The Sentinel

UNDERCOVER COPS TARGET PREDATORS IN CLUBS & BARS

POLICE are carrying out proactive patrols to spot predatory behaviour around bars and clubs and poorly-lit spaces in a crackdown on violence against women and girls. Staffordshire Police are leading the month-long crackdown following £24,000 Home...

MEN MOWED DOWN AFTER 3 STABBINGS AND SHOOTING JAILED 28 YEARS

TWO men have been locked up for a total of 28 years after three victims were stabbed and gunshots fired at a house. The men were stabbed on Galsworthy Road and Wellfield Road, in Bentilee, and the gunshots were fired at a house on Dean Place in...

WORK BEGINS ON ‘UK FIRST’ FLATS AT FORMER CAR PARK

WORK has begun to turn a Newcastle car park into more than 100 homes, in what the developer says is a UK first. Capital¢ric is hollowing out the former Midway car park to create a triple-height atrium, where the raw concrete frame is ‘softened by...

MUM PLOTTED TO TORCH CAR AFTER FATAL HIT-AND-RUN

MUM-OF-FOUR Courtney Taylor allowed herself to be carried in a stolen car that killed a man in a hitand-run. The 28-year-old was in the stolen Mini Cooper driven by partner, Leon Salt, on April 11. Stoke-ontrent Crown Court heard Salt hit 57-year-old...

KNIFEMAN LEFT DAUGHTER AND MUM IN FEAR FOR THEIR LIVES

DRUGGED-UP Mohammed Amin terrified a mother and daughter by trying to get into their car while wielding a knife. The 38-year-old was under the influence of monkey dust when he produced two blades in a taxi on Waterloo Road, Cobridge, at 11am on...

BRADY’S BUNCH OF CUP HEROES

BEN Waine continued his love affair with the FA Cup after his goal helped Port Vale dump out Premier League Sunderland yesterday. The New Zealand forward had already scored the winners against Bristol clubs Rovers and City as the Valiants reached the...

‘GET US OUT OF HERE!’

A Stoke-on-trent couple have been left ‘stranded’ in Qatar following the outbreak of the Middle East conflict. Lynn Brookes and David Gator say they feel like they have been left ‘on their own’ by the British Government. The couple flew to Australia...

ASYLUM SEEKER JAILED 40 MONTHS FOR STALKING CITY SCHOOLGIRL

ASYLUM seeker Sabjan Burkazi has been jailed after stalking a schoolgirl. Stoke-on-trent Crown Court heard the 30-year-old became obsessed with his young victim and performed a sex act in front of her. Now Burkazi, who came to the UK from...

RAPIST HUNT AS WOMAN ATTACKED IN CITY CENTRE

DETECTIVES have launched a rape investigation after officers on patrol found a woman in the street. They have been trawling CCTV after finding the woman in Chell Street, on the outskirts of Hanley, on Sunday morning. The woman was taken to hospital...

TEN REASONS WHY CENTENARY PIE HAS THE WRIGHTS STUFF!

CUSTOMERS can tuck into two new tasty treats to celebrate a city-founded bakery brand’s 100th anniversary – and help cancer patients. Wrights has unveiled the Centenary Chicken, Leek & Bacon Pie – a collaboration with TV chef Thom Bateman – and the...

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SWIMMING POOLS AT ‘SIGNIFICANT RISK OF FAILURE’

COUNCIL leaders hope to secure Government funding to replace the city’s largest leisure centre. Stoke-on-trent City Council first announced plans to replace the ‘outdated’ Fenton Manor Sports Complex – potentially in the city centre – in 2024. The...

COUNCIL TAX UP 4.99% ‘TO SAFEGUARD KEY SERVICES’

STOKE-ON-TRENT residents are to be hit with a 4.99 per cent council tax increase from April. Elected members at Stoke-on-trent City Council approved the increase as part of the authority’s budget for 2026/27 at their latest meeting. The tax hike –...

OUTSTANDING!

THE team at Dougie Mac is ‘immensely proud’ after the hospice was rated ‘outstanding’ by inspectors. The Blurton-based hospice, below, achieved the highest possible rating following its latest inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The...

