Cwmbran man Ashton Jones unresponsive in Thailand hospital
Ashton Jones who is currently fighting for his life in a Thai hospital (Image: Angela Roden Shepherd) Sadly, just five days later his family received the news that Ashton had been separated from his friend and had undergone extensive emergency brain surgery.
Ashston is currently in a Thai hospital fighting for his life. Because he didn't have any travel insurance his family have set up a GoFundMe to bring him home.
Childhood friend Angela Roden Shepherd aged 50 has been a shoulder for Ashton's family to lean on.
Woman's relief after motorbike crash victim father is returned home to Wales
Six pets looking for their forever home from Many Tears Rescue
'Look after yourself' Gwent carers speak out on National Carers Week
Speaking about Ashton's condition she said: 'There are a few pictures circulating that are making it look like Ashton is well but he's still being ventilated and still extremely ill.
'He's non communicative and is pretty much unresponsive he's very poorly.'
Angela explained the Thai authorities have been carrying out an investigation.
Ashston Jones's childhood friend Angela Roden Shepherd (Image: Angela Roden Shepherd) 'He's got a good lawyer who speaks brilliant English and is very supportive on our side in bringing justice.
'Nobody has been arrested yet, but they are looking for four people and it looks like they are Thai nationals.'
Despite the heartbreaking circumstances Ashton's family find themselves in the family are blown away by the levels of support they've received both locally and internationally.
Angela told the Argus: 'It is really important that the people out there release how grateful we are. We've had people in Scotland and Ireland donate and the post is being shared nationally.
'The support has been overwhelming, and Bev (Ashton's grandmother) can't comprehend how these strangers are supporting her grandson.'
Ashton Jones who is currently fighting for his life in a Thai hospital (Ashton on ventilation) (Image: Angela Roden Shepherd) The family are still in the dark about why Ashton got separated from his friends.
A fundraiser in Cwmbran is being held on July 5, the family are in the process of organising and finalising details.
A spokesperson for The Foreign Office said: 'We are supporting a British man who has been hospitalised in Thailand and are in contact with the local authorities.'
Out of the £50,000 goal a staggering £20,522 has been raised to help bring Ashton home.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
31 minutes ago
- The National
Farcical mass arrests expose Labour's failings over Palestine
Yvette Cooper has overseen a brittle form of authoritarianism which, far from preserving the status quo, is fracturing it. The Home Secretary is now reduced to suggesting that there are things the public doesn't know about the organisation, which only she does, in defence of the draconian policy. This indicates the central argument has already been lost, and the public have not been persuaded of its merits as criticism grows. The Government miscalculated by thinking the proscription would breed establishment unity and the submission of the movement. READ MORE: Police probe 'kill 'em all' banner outside Scottish asylum seeker hotel Instead, the police are being instructed to carry out farcical mass arrests that cannot be sustained by the prison and legal system. And, we see the emergence of unexpected voices of opposition, combined with a continued expansion of the Palestine movement generally. For many in the old school of the British establishment, there is something distasteful about the ban. The sight of pensioners being rounded up and carted off in police vans for the crime of holding up a sign with the words 'Palestine' and 'action' is a little too much to plausibly defend. Everyone knows that these people cannot be described as 'terrorists' with any credibility. It is absurd, and consequently, Cooper has few allies coming to her aid. But more than distaste, the British state has generally been more strategic when it comes to utilising repression. When it comes to Palestine Action, any such nuance has been thrown out of the window. This is why figures such as Andrew Neil – it is fair to say no friend of Palestine protesters – have condemned the way the episode has been handled, saying: 'Designating them as a terrorist group was just bizarre by this government. Bizarre!' Interestingly, the people who are being arrested in Parliament Square do not look or sound like the stereotype of a direct action activist. One is a retired British army officer, Colonel Chris Romberg. The 75-year-old veteran, dressed in a suit, made the point that in his view Britain was now aiding and abetting a genocide, and this was a stand he was willing to make in defence of democratic and civil rights. Sir Jonathon Porritt, a former adviser to both king and government, was also arrested and carted away. He didn't mince his words: 'This was an absolutely clear case of a government using its powers to crush dissenting voices when it is the government itself that is most reprehensible for what continues to be an absolute horror story in the world. 