Latest news with #Edridge
BBC News
29-07-2025
- BBC News
Abergavenny councillor cleared of harassing teenager at trial
A councillor has been cleared of harassment but admonished over a relationship with a teenage girl, a court has Edridge, who was elected as a Labour councillor for Abergavenny in 2022, was accused of sending unwanted messages via email and social media to the girl he described as his "little sister", and who he first met when she was a three hour trial at Newport Magistrates' Court, a judge said there had been a lack of evidence and returned a not guilty verdict to the one charge of harassment without addressing 28-year-old Mr Eldridge, Judge Sophie Toms warned him his messages to a younger girl while he was "well into his 20s", were "inappropriate". Judge Toms said she listened to about 12 minutes of voice notes the councillor sent the girl in March 2024, when she was 17, after she had ended their friendship, and called them "manipulative".In one message, the Abergavenny town councillor said he had been "heartbroken" over their friendship ending and thinking about it while meeting Labour MPs and had to cry at a conference of school Robert Reid told the court the girl, who cannot be named due to her age, said Mr Eldridge intended making a report to social services that she had been raped by a friend of said she did not understand why he had made the allegation and said she did not know the male, who had been accused, particularly well. Mr Eldridge told the trial he had become "confused" over their friendship after what he described as a "malicious joke" played by the girl. He said due to his autism and obsessive compulsive disorder he had taken the joke "literally", and felt he should report as a "safeguarding" concern. Giving evidence, Mr Eldridge denied making a report to social services but said he had taken advice on a "safeguarding concern". He said he had been concerned the girl had been taken to a pub by men, aged 29 and 32, at the voice note sent to the girl, after she had unblocked him on Instagram to send a message to say she did not want to continue their friendship, but would not ignore him if she saw him in public, Mr Eldridge said he was "really sorry" to receive the the recording, played in court, Mr Eldridge said: "I'm genuinely brokenhearted and I can't express how much I'm sorry for the deep emotional trauma I put you through."He added: "In church I light a candle for you and when I was at a conference for school governors from all over Wales I took five minutes and burst into tears. "Tonight at a meeting with Labour Party members and MPs I just wanted to go to the toilets and have a big cry." The judge said a handwritten note left for the teenager at her workplace, as well as incidents when he had approached her at work and when she was with friends, were not reflected in the charge, which referenced Instagram messages, voice notes and complained she was "missing all of the evidence" of contact between Mr Eldridge and the girl before January last year and there was no evidence from the complainant's mother who had also been mentioned by the prosecution and Mr Eldridge in his delivering her verdict, Judge Toms stated she had considered a psychological report, which said Mr Eldridge should be considered as having a disability, and had taken his characteristics into she said she could not be sure he would know his conduct in leaving "one extremely rambling voice message" and another message, the girl had not listened, to amount to said she believed the unwanted contact "could have been resolved by the way of a Police Information Notice" but said she understood Gwent Police no longer issue the notices which inform someone a named individual no longer wished to be contacted by them. A prosecution request for a non-conviction restraining order, to prevent further contact, was also rejected by Judge Toms who said Mr Eldridge had not contacted the girl since April defence solicitor, Derek Gooden, said police had warned him against contact, when he was arrested in September last year, adding: "He has seen her but he now crosses the road."Judge Toms said: "That must continue unless Mr Eldridge wishes to find himself before the court."Mr Eldridge was elected as a Labour member of Abergavenny Town Council, for the Park Ward, at the 2022 local elections but has sat as an independent since being suspended from the Labour group.
