Driver who killed man in Bristol crash gets suspended sentence
He also received an 18-month driving disqualification and was ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.
Emergency services had been called to the crash on Whiteladies Road shortly after 11:35 GMT on 21 December 2024.CCTV showed Veck's car was stationary before he turned right from Whiteladies Road into Alma Road and crashed into Mr Adams.Veck stopped immediately after the crash and during a police interview stated he had not seen him crossing the road.
Mr Adams' family had said in tribute after his death he would be "sorely missed".They said he had lived in the Westbury-on-Trym area his entire life and had worked at Rolls Royce and Royal Mail before his retirement.Dai Nicholas, the Avon and Somerset Police officer in the case, said: "Our thoughts remain with the family of Mr Adams. "A specially trained officer has continued to provide them with support throughout our investigation."Stuart Veck admitted responsibility for what happened during the police interview and has today been sentenced accordingly."This tragic case hopefully serves as a reminder to all road users that even in traffic at low speed, just a moment's lapse in concentration can have devastating consequences."
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The Independent
29 minutes ago
- The Independent
GCSE student brings along unusual ‘best friend' to pick up results
A GCSE student collecting her results brought along an unusual friend for moral support - her pet sheep. Milly Johnson, a young shepherd, had 'best friend' Kevin the sheep come along as she picked up her results from Tarleton Academy near Preston in Lancashire on Thursday (21 August). 'I was quite nervous as I knew I couldn't change what happened but Kevin helped a lot by being here,' she said, reflecting on his 'chilled' demeanour. She said the four-year-old North Ronaldsay sheep 'comes pretty much everywhere with me', revealing he also accompanied her to her prom, wearing a matching halter to Johnson's dress.
The Independent
29 minutes ago
- The Independent
Rave culture, lycra ‘nuns' and ‘sexual healing': Inside the evangelical cult left unchecked in the Church of England
Typed neatly on headed notepaper, the instructions for Reverend Christopher Brain's 'homebase team' were clear. The group of predominantly young, attractive women, who had devoted themselves to a church movement they believed was changing the world, were 'to do anything' their leader required. This included preparing his meals, cleaning his home, looking after his child, 'honouring and praying' for him and always putting his needs before their own. It also required them to sleep at his house for up two nights per week as part of a 24 hour, seven-day rota of unpaid work to leave him free to spread the word about the mission of the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS). Brain had been tipped for a great future in the Church of England after his revolutionary 'rave-style' worship attracted hundreds of young people to his 9pm services in Sheffield. He was preparing to take the movement across the Atlantic to San Francisco. Detailed lists of homebase team duties included washing, ironing, mopping the floor, walking his bull terrier, Badger, and answering the phone. Although they were to prepare his meals – including a dessert – they were instructed to eat after Brain and his wife unless they were explicitly invited to join them. But, sadly, the demands placed on some women who found themselves in Brain's church movement did not stop there. Despite most not believing in sex before marriage, many were expected to give 'sensual' massages to the controlling and charismatic evangelical preacher, who told the women he was helping them to overcome their sexual repression. He was usually in his underwear during the late-night back rubs to relieve 'tension headaches' in the attic bedroom of his marital home, which was paid for, decorated and meticulously maintained by NOS. The women, who were sometimes referred to as 'the Lycra Lovelies' or 'the Lycra Nuns' because of the revealing clothes they wore while they cleaned, feared they would be ostracised if they refused. Many believed he was a form of prophet and one admitted she viewed him as 'almost a God'. This week, 30 years after his evangelical cult operating in the Church of England collapsed in controversy, he was found guilty of abusing nine women. The 68-year-old, who until recently ran a design consultancy in Wilmslow, Cheshire, told the jury he was the 'most radical ordained vicar there was' as he defended his sexual encounters with women in his congregation. 