of more than £100,000 worth of cocaine. Both have previous convictions for drug offences, a court has heard. Nicole Locke, 32, and Guy Priddle, 33, were arrested on February 6 after Priddle was seen by...

FOUR PEOPLE ARRESTED AFTER HOUSE FIRE

NEW LAW TO ENSURE COAL TIPS SAFETY

MAN IN HAMMER ATTACK ON MASSEUSE

A MASSEUSE thought she was going to be killed when a client pulled a hammer out of his bag and struck her several times over the head. She fought for her life as her attacker swung the weapon at her, bleeding heavily from her head and falling in and...

WOMAN FINED AFTER PAYING FOR RUBBISH REMOVAL

A WOMAN has been left £400 out of pocket after almost 20 bags of waste were dumped in a village. Fifteen black bags and four recycling bags, all containing general household waste, a cardboard box, a plastic kennel, a black plastic bin and general...

MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER

SHOCK AFTER THE ‘SUDDEN DEATH’ OF DAD-OF-THREE CHRISTIAN DEAN

THUG BEAT PARTNER AND HER DAUGHTER

A 46-YEAR-OLD thug has been jailed after he attacked his partner and then assaulted and strangled her daughter in front of her as she tried to help her mum. Judge Simon Mills told Mark Moon that if he was violent again, he would be going to prison for...

‘JOY’ AS GATE IS REMOVED

A COMMUNITY have spoken of their “delight” after huge gates which “cut them off” from the countryside on their doorsteps were removed, following a passionate campaign lasting 116 days. The gates, which blocked a popular path to Cwmparc forestry that...

HOMES PLAN TO SPARK AREA’S REGENERATION

‘A TRUE ROLE MODEL... REST IN PEACE, MR DANIELS’

YOU know someone is truly special when it feels like everyone in a community comes together to mourn their loss. That has been the case in the Rhondda Fach in recent days after the death of popular teacher Paul Daniels, 64, who died just six weeks...

A touch of glamour...

IT HAS become all too common to hear about pubs in the hearts of communities closing down before being reduced to rubble or turned into flats, or perhaps an even sadder state - left vacant to fall victim to the test of time. But the new owners of the...

PAEDOPHILE HAD OVER 5,000 INDECENT IMAGES OF CHILDREN

A PAEDOPHILE was found in possession of more than 5,000 indecent images of children as young as six years old, as well as AI-generated images of child abuse, a court has heard. Jack Gillard, 25, was visited by police at his home after intelligence was...

BENIDORM ...OR BUST!

A TRAVEL influencer says she flew to sunny Benidorm for a one-night trip which was cheaper than getting a train to London. Carole Rees, from Rhondda, spent £200 on the quick visit to the Spanish coastal resort, with her flights costing just £35. A...

‘SCREAMING IN PAIN’ AFTER DRINK SPIKED

A 19-YEAR-OLD woman was left “screaming in pain” and unable to remember much of the night after she said her drink was spiked at a popular nightclub. Libby Woolford, 19, from Porth, was out with her boyfriend and some friends at The Banc nightclub in...

COUNCIL READY TO OPEN GATES

A COUNCIL is seeking to remove controversial gates that have blocked access to a popular walking path. After vocal protests from local people, Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) council has announced it intends to serve a legal notice to pursue the removal of...

PLANS TO PREVENT FUTURE FLOODING REVEALED

£4m TO BE SPENT ON 26 SEPARATE PROJECTS

‘ANOTHER SCAR ON THE LAND’

DRAMATIC images show the blackened state of a mountain in a village after a devastating wildfire. Firefighters were called to Tylorstown in the Rhondda on April 9 – and the landscape above the valley has now been left with “another scar” in the words...

‘CARS KEEP CRASHING INTO OUR HOUSE’

A FAMILY said they are living in constant fear after cars keep crashing into the front of their home. They say that the road leading up to their house turns into a “racetrack” at night, but nobody seems to be listening to their concerns. Since January...

GANG LEADER AT CENTRE OF £6m COCAINE DEALS

THE leader of an organised crime gang (OCG), who arranged for 65kg of cocaine to be transported to South Wales from Liverpool, has been ordered to pay back just £125,000 despite making more than £3m. The onward sale of the drugs he transported was...

Scenes of destruction

NEW MOVE IN GATES ROW

A COMMUNITY fighting to regain access to a forestry road which has been enjoyed by walkers for decades have taken the next steps in their campaign. The village of Cwmparc in the Rhondda has been up in arms since homeowners erected a huge set of gates...

THUG LEFT PARTNER ‘A SHATTERED VERSION OF MYSELF’

‘WE HAD NO CHOICE’

A FAMILY who put up a set of huge gates blocking a popular mountain walk near Treorchy have issued a statement explaining why. The village of Cwmparc in the Rhondda has been up in arms since the gates and security staff suddenly appeared almost two...

