Summary

  • Updates from Monday 18 June until Friday 22 June 2018

Live Reporting

  1. Jersey wedding registrar costs 'nearly double'

    BBC Radio Jersey

    A Jersey bride says the fee for the registrar for her wedding has doubled following a change in the law.

    The new law - agreed by the former States Assembly - will affect everyone getting married from 1 July even if they booked before that date.

    Figures from the registry office show the cost of booking with a registrar is increasing from about £390 to over £600.

    Julie Couley is getting married in August and had been planning her big day for over a year. She says she was told the fees would be considerably more but says she wasn't warned by how much.

    The States say the new fees still represent a very small portion of the cost of an average wedding and has contacted those couples who have already booked.

  2. Diversions on Victoria Avenue after crash

    Twitter

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  3. PC on trial for alleged false accusations

    Chris Quevatre
    BBC News Online

    A police officer is on trial for allegedly falsely accusing a woman of assaulting her.

    PC Lucy Clark, 30, arrested Shniece McMenamin after an incident in Union Street, Plymouth, claiming the woman had grabbed and pulled her arm three times.

    Officers checked CCTV in the area the next day, but could not see the attack - they released Ms McMenamin, who had been in custody overnight.

    Lucy Clark is accused of perverting the course of justiceNick Irving

    Miss Virginia Cornwall, prosecuting, said the CCTV shows Ms McMenamin seeking to "intervene to move others away" and "trying to act as a peacemaker".

    PC Clark, from Plymouth, denies perverting the course of justice - she said she was assaulted, the arrest was lawful, and her statements were true.

  6. Yew tree branch at council HQ to 'ward off evil spirits'

    Daniel Clark
    Local Democracy Reporting Service

    A yew tree branch has been placed on top of East Devon District Council's new HQ to "ward off evil spirits".

    The topping out ceremony took place at Blackdown House in Honiton, which will be the council's new home by January 2019.

    As part of the ceremony, a yew tree branch was attached to the highest point of the building.

    The ceremony was completed by council chairman Andrew Moulding and leader Ian Thomas. A council spokesman said it was "an age-old tradition".

    The authority plans to move from its current HQ in Sidmouth to Blackdown House in December 2018. The move will be partly financed by selling the property to Pegasus Life Ltd for £7.5m, which will turn it into a 113-apartment assisted-living community.

    New HQLDRS

  7. Drivers urged to find other route after serious crash

    Drivers are being urged to find an alternative route after a serious crash closed the A361 in Devon.

    A man is in a serious condition after the three-car crash near South Molton.

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  8. Grooming offences 'higher than predicted'

    Johnny O'Shea
    BBC News Online

    More than 50 grooming offences have been recorded by Devon and Cornwall Police in the first year since a new anti-grooming law came into force.

    A Freedom of Information request from the NSPCC to police forces across England and Wales revealed a total of more than 3,000 offences between April 2017 and April 2018.

    The crime of Sexual Communication with a Child came into force on 3 April 2017 making it a criminal offence for anyone aged 18 or over to intentionally communicate with a child under 16 for a sexual purpose.

    Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram were the top three most-recorded sites out of 80 different methods used in grooming offences.

    These numbers are far higher than we had predicted, and every single sexual message from an adult to a child can have a huge impact for years to come. Social networks have been self-regulated for a decade and it's absolutely clear that children have been harmed as a result."

    Sharon Copsey, NSPCC

  9. Number of inmates at La Moye 'dropped last year'

    Ryan Morrison
    BBC News Online

    The number of people being held at Jersey's La Moye prison dropped last year, although there were more violent assaults recorded, the 2017 annual report has revealed.

    The daily average number of inmates dropped from 140 in 2016 to 136 last year with the peak dropping from 157 to 144. There were 21 assaults reported with 14 on prisoners and seven on staff.

    HM La Moye

    No juveniles were admitted to the prison in 2017 and the number of young offenders (aged 18-20) was low with only 10 admissions on remand and two convicted.

    In his last yearly report, retiring governor Bill Millar said he was delighted with the performance of the prison service.

    The report shows the prison was given the highest marks for inmates' respect and safety by Her Majesty's Inspectors.

  10. Drink-driver 'was at charity event for crash victim'

    Jen Smith
    BBC Channel Islands

    A man who stole a car while drunk and crashed it was attending a charity event for a car crash victim, Jersey Magistrates Court has heard.

    Dominic Ball, 20, had been at the Peas and Glove fundraiser at the Watersplash on May 19 when he took the Blue Fiesta.

    The court heard he had no insurance and was twice the legal drink-drive limit when he crashed in St Ouen.

    The maximum legal level of alcohol in the blood when driving is 80mgs per 100mls of blood in Jersey.

    Relief Magistrate Sarah Fitz said there was irony in that he stole the car at an event for someone who'd been injured in a car crash.

    Ball was disqualified from driving for two years, fined £1,000 and ordered to carry out 70 hours of community service.

  11. Serious three-car crash closes Devon road

    Johnny O'Shea
    BBC News Online

    A man is in a serious condition after a crash involving three cars near South Molton.