'I wasn't a traditional vicar, I was someone on a journey of radical research and experimentation,' he said, as he insisted any sexual contact with the women was consensual and disputed other incidents ever took place. A panel of eight men and three women found him guilty of 17 counts of indecent assault against nine women between 1981 and 1995 following a seven-week trial at Inner London Crown Court. He was acquitted of 15 further counts of the same offence. The jury was discharged without reaching verdicts for one count of rape and four more counts of indecent assault. Prosecutors now have 14 day to decide whether they seek a retrial on those counts. The seeds for the church movement began in the early 80s with his Christian rock band Present Tense. He and a group of acolytes - united by their belief that they did not fit into a traditional church congregation - developed a new type of worship inspired by 80s rave culture and the evangelical preaching of charismatic US pastor John Wimber, whose services were known for so-called 'miracles' and speaking in tongues. At its height, NOS attracted up to 600 congregants to light and music-filled services at St Thomas' in Crookes, Sheffield, later moving to a larger venue at Ponds Forge leisure centre. At one stage there was a mass confirmation service of 93 members, said to be the largest group they had ever confirmed in one church. The Archbishop of Canterbury elect, George Carey, was so enthusiastic about its potential to attract young worshippers that he told Brain he would be happy to see a NOS in every town and city in the country. By 1995, when Brain was finally confronted by church leaders who had been approached with claims he had abused up to 40 women, he replied: 'I thought it was more.' He later admitted to 'improper sexual conduct with a number of women' in the church in a bombshell 1995 BBC documentary, conceding that some members of the homebase team would massage him late at night if he needed. He denied this was abuse even though he obtained sexual gratification, claiming his relationships with the women were close and affectionate. He said he was repentant, willing to change and to put things right. However, giving evidence in his own defence almost 30 years later, he backtracked, claiming he 'over-accepted responsibility' in the programme. Wearing a dark suit and shirt, with thick rimmed glasses, he had to be reminded several times to slow down and speak clearly as he rushed to defend his actions. Asked by his lawyer, Iain Simkins KC, 'what on earth possessed you to have a back massage from another woman' when he was married with a young child, he responded: 'Why not?' Sometimes this developed into sexual touching, he said, explaining his marriage was 'pretty open', but if liaisons progressed to full sex it would be cheating. "With some of my closest friends it would be kissing sometimes, occasionally massaging, stroking,' he said. 'Anything more than that we would back off.' For the women, however, the encounters were often something they said they submitted to in order to survive. One woman, who said she was 'brainwashed' by the priest, alleged on one occasion she was invited to his home while his wife was away in 1983 or 1984, where he pinned her down and raped her, although jurors did not reach a verdict on this count. She told the court she was moving her head 'from side to side' and 'saying no', adding: 'I couldn't get him off me.' Afterwards, he told her to have a bath, the court heard. Although she considered going to the police, she felt it would be too traumatic and wasn't ready for her family to know. Another survivor said she viewed Brain as a form of prophet who told her their contact was part of her 'sexual healing'. He discouraged her from staying in touch with her family and friends, leaving her in fear of being cut off from her only community. She told the court she felt trapped and was left suicidal after 'hundreds' of alleged encounters in which she would sit on Brain's lap and simulate sex because she had an 'innate' need to please him. 'I was never aroused, it wasn't exciting. It was more just a way of surviving I suppose,' she said. 'You did what you thought he wanted in order to keep him appeased. It was nothing to do with passion or expression.' Brain was acquitted multiple counts of indecent assault with the woman. Over the years, several people tried to raise the alarm about Brain's increasingly megalomaniacal tendencies, but he was seemingly given considerable leeway by Anglican church leaders. When Brain took holy orders in December 1991, 'signs of grandiose self-regard were already present' and large sums of money were spent finding the robes worn by the actor Robert De Niro in the movie The Mission for him to wear at his ordination, prosecutor Tim Clark KC told the court. Marilyn Parry, Brain's personal tutor as he was fast-tracked for ordination, told her superiors he was arrogant and failed to meet deadlines, but the diocese did not share her views. "They felt he should be given some slack because he was running such an important ministry for the church,' she said. Dr Mark Stibbe, a former curate at St Thomas', was also rebuked in 1993 by then-Bishop of Sheffield the Rt Rev David Lunn for expressing fears about "extremely disturbing" NOS services featuring "scantily clad young girls gyrating". Dr Stibbe told the jury he had his 'ecclesiastical wrists slapped' for raising concerns and was told: 'We don't conduct witch hunts in the diocese.' While members gave up their jobs, paid into a 'common purse' and some even donated their inheritance to NOS, Brain lived far more comfortably. He was provided with a home, a car and a credit card to eat out. In 1994, the Brain's moved into a five-bedroom seventeenth century farmhouse in the Pennines given to the NOS Trust, a charity set up to handle the movement's finances, by two senior members of the congregation. It had been renovated to Brain's specifications, including a recording and rehearsal studio for musicians and dancers in a converted stable. By the time NOS finally collapsed in August 