Latest news with #Tamworth
BBC News
a day ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Warwickshire MP joins Tamworth ambulance and aid delivery to Ukraine
An MP has set off on a three-day journey to help aid workers deliver an ambulance full of essential supplies to Ukraine. Rachel Taylor, who represents North Warwickshire and Bedworth, is joining Dawid Kozlowski who, since Russia invaded in 2022, has co-ordinated the delivery of more than 300 tonnes of aid to the pair set off from the LKQ Euro Car Parts headquarters at the Birch Coppice business park in Tamworth, Staffordshire, on Monday. Mr Kozlowski has led the company's aid efforts, donating 51 ambulances, more than £6,000 worth of prescription medicine and 1,000 Christmas presents to Ukraine. The latest campaign will see the ambulance handed over at the Poland/Ukraine border, before it is driven deeper into the country. "There are a lot of people living in poverty in Ukraine because of the war so I've tried to do something that will improve their quality of life," Mr Kozlowski said. "Ambulances will have a huge impact for them because it gives them more chances to survive."Ms Taylor added: "I just felt that our spotlight had gone off Ukraine a bit and yet people over there are still suffering. "Bombings every night, drone attacks - it just felt like the right thing to do to help out." Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Independent
5 days ago
- The Independent
Notorious crime boss ordered to pay back £1 million or face extra 12 years in jail
A UK boss of a notorious crime group has been ordered to pay back more than £1 million or face more jail time, prosecutors have said. Thomas Kavanagh, 57, of Mile Oak in Tamworth, Staffordshire, will have three months to pay the sum or face another 12 years in prison, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Friday. Prosecutors estimate the Kinahan organised criminal group, of which Kavanagh was the head, smuggled drugs from Europe with a street value of around £30 million by hiding the products inside machinery. Kavanagh was sentenced in March 2022 to 21 years in prison after pleading guilty to drugs and money laundering offences. A judge sitting at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday estimated that Kavanagh and his associate Gary Vickery, 42, of Boundary Road in Solihull, West Midlands, gained £12,235,047 and £10,966,619 respectively from their criminal lifestyle, the CPS said. The judge ordered Kavanagh to pay £1,123,096 based on his current assets, which include 'his 50% share of his fortified family mansion in Tamworth, money from the sale of various other properties in the UK and a villa in Spain, and approximately £150,000 of high-end bags, clothes and accessories which were discovered when Kavanagh's house was searched following his initial arrest in 2019', a spokesperson for the NCA added. Vickery was ordered to pay a sum of £109,312 within three months, or face another two years in prison, prosecutors said. At previous court hearings, orders were made to forfeit an Audemars Piguet watch worth £75,000, as well as just over 100,000 euros that was seized from a hotel room when Vickery was arrested, the NCA added. Kay Mellor, head of Operations HQ at the NCA, said: 'Thomas Kavanagh was the head of the UK's arm of the Kinahan organised crime group, responsible for the importation and distribution of drugs and firearms, making millions of pounds in the process. 'He and his gang believed they were untouchable, but that proved to be their downfall. 'Kavanagh and Vickery will be behind bars for many years to come and now have to pay back more than £1 million to the state.' Adrian Foster, chief Crown prosecutor, said: 'Thomas Kavanagh and Gary Vickery are dangerous criminals in the organised gang world, importing millions of pounds worth of dangerous drugs on an industrial scale to the UK. 'This successful £1 million Confiscation Order demonstrates the prosecution team's commitment to work across borders to strip organised criminals of their illegal gains. 'We continue to pursue the proceeds of crime robustly and will return them back to court to serve an additional sentence of imprisonment if they fail to pay their orders.' In October 2024, Kavanagh was sentenced to another six years in jail after he and associates plotted to lead NCA officers to a buried stash of 11 weapons in a bid to secure himself a lighter prison sentence for his multimillion-pound drug enterprise. Running the conspiracy from prison, Kavanagh enlisted the help of his brother-in-law, 44-year-old Liam Byrne, and associate Shaun Kent, 38, in the plan to deceive the NCA. Byrne – who fled to Majorca after the events – was jailed for five years while Kent was handed a six-year prison sentence for their roles in the plot.
