Isle of Wight News on Ventnor Blog

Back in September 2008 VB broke the story of the tragic death of an Isle of Wight resident who had picked and eaten some mushrooms growing wild at the Botanic Gardens in Ventnor.

It’s a story that once reported, swept around the world.

Today, at the Island’s Coroner’s court the circumstances were discussed in detail.

The inquest had originally opened and adjourned back in Sept 2008 (Video report).

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Thanks to Newport Parish Council for send this in to VB. We’d be happy to receive articles and press releases from other Island parish councils as well – Ed

Newport Parish Council has been approached by a number of residents concerned about the seemingly unnecessary use of sirens, particularly at weekends.

Although the parish council did not wish to make any criticism of the excellent work carried out by the emergency services, it was felt this needed further investigation. Cllr Craven, as lead Member, arranged a meeting with Chris Smith Head of Ambulance and Dean Haward, Station Manager, Fire and Rescue. Kevin Fripp Head of the Police Driving Standards was unable to attend but supplied his guidelines.

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An A4 piece of paper in the window of a shop in Ventnor town is calling for a Town Meeting to discuss the future of Ventnor Town Council – in effect calling for a vote of no confidence.

It states that it’s “pursuant of the Local Government Act 1972 schedule 12 Para 15(1)(d) to be held at the Holly (sp) Trinity church.”

(Link to the relevant Act)

It’s signed by six people who state that they are ‘local government electors.’ They are (in alphabetic order) Christine Benson; Robert Chuter; N Gibbs; Graham Morris (Vicar); P.R. Noble; K.J. Pratley and M Snipps.

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Andrew Turner is the latest to join a campaign to save thousands of vitamin and mineral food supplements being banned in the UK by an EU directive.

Across the UK, the campaign called ‘Time Is Running Out’ has been unveiled by Consumers for Health Choice (CHC).

The campaigners say that the EU directive will mean thousands of vitamins and minerals will be banned from chemists, supermarkets and healthfood shops in other than meaningless doses.

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You might have noticed that the public’s fear of crime, and how to reduce it, is in the news at the moment.

We went along to the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership day at Medina a couple of weekends ago and sat down with Norman Mellors, Police Commander for the Isle of Wight, to have a chat about how crime on the Island is falling – numbers dropped from 14,000 to 10,000 in the last three years.

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David Pugh, Leader of the Isle of Wight Council (IWC), is the subject of a formal complaint being reported directly to Standards for England by three IWC councillors. It details eight alleged breaches of the Code of Conduct for Councillors.

It centres on Cllr Pugh’s behaviour at the Valentine’s Ball at Cowes Yacht Haven last month, arranged by the Chairman of the IWC, some of which was captured on video.

Of note is that the councillors haven’t sent it to the IW Council’s own Ethical Standards Committee, choosing to report it directly to the national body, due to what they describe as “local sensitivities.”

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Update Monday: Police advise us that Mr Simpson has been found safe and well. Ed

The following was received from the police yesterday, as we’ve not had an update, we can only assume that the gentleman is still missing. Ed

Police on the Isle of Wight are concerned for the welfare of an 87-year old man who has gone missing from his home in Ryde.

Frederick Simpson lives in Trinity Street, Ryde, but was last seen leaving the Kasbah pub in Ryde just before mid-day on Friday, February, 26, where he had stayed overnight on Thursday.

Although he is fit and well for his age, Mr Simpson’s disappearance is completely out of character and even more worrying, he has not been in contact with anyone.

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VentnorBlog was this morning ejected from the Coroner’s court in Newport, Isle of Wight.

We were told by the coroner’s officer, Richard Leedham, that the coroner, John Matthews, didn’t recognise us as a member of the press (despite VB publishing articles for four and a half years and NUJ membership for longer) and he didn’t want us in “his court.”

He cited some communication from Mr Matthews to VentnorBlog in 2008 (detailed below).

Access as member of public refused too
After some discussion explaining that the correspondence wasn’t of relevance, we said we would, as a member of the public, like to enter the court.

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As VB reported last week, the Hampshire Police Authority was due to meet today to approve the recommended increase to the Police Council Tax Precept.

The increase will mean a rise of £4.14 for a band D council tax payer.

We’re told that £600,000 is earmarked for replacement of 4,500 sets of body armour, the ageing staff IT system will see a £700,000 allocation for modernisation and £800,000 will help increase the use of mobile data to free up officers for more work in the community.

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We were reading through this notice from the police and our jaws continued to drop as we read further.

As we all know, generally the Island is pretty free from crime, so hearing about this kind of incident is all the more amazing.

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This weekend is National Special Constabulary weekend!

The aim of the weekend is to draw attention to the contribution that special constables (volunteer police officers) make to the community by working alongside police officers.

What’s going on ‘ere then?
The focus this weekend is going to be on roads policing.