‘CARING’ LOIS, 17, DIED OF RARE CONDITION AFTER FOOD POISONING

A TEENAGER died from a rare condition after being struck down with food poisoning which may have been caused by eating undercooked duck. Lois Francis, from Talke Pits, above, passed away from multiple organ failure at the Royal Stoke University...

CITY COUNCIL SECURES BIG BAILOUT FOR A THIRD YEAR

THE government has agreed to provide Stoke-on-trent City Council with a £10.5 million emergency bailout – the authority’s third in three years. Council leaders asked for the ‘exceptional financial support’ (EFS) to help balance their budget in...

KNIFE ARCH WILL BE DEPLOYED AT SCHOOLS AND PUBS IN THE CITY

METAL detectors and off-road bikes will be deployed in £14,000 plans to combat anti-social behaviour, council leaders have announced. Stoke-on-trent City Council is working with Staffordshire Police on the new projects, which they say will make a...

TEN GUILTY AS TWO ARE BADLY BURNED AFTER HOUSE IS PETROL BOMBED

A MAN has been convicted of attempted murder after a Stoke-ontrent house was petrol bombed in a revenge attack - forcing a mum and her daughter to jump from a window. A jury found Shakil Uddin guilty of the crime that left the two victims with...

CITY’S ‘GREEN LUNGS’ SAVED AS COUNCIL BUYS KEY SITE

GREENFIELD land once earmarked for housing will be ‘safeguarded’ after a council bought it from a developer, leaders say. The 148-acre site at Berryhill Fields is one of six pieces of land Stoke-ontrent City Council has acquired from St Modwen...

‘ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS’

FED-UP gran-of-five Mary Byrne says she has been living in a mould-ridden bungalow for nine years. The 65-year-old says mould is on the walls and underneath the carpets of her city council bungalow – with her bedroom particularly bad. She says her...

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BOY ‘CATAPULTED INTO AIR’ AS MAN DROVE CAR AT HIM DELIBERATELY

TEENAGER Brwa Abdulla used his car as a weapon to deliberately run down a schoolboy. The 19-year-old Kurd struck the Afghan youngster with his BMW as he walked across College Road, Shelton. He saw the boy and drove the car straight into him,...

121 JAILED 439 YEARS AS POLICE TARGET SERIOUS CRIME IN COUNTY

POLICE have revealed that 121 people have been jailed for a total of 439 years as part of a major operation to target ‘serious and organised crime’ in Staffordshire. In the 12 months up to the start of this year, police arrested more than 350 people...

‘THINGS HAVE GOT TO CHANGE’

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‘THE POLICE STORMED IN SAID THEY’D GOT THE WRONG ADDRESS, AND DASHED OFF’

A MUM was given a rude awakening when police officers barged into her home – after getting their addresses mixed up. Kellie Simm says the shock intrusion felt like ‘something out of a film’. The 42-year-old was resting in bed shortly after her husband...

CRISIS TALKS ON DELAYS FOR A&E PATIENTS STUCK ON AMBULANCES

AMBULANCES were stuck outside Stoke-on-trent’s main hospital for an average of 91 minutes in 2025 – more than three times the national average. Latest figures show the average ambulance handover time at the Royal Stoke University Hospital and...

DAD AND SON, 12, DIED 100 METRES APART IN HIKING TRAGEDY

A DAD and son died 100 metres apart from each other after both falling in a hiking tragedy. Thomas Parry, 49, and his 12-yearold son Richard lost their lives on a trip to Scotland. The pair, from Alsager, were scaling the 1,150-metre peak Bidean nam...

‘THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY LIFE’

HEROIC runner Gregg Nixon hauled a dog walker to safety after she fell into an icy canal. Tracy Hall feared she was going to die after she overbalanced and went into the Trent & Mersey Canal, in Stone, while trying to rescue her brother’s cocker...

MANAGER JAILED FOR TELLING CARE HOME WORKERS TO LIE

A CARE home manager who told two members of staff to lie after a disabled grandmother suffered injuries from which she never recovered in a fall has been jailed. Derby Crown Court heard 84-yearold Shirley Froggett broke her femur when she fell out of...