FINAL FAREWELL TO BLOCK OF FLATS

A BLOCK of flats is being torn down to make way for a new development. Previously, resident Iris Ware, who moved in to Mitchell Court when it was built in the 1960s, described the isolation she felt at being one of the last people living in the...

£8M PLAN TO STOP FLOODS

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...

PHARMACIST STOLE DRUGS TO ‘EASE PAIN OF OLD RUGBY INJURIES’

A PHARMACIST stole prescription drugs including diazepam and tramadol from the shelves of the pharmacies where he was working. He was caught red-handed after he was captured on CCTV footage in the act of shoplifting. Gareth Parry, 44, was employed as...

‘SLOW DOWN’ PLEA BEFORE FATAL CRASH

THE friend of a teenager who died after a car he was driving careered across a busy road and hit an oncoming vehicle said he recalled asking him to slow down seconds before the crash. Morgan Osborne, 17, died two weeks after his Ford Fiesta – which he...

WOMAN’S 21-HOUR WAIT ON STAIRS AFTER FALL

THE family of an 89-year-old woman left in agony at the bottom of her stairs after falling have spoken out after she was forced to wait nearly 24 hours for an ambulance, despite being told she was a “priority patient”. When Shirley Harris, who was...

‘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...

NEw mOvE IN TUNNEL PLAN

PLANS for the “first steps” of a major project to reopen the Rhondda Tunnel and turn it into Europe’s longest walking and cycling tunnel have been submitted. An application has been submitted by The Rhondda Tunnel Society to Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT)...

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...

COUNCIL LEADER’S ‘NO BIG TAX RISE’ PLEDGE

POLICE are continuing to appeal for information about the whereabouts of a man on the 12th anniversary of his disappearance. It has been 12 years since 24-yearold Kyle Vaughan’s car was found on the A467 between Crosskeys and Risca in Caerphilly...

FLOOD RISK: ‘WE CAN’T PROTECT EVERYONE’

FLOODING bosses issued a stark warning as they were grilled by MPs on the problems that hit Wales during Storm Bert. “Climate change is absolutely happening, we are not going to be able to protect everyone,” said Simon Brown of the Met Office. His...

WOMAN FLED HOME AFTER HUSBAND’S ATTACK

TEACHER WANTED SEX WITH BOY, 15

A SUPPLY teacher groomed a 15-yearold boy by sending naked pictures of herself over Snapchat and told him she wanted to have sex with him. She told the boy she would leave her husband for him and sent him a video of herself performing a sex...

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...

BRIGHT IDEA FOR JOY AT CHRISTMAS

A FAMILY have created a huge Christmas display which is attracting plenty of attention. Lucy Nutley has been decorating her house for nine years, but it has been getting bigger and better each year, pictured, and now the family have started to raise...

OFFICER MADE WOMAN’S LIFE HELL

A SERVING South Wales Police officer met his new girlfriend on dating app Hinge and quickly embarked on a campaign of jealous and controlling behaviour which made her life hell. Jamie Davies, of Ferndale, Rhondda, has now been sentenced. ■■

DRIVER ‘TURNED OFF CAR LIGHTS’ BEFORE HORROR CRASH

TWO teenage girls suffered catastrophic injuries in a collision after the car they were in rolled and struck a tree. Ieuan Johnson, 21, was driving a Suzuki Alto with four passengers in the early hours of July 13, 2022, near Caerphilly...

FEARS OVER CARE HOME CLOSURE

“I FEEL, if Ferndale House is shut, my world will come apart” – that’s how a 93-year-old describes the idea of her residential home being decommissioned. She is one of a number of residents to speak out about the devastation they will feel if they are...

SCHOOL IS ‘REWARDING PUPILS’ BAD BEHAVIOUR’

STABBED IN HEART BY FORMER FRIEND

JAILED AFTER ‘BURN THE MOSQUES’ MESSAGE

A 43-YEAR-OLD plumber who called on Facebook for mosques to be burned down has been jailed for two years. Geraint Boyce, of Pleasant View, Penrhiwfer, was sentenced at Merthyr Tydfil Crown over Facebook posts published during the riots earlier this...

‘ACT NOW FOR THE SAKE OF PLAYERS’

WHEN Carl Hamans was officially diagnosed with early onset dementia and probable chronic encephalopathy (CTE) in January 2022, it was a real light-bulb moment for his wife Sarah. For the past decade she had seen her husband’s personality and behaviour...

COUNCIL TAX PENALTY FOR OWNERS OF EMPTY HOMES

OVER the summer, our new First Minister Eluned Morgan MS embarked on a listening exercise taking her to communities across Wales. This has led to her outlining the Welsh Government’s four priority areas for the remainder of this Senedd term. They...