'What we are seeing now in Gaza has just utterly shocked people and it's completely abhorrent that we are living through a genocide on our TV screens.' We have seen all kinds of people involved in a similar way, from members of the clergy to a former professor of poetry at the University of Oxford and an 89-year-old Jewish refugee. Former Tory MP Rory Stewart has called the proscription 'mad' and points out that the prison system cannot cope with 500 people being arrested and processed – with the threat of a 14-year jail sentence – on a single Saturday afternoon. Now, Defend Our Juries is organising for 1000 people to take part on September 6. Something has got to give. To add to Cooper's woes, it is an issue which is further haemorrhaging support for the Labour Party among its own supporters. According to a recent poll, 71% of Labour members oppose the proscription. What we have then is a lethal combination – the absence of broad support; an intellectually indefensible position; a lack of infrastructure to handle the growing number of dissenters; the continued growth of the Palestine demonstrations; a legal challenge in the works. This is just the latest in a litany of failings around the issue. Under Keir Starmer, Labour have driven the UK Government into an almighty mess. They have participated in providing the political and military cover for what Cooper herself now refers to as, without a hint of irony, the 'crimes against humanity' committed by Israel in Gaza. The foundation for the banning of Palestine Action is weak, because the foundation of the whole approach to the Middle East has been wrong on every level. They know it, and we know it. And it is when a government is in that kind of a fix that they resort to bringing out the repressive functions of the state. In doing so, they have only further weakened their position. Such measures can only hope to have a chance of success if they have overwhelming public support, and a united and cohesive apparatus to see it through. Without these, the Home Secretary cuts an isolated figure. And unfortunately for her, the issue is not going away any time soon. Instead, as the atrocities continue, opposition will grow. We are now in the closing stages of the genocide. Benjamin Netanyahu is instructing the IDF to prepare for the occupation of Gaza City. There is no further argument about what the Israeli state has planned for the people there. More death and more destruction through the methods of siege and starvation, and the obliteration of the means of life. The very last people who should be deemed as terrorists are those doing what they can to stop the horror which has been unfolding daily for nearly two years. Indeed, it is the UK Government which has failed, emphatically, in its duties to prevent genocide, as instructed by the International Court of Justice. History will not be kind to those who were complicit or active in their support for this unfathomable crime. just as it will record all of those who made a stand against it.
Daily Mirror
9 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Police launch major crime review of Nuked Blood Scandal evidence
Top cops say they are taking allegations of a criminal over-up by the British state "very seriously" and have launched a review of the Nuked Blood evidence Police have launched a major crime review to assess evidence of a state cover-up about human radiation experiments on troops. Officers say they are taking "very seriously" allegations that officials at the Ministry of Defence may have hidden a blood testing programme that took place during nuclear weapon trials in the Cold War. Parliament and the courts have repeatedly been told no monitoring of troops took place. Details of blood and urine testing, and chest x-rays, have subsequently been found on a secret database at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, locked from view on the grounds of national security. News of the review comes after the Mirror revealed the names of Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer, and serving government officials had been handed to police as potential witnesses. Alan Owen of campaign group LABRATS said: "Veterans have been waiting 70 years to be taken seriously, and it is a relief to know these issues are being looked into at long last. What we need now is a thorough police investigation to expose the MoD's institutional rot to the light." The Nuked Blood Scandal blew open after the Mirror uncovered a 1958 memo discussing the "gross irregularities" found in blood tests of Group Captain Terry Gledhill, who flew through the mushroom clouds. The data collected by weapons scientists was later found to be missing from his medical files. A complaint was made to the Met Police in May, with a 500-page dossier of evidence. The Met refused to investigate, saying it was the jurisdiction of Thames Valley Police, which oversees the county of Berkshire where the AWE is based. Victims Commissioner Baroness Newlove intervened to urged a decision in veterans' interests, as campaigners felt the scandal's connections to government and Whitehall made it the Met's responsibility. Chief Constable Jason Hogg of Thames Valley Police said: "Given the extent and complexity of the material within the dossier, and the seriousness and complexities of the crimes alleged against a range of bodies and individuals, TVP is undertaking a thorough review to assess for the crimes that may need to be investigated and where the ownership of an investigation should most appropriately sit. "Please be assured that TVP is taking this very seriously and that momentum is not being lost; we have our highly experienced head of TVP's Major Crime Review Team personally undertaking the review, reporting into one of my assistant chief constables. This is critical groundwork for circumstances of such significance and scale." He said the force was liaising with the Met "to ensure that, for the victims' sake, the decision on ownership and set-up by policing of any required criminal investigation ensures that it is conducted in the most effective way." It comes as the Lib Dems have urged Labour and the Tories to confirm they will co-operate with any investigation. Defence spokesman Helen Maguire said: "As MPs, we owe it to our veterans to assist them in their pursuit of justice, and do whatever it takes to uncover the truth. As more and more of our nuclear test veterans pass away each week, I urge anyone with information to come forward, and the government must go further and faster in their efforts for the veterans." A ministerial review of the files is underway and the first part of the AWE database is due to be declassified later this year. The government says the criminal allegations are false and there is no evidence to support them.
