Coroner says urgent action needed on helicopter rules after Leicester City crash
A prevention of future deaths report was sent to the European Union Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) after an inquest, warning of concerns about gaps in safety rules which risks more helicopter crashes.
Coroner Professor Catherine Mason expressed concerns that current aviation rules may not adequately prevent crucial parts from wearing out prematurely, which can cause failures leading to crashes.
Part makers may not receive all the detailed flight and system test data from manufacturers, so they cannot fully check if they are safe, the coroner wrote.
Prof Mason said concerns were raised about the lack of clear rules on how long some important helicopter parts should last and how they should be inspected, especially for aircraft already in use.
The coroner wrote of worries that helicopter makers are not currently required by regulations to thoroughly check critical parts after removal from service, which could help catch problems early.
Prof Mason highlighted concerns raised during the inquest about the lack of clear rules for calculating stresses on key helicopter parts and the need for better standards to ensure ongoing safety.
Her report pointed to 'failure modes analysis at a system level'.
The coroner wrote: 'In my opinion, action should be taken to prevent future deaths, and I believe that each of EASA and the CAA have power to take such action.'
On October 27 2018, after a match between Leicester City and West Ham, the Leonardo AW169 helicopter spun out of control after it took off from the pitch.
The helicopter began to spin when Mr Swaffer tried to do a right-hand turn over the stadium to take Khun Vichai and the other passengers to Stansted Airport, an inquest jury previously heard.
An Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report found that the helicopter began uncontrollably spinning when a bearing in the tail rotor 'seized' after its lubrication broke down, jurors were told.
The aircraft landed on its left-hand side on a 0.5m concrete step, causing a fuel leak which ignited and 'rapidly' engulfed the helicopter in flames.
The jury of 11 people, who heard evidence over two weeks, concluded that the deaths were accidental.
Four of the five victims, including Khun Vichai, died due to smoke inhalation and it was likely they would have survived their injuries if the fire had not started, it was heard.
The cause of Ms Lechowicz's death was given as 'significant' head and chest injuries, and she would have died 'extremely quickly' after the helicopter crashed into the ground.
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The Guardian
13-08-2025
- The Guardian
Tennessee town approves plans to turn former prison into Ice detention center
Officials in a rural Tennessee town voted Tuesday to approve agreements to turn a former prison into an immigration detention facility operated by a private company, despite loud objections from upset residents and activists during a contentious public meeting. The five-member board of aldermen in Mason, and mayor Eddie Noeman and vice-mayor Reynaldo Givhan, met in a fire station garage to discuss converting the closed West Tennessee detention facility into a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention center run by CoreCivic Inc, America's second-largest private prison operator. Also present were a few dozen vocal, angry members of the public who oppose allowing Ice to house immigrants in Mason who have been taken into custody, as Donald Trump pushes his mass deportation agenda forward. The US president has touted a Florida detention facility where allegations of mistreatment of detainees have drawn lawsuits from civil rights advocates and environmental groups. And CoreCivic is buoyed up by its increasing immigration detention contracts as well as the prospect of many more to come amid the new Republican legislation providing billions for Ice and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security. But the company is also under a cloud of criticism for some of the conditions reported at its facilities, as it cashes in. This includes Tennessee but most recently, as a result of an investigation by the Guardian, concerning a federal detention facility the company runs in New Mexico. In Tennessee on Tuesday night, the first vote of the meeting resulted in approval for a contract with CoreCivic to resume operating the facility, which was closed in 2021 after Joe Biden ordered the Department of Justice to stop renewing contracts with private detention facilities. Trump reversed that order in January. The second vote, to approve an agreement with Ice, also passed. It is not immediately known when the facility will reopen. Noeman said he wanted to reopen the shuttered prison to bring jobs and economic development to the town, which has struggled with financial problems and needs infrastructure improvements. With a population of about 1,300, Mason is located about 40 miles north-east of Memphis and at least two-thirds of the residents are Black, according to US census data. When it was open, the prison was the town's largest employer and an important economic engine. Noeman called turning the closed prison over to CoreCivic and Ice a 'win-win situation,' drawing loud boos in the room. 'It's nothing personal about any immigrant,' Noeman said, adding moments later that 'to give jobs to the people is what I'm looking for.' At times, Noeman argued with attenders, questioning whether they actually live in Mason and telling them: 'You don't know what you're talking about.' Before the meeting, board member Virginia Rivers told the Associated Press that she does not support turning the prison into an Ice facility because 'I don't like what Ice stands for, how they treat the people.' During the meeting, she noted that some immigrants without criminal records are being swept up by immigration agents and separated from their families. She said approving the contracts would make Mason 'complicit in the abusive treatment of immigrants'. 'We as officials of the town of Mason that were elected by the citizens should consider the consequences and the hurt that this would cause our local community, our neighbors, Tennessee schools and many families,' Rivers said. CoreCivic said in a statement that the Ice facility would create nearly 240 new jobs, and it is now advertising openings for detention officers at a pay rate of $26.50 per hour. 'The services we provide help the government solve problems in ways it could not do alone – to help create safer communities by assisting with the current immigration challenges, dramatically improve the standard of care for vulnerable people, and meet other critical needs efficiently and innovatively,' CoreCivic said. One of the speakers, Charles Watkins, noted that CoreCivic was the operator of the prison under its previous name, Corrections Corporation of America. 'How is it that we can consistently let these organizations come into Black communities and then just somehow overwhelm us with the few dollars that they throw on the table as crumbs while they take the majority of the take back to wherever they came from?' Watkins said. Tennessee's corrections agency has fined CoreCivic $44.7m across four prisons from 2022 through February, including for understaffing violations. Records obtained by AP also show the company has spent more than $4.4m to settle about 80 lawsuits and out-of-court complaints alleging mistreatment – including at least 22 inmate deaths – at four Tennessee prisons and two jails from 2016 through September 2024. The state comptroller released scathing audits in 2017, 2020 and 2023. The Brentwood, Tennessee-based CoreCivic has defended itself by pointing to industrywide problems with hiring and keeping workers.