NEW BLOW AS JOBS SET TO GO AT WEDGWOOD

ICONIC pottery firm Wedgwood has announced job losses in a ‘body blow’ to Stoke-on-trent’s ceramics industry. The company is to make a redundancies at its Barlaston factory although the exact number is yet to be confirmed. A 30-day consultation is...

MO’S £5M FUND TO CREATE JOBS AND FIND NEXT JOSIAH

TOP city businessman Mo Chaudry is using £5m of his own money to help create and safeguard hundreds of jobs in North Staffordshire as part of a Dragons’ Den-style process. Momentum Capital has been launched to help entrepreneurs set up or grow their...

COPS SEIZE 3 DOGS AS TWO IN HOSPITAL AFTER ATTACK

TWO people were injured – one seriously– in a dog attack on a city estate. Police were called to Macdonald Crescent in Meir shortly before 6pm on Monday. They say three dogs were invoved in the incident which left two people in hospital. A police...

DAN’S THE MAN TO CLEAR 4.5 TONNES OF TOWN CENTRE RUBBISH

THE streets in one of the city’s six towns have been transformed after 4.5 tonnes of litter was removed in less than five months – by one man. The Sentinel revealed in August last year that Dan Dick has been appointed as an environmental ambassador in...

GIRL ORPHANED AS DAD DIES OF ‘HIDDEN HEART CONDITION’

A 12-YEAR-OLD girl has been orphaned after her dad’s sudden death. Mark Quarmby had raised daughter Poppy following the death of her mum when she was just three. But the 52-year-old, from Talke, has passed away. Medical tests have discovered a hidden...

12 PROJECTS TO BOOST CITY LIFE

A BUS rapid transit system, a green energy ‘eco-park’ and the delivery of thousands of new homes are among 12 projects which could transform life in Stoke-on-trent, council leaders say. Stoke-on-trent City Council launched its Future 100 prospectus...

CITY POTBANK BOUNCES BACK TO RECRUIT NEW WORKERS

POTTERY firm Emma Bridgewater is bouncing back from short-time working and job cuts – after enjoying a buoyant Halloween, Black Friday and Christmas. The Hanley firm endured a turbulent 2024/25 as the potbank adopted a four-day working week and staged...

GRAN: ‘I WAS DRENCHED IN BLOOD AFTER ATTACK’

A GRAN says she was left ‘drenched in blood’ – after she was ‘battered’ on a night out in Hanley. Claire Phillips had been out celebrating her niece’s 21st birthday in Newcastle when they went to Pink in Hanley. But after leaving the venue the...

KNIFE CRIME IS DOWN AS COPS ON ‘OVERTIME’ TARGET HOTSPOTS

POLICE chiefs have revealed big reductions in knife crime and serious violence across Staffordshire after cops carried out 13,000 hours of overtime patrols. Since May last year, they have been on extra duties across 19 different hotspot locations in a...

WHO WOULD STEAL FROM DOUGIE MAC?

THIEVING vandals broke into one of Dougie Mac’s biggest charity shops. The hospice – which relies on cash from its chain of stores to help meet the annual £23 million cost of running services – has been left ‘devastated’ by the incident in...

£16M COST OF 1,086 CITY KIDS IN CARE

THERE will be ‘no quick wins’ in bringing down the excessive cost of Stoke-on-trent children’s services, councillors have been warned. Spending on children’s social care has been the single biggest financial problem facing Stoke-on-trent City Council...

£1.4M TO REMOVE ROUGH SLEEPERS FROM CITY STREETS

COUNCIL leaders have agreed to spend £1.4 million on tackling the growing problem of rough sleeping in Stoke-on-trent. The city’s rough sleeper outreach team was helping 81 individuals in the autumn – a 16 per cent increase on 2024 – while the number...

JCB STRIKES $205M DEAL WITH U.S. ARMED FORCES

JCB has secured a massive deal to supply the United States armed forces with more than 500 machines in a deal worth up to $205 million. The contract for 535 militarised versions of JCB’S 437HT wheeled loader has been secured with the United States...