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A campaign starts on the Island today to help tackle mass marketing scams.

The Isle of Wight Council’s Trading Standards service has joined forces with the Office of Fair Trading to run a scheme called ‘Scamnesty’.

It starts today and runs through the month of February aiming to bring an end to many of the mass marketing scams that we’re all subject to in one way or another almost every day.

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Police have re-issued an appeal to anyone who might have seen the vehicles involved in the crash on the Military Road on Sunday that lead to the death of 23-year-old Emily Buley and 22-year-old Andrew Newnham.

The two vehicles involved in the collision at around 12.50pm on Sunday were a red Volkswagen Polo and a red and white Suzuki motorcycle.

Sergeant Alyson West from the Road Death Investigation team at Eastleigh said: “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of these two young people whose lives have been tragically cut short.”

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Further details have emerged from the crash on the Military Road on Sunday.

Police are now in a position to name a woman who died following a collision near Chale on the Isle of Wight.

She was Emily Sarah Buley, 23, from The Square, Freshwater.

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It’s all go at Brading this Thursday.

Not only does the town council meeting sound like it’s going to be a bit of a hum-dinger, but the police will be in the car park of the Bugle Inn keen to speak to residents during the afternoon.

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The full and final decision by the Adjudication Panel on the ex-leader of the Isle of Wight council, Cllr Andy Sutton, who was suspended for six months has just been released (Word doc).

It covers the Material Facts found by the Tribunal (section 4) and Submissions from Councillor Sutton (section 6).

It’s 18 pages, so we’ll have a read through it a bit later. If have a chance to read through it first, please feel free to comment on anything you find in the report.

Life on the Isle of Wight is blessed with relatively low crime figures compared to the mainland, so it makes it all the more unusual when we receive information about an armed robbery.

Police tell us that between 9-9.30pm at the Spar Convenience Store in the High Street in Wootton last night, the female shopkeeper was threatened with a knife by a man in his 20s, demanding cash.

He left immediately after, without injury to the shopkeeper, who was obviously pretty shaken by the event.

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The Safer Neighbourhoods team are back with the Environmental Neighbourhood Officer in Ventnor tomorrow to offer free security wrapping for bicycles.

Also on the cards is cheap microchipping for dogs, just a tenner

Check Events On The Wight for more details.

Image: e3000 under CC BY-SA 2.0

We’re all too well aware of the hard financial times that people in the UK face at the moment and the stretch of water between us and the mainland does not exclude the Island from those difficulties.

It’s during times like this when vulnerable people are most at risk of being taken advantage of. Therefore, a decision due to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Fire and Community Safety later in the month, to ensure that Islanders are not exposed to illegal money-lending or the wider crime and disorder that usually accompanies it should be welcomed.

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Please read this urgent appeal and pass on to parents of children who might be playing in the area. Ed

Police are investigating reports of youngsters playing on the frozen Somerton Reservoir, Cowes.

This is extremely dangerous. Do not do it. Emergency services appeal to parents to make sure their children do not skate on water that appears to be frozen.

Filed under “you couldn’t make it up.”

Argh! Darn!

Sitting there, enjoying the Christmas eve and the hand falls on to the Blackberry. Quick check of the Tweets find a story so amazing we couldn’t pass it up.

Having voved not to work over xmas, we’ve had to fight hard to resist writing about this one … and failed.

Get ready.

Apparently there were two snakes stolen on the Isle of Wight back at the tail end (could resists that one) of November.

Flying Tree Snakes!!
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At Monday night’s meeting of the Ventnor Town Council (VTC), all but one member of the VTC voted against paying for CCTV in Ventnor.

Cllr Mew was the first to speak against the adoption of a CCTV camera.

He was not against the principle of CCTV, but argued as to why the VTC should have to find money in its budget for the camera, when other towns such as Newport and Cowes had CCTV paid for by the Isle of Wight Council.

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Remember that we reported a raid by Island police on Monday, where members of the Priority Crime Unit (PCU) entered a flat in Silcombe Lane, Freshwater with a drugs warrant?

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Readers might remember hearing news earlier in the year of parking meters on the Island being broken into and cash money stolen.

The council tell us this afternoon that the crime busting ‘Smartwater’ technology (we’re sure you’ve all seen the ads on the ferries) is being used in a new initiative to protect the revenue-raising machines.

We understand that the Island is the first place in the UK to be using the technology to protect its parking meters in a collaboration between the IW Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) and the Isle of Wight Council, the police, Parkeon and Smartwater.

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A VB reader got in touch with us this morning after having just seen a number of baseball cap-wearing police leaving flats in Silcombe Lane, Freshwater with equipment like large hammers.

The Island police confirmed to us that their Priority Crime Unit (PCU) executed a drugs warrant at a property in Freshwater today.

image: katielips under CC BY 2.0