BBC News
5 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
NHS strike: Anger and fear for patients as strike delays operations
The resident doctors strike in England has begun after a dispute over pay between the government and the British Medical Association (BMA). Thousands of doctors are walking out over five days, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting insisting that disruption will be kept to a minimum. But several NHS patients have told the BBC they fear their conditions could become worse after delays to scheduled procedures, while some have also expressed sympathy over the concerns the doctors are raising. Peter Plant, 58, of Tamworth, who has kidney cancer, said his surgery to remove the organ on Friday was cancelled on Thursday morning. The operation has been rescheduled for 20 August, but he fears the delay could be a "death sentence"."Resident doctors do not care that delaying operations like mine are very likely a death sentence," he said."I'm absolutely angry and frustrated. It is not just about me, it's about our whole family."You try and gear yourself up for it and then it's utter deflation."Mr Plant said he and his family had been living in "limbo" and that he felt "utterly lost". "Wes Streeting says he has told hospitals to carry on as normal and they're clearly not," he figures have not yet been released on the impact of the strike. Some hospitals are reporting more than 80% of their non-urgent work is still being carried walkouts have led to mass cancellations of operations, appointments and treatments: more than one million were cancelled during resident doctor strikes in March 2023 and routine care was cut by half at some hospitals. Repeated delays to surgery Sarah, a patient from the north-west of England, said she was due to have a hysterectomy - an operation to remove her uterus - on Monday but it had been cancelled for a second time. "They don't have a rescheduled date for me at this time," she said. "It's very hard when you have been mentally preparing yourself for major surgery, especially as I was first told that I needed one in November 2024."Andrew Mundy, 58, from Lincoln, expressed fears that repeated delays to his tendon surgery could leave him permanently injured his knee in early February and was given an initial date for surgery at the end of May, which he said was cancelled because the consultant was on surgery was rearranged for Friday but was cancelled because of the strike, he said."I am furious and aware that every delay in surgery will make the chances of a successful repair even less likely," he said."It is not fair that I may never recover from this injury due to delays in treatment."It's frustrating because [the NHS] say that they are not cancelling stuff and things are running as normal, but they are cancelling stuff."Claudia, 44, from Maidstone, said she had been waiting for more than a year to have her gallbladder removed. Her operation has also been cancelled."Now I've been told I need another assessment, and the next appointment isn't until next month."Meanwhile, I'm still on daily medication to manage constant pain and symptoms."I've had to stick to a strict diet just to avoid flare-ups and have lost 15kg because of it."This is beyond frustrating. How can something marked as urgent be delayed for so long? I feel completely ignored. "People shouldn't be left to suffer like this while stuck in the system." Michael Overson, from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, has been waiting three years for a knee operation and found out on Friday his surgery, which had been scheduled for Tuesday, had been Overson is a delivery driver for a national supermarket chain and says the delay means he will have to "continue living and working in pain". "This places me in limbo as I have no idea when it'll be rearranged. I can't plan anything," he said."The increased costs the strikes cause only causes greater harm to the NHS."Dr Tom Dolphin, the chairman of the BMA, said before the action began that "we are very sorry that strikes have become necessary"."Of course if people have emergencies or need urgent care they should still present to the hospital or their GP as usual, as they always would," he said."Striking is something that doctors don't want to have to do."
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Irish Times
Kinahan crime boss ordered to pay back £1 million or face more jail time
A UK boss of the Kinahan organised crime group has been ordered to pay back more than £1 million or face more jail time, prosecutors have said. Thomas Kavanagh (57) of Mile Oak in Tamworth, Staffordshire, will have three months to pay the sum or face another 12 years in prison, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Friday. Prosecutors estimate the Kinahan organised criminal group, of which Kavanagh was the head, smuggled drugs from Europe with a street value of around £30 million by hiding the products inside machinery. Kavanagh was sentenced in March 2022 to 21 years in prison after pleading guilty to drugs and money laundering offences. A judge sitting at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday estimated that Kavanagh and his associate Gary Vickery (42) of Boundary Road in Solihull, West Midlands, gained £12,235,047 and £10,966,619 respectively from their criminal lifestyle, the CPS said. The judge ordered Kavanagh to pay £1,123,096 based on his current assets, which include 'his 50 per cent share of his fortified family mansion in Tamworth, money from the sale of various other properties in the UK and a villa in Spain, and approximately £150,000 of high-end bags, clothes and accessories which were discovered when Kavanagh's house was searched following his initial arrest in 2019', a spokesperson for the NCA added. Vickery was ordered to pay a sum of £109,312 within three months, or face another two years in prison, prosecutors said. At previous court hearings, orders were made to forfeit an Audemars Piguet watch worth £75,000, as well as just over €100,000 that was seized from a hotel room when Vickery was arrested, the NCA added. Kay Mellor, head of Operations HQ at the NCA, said: 'Thomas Kavanagh was the head of the UK's arm of the Kinahan organised crime group, responsible for the importation and distribution of drugs and firearms, making millions of pounds in the process. 'He and his gang believed they were untouchable, but that proved to be their downfall. 'Kavanagh and Vickery will be behind bars for many years to come and now have to pay back more than £1 million to the state.' Adrian Foster, chief Crown prosecutor, said: 'Thomas Kavanagh and Gary Vickery are dangerous criminals in the organised gang world, importing millions of pounds worth of dangerous drugs on an industrial scale to the UK. 'This successful £1 million confiscation order demonstrates the prosecution team's commitment to work across borders to strip organised criminals of their illegal gains. 'We continue to pursue the proceeds of crime robustly and will return them back to court to serve an additional sentence of imprisonment if they fail to pay their orders.' In October 2024, Kavanagh was sentenced to another six years in jail after he and associates plotted to lead NCA officers to a buried stash of 11 weapons in a bid to secure himself a lighter prison sentence for his multimillion-pound drug enterprise. Running the conspiracy from prison, Kavanagh enlisted the help of his brother-in-law, 44-year-old Liam Byrne, and associate Shaun Kent, 38, in the plan to deceive the NCA. Byrne – who fled to Majorca after the events – was jailed for five years while Kent was handed a six-year prison sentence for their roles in the plot. - PA
BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Tamworth garden waste collection charge set to increase for 2026
The cost of having garden wasted collected in Tamworth looks set to increase for Borough Council has proposed to raise the charge from £41 to £42.50 per year in line with inflation, according to a report from the new charge would come into effect when applications open to residents in October, covering up to 23 fortnightly collections between the end of January and mid-December next report said raising the price in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) would ensure it maintains "quality services" while "ensuring financial sustainability". "By adhering to the CPI, we can continue to provide valuable services to our community without compromising on standards or efficiency," it would be the second time garden waste prices have increased in Tamworth since they were introduced in 2017, following a raise from £36 to £41 for 2025.A decision on the proposed increase will be made during a meeting of the council's cabinet on Thursday at 18:00 BST. This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations. Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