150,000 reasons for city skills charity to celebrate

EXTRA sessions to help people learn vital new skills are on the way after a city charity was given £150,000 of National Lottery funds. Restoration Shack, based in Fegg Hayes, will use the money to employ staff to provide workshops and...

LIFE OF MUSIC LEGEND MIKE CELEBRATED

HUNDREDS of people celebrated the life of a city music legend in a service at Stoke Minster. Mike Lloyd died on December 8 while returning home from the US. The 82-year-old was known for founding the Music Mania record shop, and bringing artists such...

14 YEARS’ JAIL FOR GROOMING YOUNG VICTIMS

PERVERT Ashley Jepson has been jailed after encouraging schoolgirls to engage in sexual acts. The 32-year-old was found to have eight victims – aged eight to 13 – in seven months. He was arrested when police attended his Stoke-on-trent home in...

JCB USED IN CO-OP RAM-RAID

RAM-RAIDERS used a JCB vehicle to smash their way into a Co-op store to steal a cash machine. The shutters on the front of the Co-op store in Kidsgrove were demolished while posts – used to deter ram-raiders – were also wrecked in the raid at 3am...

LAW CHANGE IN MEMORY OF SHARLOTTE, 6, MOVES MAJOR STEP CLOSER

A MUM whose six-year-old daughter was killed by a drink and drugs driver has seen her campaign to change the law take a major step forward. Sharlotte’s Law – named in memory of Sharlotte Skynaglis, from Norton Green – has been included as part of the...

4.8% RENT HIKE FOR TENANTS IN CITY

COUNCIL tenants in Stoke-ontrent will see their rents go up by 4.8 per cent from April. Stoke-on-trent City Council is proposing the increase for council housing rents and facility charges for garages in 2026/27 in line with government policy. This...

£9.8M SAVINGS BUT NO CUTS TO FRONTLINE SERVICES

CITY council leaders are proposing nearly £10 million of budget savings but members of the public will not be able to have their say on them. For the first time in years the council’s draft budget includes no individual savings for public...

POLICE PROBE AS WOMAN IN TENT BLAZE LEFT CRITICAL

A WOMAN is in a ‘critical’ condition in hospital after suffering serious burns in a tent fire. The casualty had been airlifted to hospital as police, paramedics and firefighters were all called out to Black Horse Lane on New Year’s Day. Now officers...

ARMED ROBBER IS JAILED OVER RAID ON LONDIS STORE

KNIFE-WIELDING armed robber Ian Johnson demanded cash and fags in a convenience store raid. The 54-year-old had appeared to be a legitimate customer when he entered Londis, on Abbots Road, in Abbey Hulton, right, last January. But he then pulled out...

FAMILY TRIBUTE TO ‘MUCH-LOVED’ BIKER WHO DIED IN CRASH

THE grieving family of a biker who died in a crash have paid tribute to the ‘much-loved’ 41-year-old. Michael Bibby, of Finstock Avenue, Blurton, died after a collision between his motorbike and a car in Belgrave Road, Dresden. Two off-duty student...

CITY ‘ON THE BRINK OF HUMANITARIAN CRISIS’

CUTS to health, welfare and social services in Stoke-on-trent is causing increasing ‘poverty and destitution’ with the city on the verge of a ‘humanitarian crisis’. Those are the findings of a new report that exposes the impacts of austerity and the...

MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE TO HELP SAVE POTTERY INDUSTRY

TRADE union leaders are calling on the Government to do more to save Stoke-on-trent’s ceramics industry. Pottery manufacturers have faced a torrid 2025 due to rocketing energy costs and cheap foreign imports, with Royal Stafford and Moorcroft both...

COUNCIL SPENT OVER £1M ON HOTEL ROOMS FOR HOMELESS

STOKE-ON-TRENT City Council spent more than £1 million on hotel rooms for homeless people last year. The council placed 933 families and individuals in B&BS on a temporary basis in 2024/25, up from 846 in the previous year. This cost a total of £1.06...