NZ Herald
15-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Two years on from Loafers Lodge fire Newtown building looms virtually unchanged
Meanwhile, the gutted three-storey building stands virtually unchanged on Adelaide Rd and its future remains unclear. Police said a man facing murder and arson charges is due to reappear in court at the end of this month. The survivors - where are they now? In the immediate aftermath of the fire, Wellington City Mission became the go-to organisation for survivors, with staff saying their lives changed overnight. Missioner Murray Edridge described it as an intense and challenging time. 'We got to hear stories about people having to climb over bodies to get out of the building. People who chose to jump out windows because there was no way out of the building,' he said. 'These were deeply traumatic events that for a number of people will stay with them probably the rest of their days.' He said it was not only a tragedy for the five people who lost their lives, but for the survivors who lost their home, and some of them, all their possessions. Kāinga Ora Wellington regional director Vicki McLaren said she could not disclose current information, but said at the time of the fire 41 Loafers residents were placed in Kāinga Ora houses, while others found homes in the private market or transitional housing. Edridge confirmed in the two years since, most had found permanent homes, some had left Wellington, and six remained at the Mission. Survivors contacted by RNZ were reluctant to speak on record for this story, however, Miimetua Cameron - who was one of the last people to escape her floor - asked that any article highlight the work of the City Mission and Wellingtonians for 'their kind donations'. In the hours after the blaze, Cameron, who works at Taylor Preston, told RNZ she was lucky to be alive, but had no idea where she and her partner would live. Speaking to RNZ this week, she said the couple's new accommodation was a significant improvement - a single unit with its own kitchen facilities. Edridge said while some ex-lodgers were doing really well, a recent fire drill showed others were still struggling. 'Even just the alarm in the building, the requirement to evacuate, triggered a number of people so severely - and it was a reflection on the experience they had two years ago. 'So, for most of us life has moved on, for the people directly impacted by the fire, it hasn't. In fact, it still stays with them very significantly.' He said part of the problem was that the lodge still remained on Adelaide Rd, and he was disappointed that another year had passed and nothing had changed. He wanted to see an urgent resolution - whether that be demolition or a rebuild. 'The stark reminder that creates everyday for people as they drive or walk past the site, where we still see a burnt-out shell, that will be retraumatising for many of these people time and time again. 'I guess my call is to whoever is responsible - legal, insurance, owners - to resolve it.' RNZ contacted the owner of the building, but they declined to comment for this story. A raft of reviews The fire triggered a series of inquiries into fire protection. A Wellington City Council audit released in June 2023 found 25 similar buildings to Loafers Lodge in the capital. Twenty-one had a current building warrant of fitness, one never had one and three did, but they were not current. Following the fire, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) launched a probe into 37 buildings like Loafers Lodge (buildings that were at least three storeys tall, a boarding house and had no sprinklers). It found more than 100 problems, including smoke detectors not working and unmonitored alarm systems. It also found the boarding houses were on average 60 years old. Most were not built originally to be accommodation and 69% had issues with safety systems. MBIE's head of building system, delivery and assurance Simon Thomas said issues around building warrant of fitness inspections had been resolved as of October last year. Advertise with NZME. In addition to further guidance on building warrant of fitness compliance, an amendment to the Building Act in November 2024 increased fines and penalties for breaches, he said. Meanwhile, MBIE's head of tenancy Kat Watson said it had filed an application to take a boarding house operator to the Tenancy Tribunal for a range of breaches found in the initial investigation. No date had been set for the hearing, and Watson could not say whether the breaches were related to fire safety, given the case was yet to be heard. After the probe into boarding houses, the Government asked MBIE to do a full review of the building code's fire safety provisions. The Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk told RNZ he expected the final report and recommendations to be delivered within weeks, and that it would be made public shortly after. He said more than 350 pages of feedback from architects, to builders and building occupants, had to be compiled. '[It] has been a long and arduous task but it's an important one and we're determined to get it right, not to rush it.' He said no one should have to endure the loss and trauma that resulted from the fire at Loafers Lodge. 'We remain committed to learning from this event to prevent similar tragedies in the future.' A man, who has name suppression, has pleaded not guilty to murder and arson charges and is due appear at the High Court in Wellington at the end of May. At the end of last year, Fire and Emergency said it was unable to release a review into how it responded to the fatal fire while a criminal investigation was underway. Fire and Emergency NZ regional manager Bruce Stubbs said the organisation would continue to support police with the ongoing court case. He said two years on, Fire and Emergency's thoughts were with those who perished in the fire and also with staff who performed 'multiple rescues that evening in severe fire conditions'. In a statement, Mayor Tory Whanau said her heart went out to the whānau and friends of those who perished and continued to grieve.