1995, after a whistleblower took allegations of widespread sexual abuse to Sheffield's archdeacon Stephen Lowe, Brain claims he had already resigned his role as leader as he focussed on establishing himself in California. In an explosive meeting at NOS's offices a few days later, members gathered and shared their experiences. Reactions were extreme, with some collapsing in tears. Some of the women he hurt were left confused and initially defended the man they thought was their spiritual leader, but later came to realise they had been drawn into a cult. For others, the scales fell from their eyes instantly. Initially, the Diocese of Sheffield provided counselling for at least 20 women alleging sexual impropriety. In the weeks that followed up to 150 people left traumatised by their time in NOS were provided support, The Independent reported in 1995. Brain resigned from holy orders in November, days before the BBC's documentary on the scandal was due to air. Astonishly, no police investigation was launched into the abuse until 2019. Detective Superintendent Eleanor Welsh, of South Yorkshire Police, said: 'Brain is a devious and arrogant sexual predator who caused these women significant harm through his abuse of power and cruel manipulation of their faith. 'While I am pleased with the guilty verdicts, I know for the victims it can never take away what Brain did to them. However, I hope that it brings some comfort to know they have had a voice, they have been heard, and the jury has accepted that Brain is a serial sex offender.' Following the trial, the Bishop of Sheffield issued an unreserved apology to Brain's victims for 'institutional failures' by the Church. The Rt Rev Dr Pete Wilcox also announced an independent Safeguarding Practice Review to examine 'safeguarding responses, culture, and processes' so lessons can be learned. "What happened was an appalling abuse of power and leadership that should never have occurred,' he said. 'Where concerns were raised in the past and were not acted upon properly, that was a failing of the Church. For those institutional failures I offer an unreserved apology.'
Telegraph
30 minutes ago
- Telegraph
My ADHD made me sleep in sauna on work trip, says sacked female exec
A drunk female executive who claimed she was sacked for spending the night in a hotel sauna during a work trip was discriminated against over her ADHD, a tribunal has ruled. Shannon Burns said her condition made her experience a 'great deal of forgetfulness' which resulted in her spending the night outside her suite when she misplaced her room key. The engineer, who was on £220,000 a year, was dismissed for her behaviour at the off-site event in Austria in April 2023 despite her claims that male colleagues were 'far more intoxicated' than her and faced no punishment. She was told her antics had 'eroded trust and confidence' in her and that she should 'lead the team by example' as a senior employee at the software company. Ms Burns, an American, is now in line for compensation after successfully suing for discrimination with a judge ruling that she experienced a 'great deal of forgetfulness' as a result of her ADHD. Employment Judge Rachel Wedderspoon said that while Ms Burns had been intoxicated, being 'disorganised' is a feature of the condition and contributed to her misplacing her keys that evening. The tribunal heard Ms Burns was headhunted for a senior role at Gitpod, which she took with the promise of a six-figure salary plus an equity package potentially worth more than £30 million. 'Tech bro' culture She claimed she was the victim of sex discrimination and complained of the rampant 'tech bro' culture at the 'male-dominated' firm that hired her. But the judge rejected this and said that her dismissal had nothing to do with her gender and was instead down to the fact that she displayed 'a lack of professionalism'. The employment tribunal, held in Birmingham, was told that Ms Burns, who has dyslexia, was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in 2015. It was heard that the condition caused her to experience a 'great deal of forgetfulness' and she would 'persistently' lose items such as her keys and phone. 'Disorganised and forgetful' Upholding her disability discrimination claims, Judge Wedderspoon said: '[Ms Burns] had consumed quite a lot of alcohol on one night of the offsite when she got locked out of her room. 'However, being disorganised and forgetful may be features of ADHD. 'The tribunal found that losing her keys on the first occasion and being locked out was likely to be something arising from her forgetfulness, a feature of [Ms Burns'] ADHD. 'However, drinking alcohol is likely to have played a part of being locked out later in the evening... 'Insofar as [Ms Burns] was criticised for being locked out in the evening the tribunal finds that this was likely in part to be as a result of the combination of her alcohol consumption and her forgetfulness which is something arising from her disability of ADHD.' Her claims of sex discrimination were dismissed and the judge said Ms Burns was not dismissed for being drunk and was instead sacked 'in part for her behaviours by reason of being drunk'. The judge added: 'She displayed a lack of professionalism namely lack of executive presence as a vice-president. That had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that [Ms Burns] is a woman.'