The Herald Scotland
06-08-2025
- The Herald Scotland
Mason: 'Probably acceptable 1 per cent of prisoners are innocent'
Currently, there are 8234 prisoners in Scotland's prisons, with one per cent representing 82 prisoners. But when approached by The Herald on Sunday Mr Mason, who represents Glasgow Shettleston, appeared to backtrack on his argument. "It is not appropriate for one innocent person to be in prison or one guilty person to be out free in society. But we live in an imperfect world where I suspect in every country some people are wrongly imprisoned and some are wrongly free. So it is a question of trying to get the balance right," he said. READ MORE: His original view was made in correspondence with campaign group Justice for Innocent Men Scotland (JIMS). The group wrote to MSPs following concerns raised by advocate Thomas Leonard Ross KC that the interpretation by the courts of laws around the admissibility of evidence – brought in to protect the privacy and dignity of complainers in sexual offence cases – were risking the right of the accused to a fair trial. Mr Ross told The Herald last month: "How can it be said that someone has had a fair trial when it's been proved that the complainer lied about something important in the course of the inquiry and that was not allowed to be introduced as evidence? "There are serious concerns that people are not getting a fair trial when they are not being given the opportunity to provide evidence which might support their innocence." The situation revolves around what evidence is allowed to be heard in open court before a jury. There are strict rules about what evidence can be heard in court in rape trials (Image: Jamie Simpson) Sometimes known as "rape shield" laws, specific provisions to regulate the use of sexual history evidence were first introduced in Scotland by the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1985. These provisions were later repeated in sections 274 and 275 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. In response to concerns about their operation, the provisions in the 1995 Act were replaced by new sections 274 and 275 in 2002. After Mr Ross's intervention in The Herald the JMIS campaign group wrote to MSPs seeking to highlight the concerns he raised including over rules around the admissibility of evidence in sexual offence cases. "Sections 274 and 275 routinely block the defence from raising crucial facts about accusers, including prior false claims, mental health concerns, or motivations for fabrication," they wrote. "At the same time, prosecutors are free to attack the accused's character at will." Thomas Leonard Ross (Image: PA) Mr Mason wrote back to the campaigners saying he took their point that "a few people who are innocent have been found guilty by the courts and are wrongly imprisoned" but went on to argue that "the much greater problem is guilty men who have been let off by the courts and who should be in prison but are not". He then referred to the case of the former Scotland striker David Goodwillie. A civil court found in 2017 that the footballer and his former teammate David Robertson raped Denise Clair, but no criminal charges were filed against the pair. In February this year it was reported that legal aid has been approved to fund an application for the private prosecution of Mr Goodwillie for rape. Mr Mason added: "We need to get a better balance, especially in rape cases so that more men are found guilty and are punished." Independent MSP John Mason (Image: Andrew Milligan) In further correspondence on the same day Mr Mason expanded on his views before claiming: "You ask how many innocent people in prison is acceptable. As I said we are trying to get a balance in all of this. "I would have thought that one percent of prisoners being innocent is probably acceptable but 20% would not be. The counter argument would be how many guilty people is it acceptable to escape conviction?" He went on to say he would welcome approaches from constituents concerned about wrongful convictions and would look into the cases. The Herald on Sunday approached Mr Mason for a further explanation. "In an ideal world all the innocent people should be free and outside prison while all the guilty ones should be inside or punished in other ways. So in one sense it is not acceptable for one innocent person to be inside or one guilty person to be outside," he said. "However, we do not live in an ideal world. Witnesses lie in court, some people get a much better lawyer than others, judges can make mistakes, and juries can be swung by emotions or other factors. "So I am afraid that we are never going to have a system which gets every case absolutely right. We have to live with the reality that 0.1% or 1% or 10% of cases might end up in the wrong result. "So I think as a society we are trying to get the balance right… not having too many innocent people in jail and not having too many criminals escaping conviction." He added: "When it comes to rape and other sexual offences, the perpetrators are almost always men and the victims are almost always women. There has been a long running feeling that too many men who are guilty of these offences are getting off because there is little corroboration and the bar in a criminal court is too high. "Previous discussions have included whether the need for corroboration could be amended and I think this has happened to some extent. But I remain of the view that we