PRIEST’S PLEA AS WIFE STUCK IN CARE HOME 178 MILES AWAY

A PRIEST is urging a council to get his wife home – after she was placed in a care home 178 miles away. Father David and Linda Isiorho have been married for 35 years and were planning to move from North Staffordshire to Stowmarket, Suffolk, during the...

ORGANISED CRIME COPS SEIZE £1.5M OF MONKEY DUST

POLICE have seized monkey dust worth an estimated £1.5 million after a parked van was targeted in Stoke-on-trent. Officers from Staffordshire Police’s organised crime department carried out a search of a vehicle which was left in a street off Weston...

BETTING GIANT BET365 TAKES ON AN EXTRA 1,000 WORKERS

THE number of staff employed by gambling giant bet365 has topped 10,000. Latest figures show Etruria-based bet365 had a global workforce of 10,056 staff at the end of March – up from 9,145 in 2024. It comes as revenue soared by nine per cent in...

GRAN WINS VISA BATTLE TO SEE FAMILY AT CHRISTMAS

GREAT-GRANDMOTHER Anna Coates is looking forward to a festive reunion with her family – after Government red tape almost left their Christmas plans in tatters. Home Office officials twice refused Anna’s 20-month-old greatgranddaughter – whom she has...

NEW OWNERS FOR SHOPPING CENTRE

THE Potteries Centre has new owners after changing hands. Belgate Estates has sealed a deal with XPE Group to take control of the Hanley complex. It comes as centre director Amy Whittaker has left and the Ice Palace Santa’s grotto has been closed...

WILL OATCAKE MARTINI LEAVE COCKTAIL FANS SHAKEN AND STIRRED?

CUSTOMERS have a chance to try a drink shaking up Stoke-on-trent’s cocktail scene - a savoury martini inspired by the city’s most iconic dish. The limited edition creation, below, reimagines the classic bacon-andcheese oatcake in a playful yet refined...

YOU WILL HAVE A BALL!

‘AY up, me ducks!’ Christmas is coming and the festive season has truly arrived with Jonathan Wilkes returning for his remarkable 21st Regent Theatre panto. This year, it’s the classic tale of Cinderella and it delivers, as always, a true festive...

YOU’RE A JEMM!

A KIND-HEARTED NHS hero has kick-started a campaign to deliver homecooked Christmas dinners to needy people across the Potteries. Jemm Marian, from Kidsgrove, will be handing out dozens of festive meals on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. District...

GET YOUR FLU JABS BEFORE FESTIVITIES AT CHRISTMAS

FAMILIES have been urged to take up the offer of a flu jab – as hospitals come under ‘severe pressure’. Critical incidents had been declared at both the Royal Stoke University Hospital and Stafford’s County Hospital this week due to ‘extremely high...

WOMAN DIES IN HIT&RUN CRASH

A PEDESTRIAN was killed in a hit-and-run on a busy city road. It happened on Leek Road outside Carmountside Crematorium at just after 8am yesterday. The pedestrian, a woman in her 70s, died in hospital as a result of her injuries. Police have now...

JAIL FOR OAP , 68, ‘AT FRONT & CENTRE’ OF HANLEY RIOTS

A PENSIONER has been jailed after he was ‘at the front and centre of the mob’ during the Hanley riots. Arthur Walker was involved in the mass disorder for more than an hour before he made his way home. During that time the The 68-yearold: Was part...

TWO WOMEN ON MOBILITY SCOOTERS MUGGED

A ROBBER targeted two women on mobility scooters in a terrifying street mugging. He was spotted by police trying to steal from his vulnerable victims in Burslem town centre. A 37-year-old man has now been arrested on suspicion of robbery after...

‘CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL AND IT’S HITTING US NOW’

FIREFIGHTERS were called out to an extra 1,000 incidents over the first half of the year – largely due to the hot, dry summer. Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) responded to 5,409 calls between April and September, compared to 4,436 over...

‘DRINK-DRIVER LEFT US FOR DEAD AFTER SMASH’

HARD-WORKING farmers Stuart and Valerie Heath had enjoyed a day out in Wales on their motorbike and were just yards from their North Staffordshire farm when their lives were changed forever. Stuart, aged 68, was riding the motorcycle responsibly on...