    Police say it happened at about 11:40 on the A361 and the man had to be freed from one of the vehicles.

    Fire and ambulance crews are also at the scene, and the air ambulance has been requested.

    The road has been closed at Knowstone Cross and between Bish Mill and Aller Cross, and is likely to remain closed for some time.

    Traffic mapGoogle

  12. Baby left at Jersey hospital 'can be adopted'
    Breaking

    Ryan Morrison
    BBC News Online

    Jersey's Royal Court ruled that a baby left at the general hospital in March can be made available for adoption.

    The baby was left in the waiting area of the emergency department on 18 March at about 05:40 with the umbilical chord still attached.

    CCTVJersey Police

    The Royal Court ruling from 25 May says the child was healthy and there are no concerns following health screening. The ruling says there is no evidence of hereditary conditions that may affect him in the future.

    Bailiff, Sir William Bailhache, said they have granted the "freeing order" as it is "in the child's best interests that the order should be made today to free him for adoption".

    He says if the mother does come forward "very soon" officials should "think carefully about whether to come back to court to set the freeing order aside".

  13. A361 closed and traffic queueing

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  14. St Helier to appoint a new chief executive

    Ryan Morrison
    BBC News Online

    Jersey's capital, St Helier, is looking for a chief executive to administer the parish for the first time in 16 years.

    When he was first elected as constable in 2001, Simon Crowcroft reformed the management of the parish, taking on many of the chief executive roles himself.

    Simon Crowcroft

    He is now re-introducing a chief executive to manage the parish. He said they will work with a turnover of more than £15m and a workforce of more than 250 people.

    The successful candidate will be responsible for "the strategic leadership and management of all parish-run services in St Helier".

  15. Three women cut off by tide near Whitsand Bay

    Johnny O'Shea
    BBC News Online

    Three woman who were cut off by the tide near Whitsand Bay in south east Cornwall were rescued by lifeguards.

    The group were walking from Tregantle beach to Sharrow beach when they were cut off by the incoming, very high spring tide in a small bay called No Fear.

    Luckily, the group had a friend on the cliff who alerted lifeguards.

    One of the women, Clare Whitelock commented on the lifeguards Facebook page:

    "We’d like to thank the lifeguards again for all their help when we got caught out by the tide near Sharrow. They were our heroes yesterday and they do an amazing job."

    Lifeguards and the women they rescuedRNLI

    This was a tricky situation for the casualties to find themselves in. It was lucky their friend spotted that the tide was coming in and alerted the lifeguards as we are currently experiencing very high spring tides and there was big surf yesterday. Thanks to the quick thinking of their friend we were able to help the casualties immediately. We always advise people visiting the coast to come to a lifeguarded beach and to check the weather and tide times before arriving."

    Charlie Gillett, RNLI lifeguard supervisor

  17. Bride walks out on fiancé on the morning of wedding

    Cornwall Live

    An enraged bride dumped her fiancé on the morning of their wedding and instead held a party in their planned honeymoon spot in Bude.

  18. American national refused entry to Jersey

    Ryan Morrison
    BBC News Online

    An American national, who has not been named, was refused entry to Jersey after arriving at Albert Pier on the Manche Iles from Granville in France.

    He presented himself to immigration control and during questioning officers found he had previously been refused entry to the UK by Border Force on 21 May at Gatwick Airport.

    He was again refused entry to the UK on 28 May at Coquelles when he attempted to travel to Portsmouth via the Euro tunnel.

    Jersey officers said he was "not a genuine visitor" and was refused entry to the island.

  19. Plea for Devonport's submarines to be recycled

    Johnny O'Shea
    BBC News Online

    MPs are calling for the recycling of old Royal Navy nuclear submarines, including 13 currently tied up at Devonport.

    Another seven are in long-term storage at Rosyth in Scotland.

    Over the next 20 years another seven nuclear submarines are due to come out of service.

    The oldest one in Devonport is HMS Valiant which is 54 years old, having been launched in 1963 at the height of the Cold War.

    DevonportGoogle

    The Nuclear Decommissioning Agency is currently cleaning up 17 old nuclear sites and MPs are calling for the budget for the programme to be extended to include the legacy nuclear submarines.

    Luke Pollard, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport has joined two other MPs in writing to the prime minister, as well as the leaders of the Labour Party, the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats.

    Plymouth and Rosyth cannot be asked to store old nuclear submarines indefinitely. We need a proper funded plan and using the same principles as civil nuclear clean-up to safely, sustainably and securely recycle the out of service nuclear submarines would be a sound idea. I expect most people will be surprised to learn that every old nuclear submarine the Royal Navy ever has, we still have."

    Luke Pollard, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport

  20. Guernsey Education boss joins Waves

    BBC Radio Guernsey

    Guernsey's outgoing Chief Secretary of Education, Gus Paterson has been announced as the new CEO of Guernsey airline Waves.

    Before leading the Education Department, Mr Paterson was the director of Civil Aviation for the Channel Islands.

    He will leave the States in September to take up the new role.

    Gus PatersonWaves