have not got the balance right in rape cases and too many guilty men are escaping. "One example in recent years has been David Goodwillie. I feel the women were let down in this case and when my team Clyde FC signed him for the second time I stopped attending their games and have not been back since. "So while I would be sympathetic to anyone who is in prison and is innocent, and if it is a constituent I would be happy to get involved, I do not think the main problem we face in our criminal justice system is having too many innocent people in jail." Elaine Buckle, 60, of Pembrokeshire, whose husband Brian, 53, spent five and a half years in prison following a wrongful conviction, was shocked by Mr Mason's views. Elaine and Brian Buckle (Image: Elaine Buckle) "I don't agree with John Mason at all and as far as I can see he has no understanding of what it is like to be accused, convicted and to spend time in prison for something you haven't done," Ms Buckle, a supporter of the group JMIS, told The Herald. She added that her family had been left devastated by her husband's wrongful conviction. "Brian still struggles with his time in prison and suffers flash backs," she said. She added that before he went to prison he had had a highly paid job as a construction manager but now struggled with post traumatic stress syndrome as a result of his wrongful conviction and imprisonment and was unable to look for work. Read more: Mr Buckle was wrongly convicted in 2017 of 16 counts of historical child sex abuse and sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, a subsequent trial with new forensic evidence led to his conviction being quashed. In the Commons, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has described Mr Buckle's case as a 'grave miscarriage of justice.' There have been longstanding concerns about the low conviction for rape than other crimes. Conviction for rape cases involving a single complainer is 24% compared to the overall conviction rate for all crime is 86%. Speaking to The Herald last month, Mr Ross said it was misleading to compare conviction rates for different types of crime. "In a murder case there might be 15 sources of evidence, from eyewitnesses, DNA, finger prints in murder cases, while in a rape case just there is very often only one source of evidence – namely the person making the complaint. "So it's entirely unsurprising that there are lower conviction rates for rape than murder." A Scottish Government spokeswoman has previously said: 'Everyone has the right to a fair trial and to appeal against a conviction or sentence. There are well-established rules on what evidence can be led in sexual offences trials, and clear routes to challenge how these are applied.'
South Wales Argus
06-08-2025
- South Wales Argus
Two Cardiff men sentenced for dumping waste on farmland
The offences took place in Cardiff and included dumping mixed household, building, and green waste in fields near St Mellons Business Park. Kyle Gordon Mason, 46, of Dickens Avenue, Llanrumney, and John Brian Janes, 52, of New Road, Rumney, were prosecuted by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and sentenced at Newport Crown Court. Some of the affected land is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). John Rock, operations manager for NRW, said: "Waste illegally deposited can have a devastating impact on farming businesses and rural communities. "The waste can be extremely costly and time-consuming to remove and can be harmful to wildlife and livestock. "Kyle Mason and John Janes have shown a complete disregard to the environment by dumping their waste on farmland. "Mr Mason also avoided costs of legally disposing the waste collected through his business, which undercuts legitimate businesses who abide by the rules. "The joint working with Gwent Police on this case has been hugely beneficial and we'd also like to thank the Cardiff residents who provided supporting evidence for this case. "People should be vigilant of fly-tippers. "Avoid putting your waste into their hands by checking if they have a waste carrier licence at The investigation began in 2021. NRW found multiple van loads of waste dumped across three fields, each owned by different landowners. Evidence linking both defendants and businesses connected to Mr Mason was found in the waste. The investigation carried on into 2022. On June 10, 2022, surveillance footage captured by Liberton Investigations showed a transit flatbed vehicle—without number plates—entering one of the fields loaded with waste and leaving empty. Both men were interviewed during the investigation but initially denied the offences. However, they later pleaded guilty in court. Mason admitted to dumping five van loads of waste and was sentenced on August 1, 2025. He received 14 weeks' imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to pay £200 in costs to NRW along with a victim surcharge. Janes pleaded guilty to dumping a bag of household waste. He was sentenced earlier, on May 2, 2025, and was fined £500, ordered to pay £750 in costs to NRW, and a £200 victim surcharge. Sentencing for environmental offences is determined by the courts and considers the level of harm, culpability, and the defendants' financial means. NRW said large-scale fly-tipping or damage to Sites of Special Scientific Interest should be reported to its 24/7 incident communications centre. Incidents can be reported online at or by calling 03000 65 3000.
