Latest news with #Silcocks
BBC News
29-07-2025
- BBC News
How Southport is trying to heal, one year on from attack
A year ago, Southport's world changed forever. Three young girls - Bebe King, Alice Aguiar and Elsie Dot Stancombe - died in a horrific attack which shocked the nation and left the seaside resort the aftermath, the town has wrapped its arms around the families of the girls and the other children and adults injured, while also trying to not let the attack define path back to something like normality has been a long and hard one. In the Old Bakehouse Coffee Shop in the town centre, chatter hums above the clatter of cups and cutlery."We have to accept what's happened and that's the next part of the healing, and that's hard," says owner Maz Langshaw. Southport is a small town, but it is an even smaller community. Everyone seems to know someone who was affected by the events that coffee shop, which opened recently, sits between Lord Street, Southport's famous Victorian main street, and Hart Street, the scene of last July's Maxwell sips of coffee, tears filling her eyes."I know some of the girls who were affected. They have been beacons of light. It's just amazing. Everyone's wrapped around them like a big blanket," she says.A short distance away from Old Bakehouse is Silcocks - a family run amusement park which has been owned by the same family for name is on numerous shop fronts. "We're a small town with a huge heart," says operations director Serena Silcock-Prince."Everyone's seen that now. We really support each other. There's nowhere like Southport."You absolutely cannot break a community like this." Last month, the government announced funding to repair Southport Pier. It followed a commitment to the bereaved parents to build a community space outside the town hall. "The families came back from Downing Street and said look we've come back with £10m as our thank you to the town," Andrew Brown from Stand Up for Southport says."The town should be saying thank you to them. They're remarkable people."Their daughters – Alice Aguiar, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Bebe King – loved to dance. They adored Taylor Swift. That is why they attended the summer holiday event on Hart Street last year. "We want the kids to dance – we want people to laugh – we definitely want the investment."We just want it to be a happy, safe welcoming place like it was before," says Maz.A Public Inquiry into the attacks is due to resume in although the conversation will move on, what happened in Southport on 29 July 2024 will never be forgotten. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
South Wales Argus
18-07-2025
- South Wales Argus
Three men appear in court from Cwmbran and Caerphilly
The three men were accused of drug-driving, speeding, and being threatening and abusive. Their cases were heard at Cardiff Magistrates' Court. Here's a round-up of the cases. Daniel Drury, 43, of Marlborough Road in Cwmbran, was drug-driving just days after being clocked speeding on the motorway. Drury was caught doing 72mph in the 50mph average speed limit on the westbound M4 at Newport between junctions 27 and 28 in a Citroen C4 on December 8. He was then caught drug-driving in a Renault Clio on Tyn-Y-Parc Road in the Whitchurch area of Cardiff on December 11. When tested, he recorded having 212 micrograms of benzoylecgonine – the main metabolite of cocaine – per litre (µg/L) of blood. The legal limit – to exclude accidental exposure – is 50µg/L. He admitted both offences, and was sentenced to a six-month community order at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on July 15. Drury was banned from driving for three years and was made the subject of a six-month curfew between 8pm and 6am. He must also pay £85 in costs. Nathan Edwards, 35, of no fixed abode, threatened another man at a hospital. Edwards was charged with using threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour towards a man in Cardiff on May 18 with the intention of causing him fear of or provoking unlawful violence. The defendant, previously of Caerphilly, pleaded guilty, and was jailed for six weeks at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on July 10. The court determined that the offence was so serious that only a custodial sentence could be justified, and it was aggravated by it taking place in a hospital. He must also pay £85 in costs and a £154 surcharge. Gareth Silcocks, 41, of William Street in Fleur-De-Lis, was uninsured when he was drug-driving. Silcocks was behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Eclipse on Hood Road in Barry on December 18 last year. When tested, he recorded having 3.5µg/L of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in his blood. The legal limit is 2µg/L. Checks also revealed that Silcocks was uninsured at the time. He pleaded guilty to both offences at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on July 15. Silcocks was disqualified from driving for 12 months, and must pay a £465 fine, £85 in costs, and a £186 surcharge.