Daily Mirror
10 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Methanol poisoning Brit, 23, blinded for life after accepting free hostel drinks
Calum Macdonald, 23, saw a 'kaleidoscopic, blinding light' in his eyes before losing his sight after a methanol poisoning in Laos last November that killed six - including Brit Simone White A young British man who was blinded after drinking bootleg whisky and vodka in Laos last year has shared the heartbreaking moment he realised he had lost his sight. Calum Macdonald, 23, was among the group of tourists suspected to have fallen victim to methanol poisoning at a hostel in Vang Vieng last November. Six people tragically died, including 28-year-old lawyer Simone White from Orpington, Kent. The tourists had been staying at the Nana Backpackers hostel and are believed to have consumed free alcoholic drinks laced with methanol. Simone's best friend, Bethany Clarke, spoke to the Mirror about the tragedy last month. READ MORE: Man crushed to death by wife after she 'stumbled and fell on top of him' Calum, who is now permanently blind, told BBC Breakfast that he had mixed the spirits with soft drinks and noticed something was wrong with his vision the next day. While on a bus with his friends crossing into Vietnam, he said he could not read any of the signs and saw a "kaleidoscopic, blinding light" in his eyes. "We thought it was food poisoning and the light I was seeing was some kind of sensitivity," he said. Things took a turn for the worse at the hotel, where Calum's vision had gone black. "We arrived in Hanoi, and at that point, the kind of white light in my eyes had diminished," he said. "It wasn't until we got to our hotel room and my friends and I were sitting in the room, and I said to my friends, why are we sitting in the dark here? Let's turn on a light. And they informed me that the light was, in fact, already on." Calum described how he struggled to breathe and speak as he was rushed to hospital. Initial tests did not reveal the cause, he told BBC Breakfast, but when he returned to England, results confirmed it was linked to something he had been drinking. Methanol is a toxic type of alcohol often found in cleaning products. Drinking methanol-laced alcohol can at first cause hangover-like symptoms, including dizziness, headaches and nausea. But within 12 to 48 hours, symptoms can progress to seizures, blurred vision and even blindness. As little as 30ml of methanol can be deadly, according to Médecins Sans Frontières - though treatment with dialysis within 10 to 30 hours can save lives. Calum wants young people, especially students planning gap years, to be aware of the dangers of methanol poisoning. He has also urged the Foreign Office to be clearer about the countries where the risk is greatest. He said: "I think I definitely feel a sense of responsibility as someone who's been lucky enough to survive this, to try and get the message out. "Because I know certainly, if I'd known about it, I wouldn't be in this situation. And I know I have a lot of friends that have also done similar sort of gap years in travelling around even that particular area. "If I was to put out a recommendation to people, although I'm certainly not an expert or a medical professional, I would probably say that if you did want to drink alcohol in some of the affected countries, probably just to avoid spirits entirely. "I think it would be nice, even if we could get some more information directly into universities, because I think that's the age of people that are really considering doing these kinds of trips, I think that would be a great thing." Two of the tourists who died - Danish friends Anne-Sofie Orkild Coyman, 20, and Freja Sorensen, 21 - had met Calum on a night out. The other victims were American James Huston, 57, Australian women Holly Morton-Bowles and Bianca Jones, both 19, and Simone White, 28.
