AYLESBURY’S new police boss says her big priorities will be to tackle anti-social behaviour, metal thefts and burglaries.

Neighbourhood Inspector Kelly Glister has just taken over the town’s top job from Omar Abu-rish and is now in charge of all policing, licensing, CCTV and counter terrorism measures.

The more than 50 staff who report directly to her must call her Ma’am, but for members of the community the personable mum-of-two is happy to be called Kelly.

She said: “I introduced myself on the police community messaging service. I did have a few replies, which was nice, groups inviting me to come and meet them and see what they do. It was evident that people don’t know how to address me. I am happy for members of the community to call me Kelly.”

She has worked in Thames Valley Police for 16 years and spent the last eight months as an acting detective inspector in Milton Keynes. The Vale resident’s background is in protecting the vulnerable. In the past she has worked on child abuse and domestic abuse cases.

One of her first priorities will be to meet community leaders in the town. She also plans to attend neighbourhood action group meetings, have your say events and accompany PCSO’s in school playgrounds – although stresses that she ‘will have to find a balance’ in addition to her other duties.

]]> 1.3548588 Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:46:22 +0000 http://www.bucksherald.co.uk/call_to_ban_bully_midwife_at_stoke_mandeville_hospital_is_rejected_1_3548566

THE traumatised parents of a stillborn baby have said they were ‘bullied’ by a Stoke Mandeville Hospital midwife.

On Monday, Diane Gingell, 62, was given a three year caution for her treatment of Benjamin and Rachael Bird.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council heard Gingell had abandoned the couple for up to 25 minutes, and made them feel like an inconvenience.

Gingell failed to perform full checks on the baby’s progress and left the couple, from Tring, at home while she collected pethidine from hospital.

She also failed to tell the parents their child’s heart rate was dropping before calling an ambulance.

The midwife then chatted about the weather to a paramedic without checking on Mrs Bird during the journey to Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

Following the birth of the stillborn baby girl on July 18, 2009, the midwife told Mr Bird she had returned to their home, cleared up all the home birth equipment and checked on their dog.

But the panel heard Gingell had left the house covered in soiled towels and sheets.

The NMC panel decided to issue a three year caution after ruling Gingell’s ‘acts or omissions were not held to have adversely affected that outcome.’

Giving evidence Mr Bird told the panel that they had opted for a home birth because it would be relaxed.

He said: “Rachael and I were told we could have the TV on in the background and it would feel relaxed.

“However, when it came to it, it felt very sterile, and we felt like we were an inconvenience to Ms Gingell.

“She was huffing and puffing as she was taking notes, and just acting like she did not want to be there.”

Mr Bird said the couple did not want to speak to his parents until after the birth, but Gingell ‘bullied’ him into calling them.

He told the panel the midwife had snapped at them, shouting at his wife when she got out of the bath and complained of being cold.

Gingell then called an ambulance and told the couple it was just as a precaution.

Gingell did not attend the hearing but was found guilty of a series of charges including failing to perform full checks on the baby’s progress and leaving Mrs Bird without the care of another midwife or health professional while she collected pethidine from hospital.

She also failed to tell the parents their child’s heart rate was dropping before calling an ambulance.

Gingell was also found to have retrospectively added notes to say she had performed an important procedure before going to hospital, which she had not.

She was further cleared of failing to perform other vital checks on mother and baby and failing to hand over her notes at the hospital. But a call for a striking off order was rejected.

Panel chairman Jacki Pearce said: “With the benefit of hindsight there were signs, which should have raised more and earlier concerns.”

She added that Gingell’s actions did not affect the baby’s death.

A GANG of Aylesbury shoplifters has been ordered to pay back more than £145,000 which they gained through stealing electrical goods.

Reading Crown Court heard that leader, Paul Jones, also known as Mat Wali Khan, from New Street, enlisted the help of local drug users to swipe high-value goods from stores across Bucks and Oxfordshire.

The group would either attempt to return the items, or sell them online, with cash being laundered through their bank accounts.

In May last year, Jones was convicted of conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to convert criminal property. He has been forced to pay back £75,000, the full sum of his available assets.

If he fails to cough up within six months, he will face a further 21 months imprisonment and still be required to pay the amount in full.

He also has to report his financial position every six months for 10 years.

Also forced to pay back cash from the scam was Judith Rogers, aged 56, of Constable Place, Aylesbury.

She was told she must repay £62,550.26.

It followed an investigation by Thames Valley Police’s economic crime unit.

Det Insp Gavin Tyrrell, who headed the investigation, said he was pleased with the result.

He stated: “It is wrong, especially in the current financial climate that criminals are seen to benefit from their crimes and we will make every effort to ensure that within our communities crime will not pay.”

Three members of the group, Vicky Carter, 25, of Ascott Road, Aylesbury; Andrew Mark Short, 28, of Ascott Road, Aylesbury; and Dominic Clarke, 29, of York Place, Aylesbury, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal in June 2010.

In August 2010, Carter was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment and Short was sentenced to two years imprisonment.

Clarke received a community order in September 2010.

Other members of the group, Laura Rogers, 28, and Rebecca Rogers, 24, both from Minehead in Somerset; Judith Rogers, 56, from Constable Place, Aylesbury; and Shehzad Khan, 31, from Luton, all pleaded guilty to money laundering offences and in March 2011 they received suspended sentences.

Laura Rogers received 12 months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, plus 200 hours of unpaid work and electronic monitoring; Rebecca Rogers received four months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, plus 80 hours of unpaid work and electronic monitoring; Judith Rogers received nine months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, plus 180 hours of unpaid work and Shehzad Khan received six months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, plus 120 hours of unpaid work and electronic monitoring.

The ECU conducted a financial investigation under the Proceeds of Crime Act into those involved in the conspiracy.

Last week confiscation orders were granted at Reading Crown Court against Paul Jones and Judith Rogers.

Confiscation orders were granted at an earlier date against Laura Rogers for £3,495 and Shehzad Khan for £4,196.40.

Rebecca Rogers was ordered to pay a nominal amount.

A statement from police said compensation will be awarded to the victims who suffered losses as a result of the thefts committed by this group.

CHARGES against an Aylesbury man accused of attacking a shopkeeper in a vicious assault in Southcourt have been dropped.

Prosecutors have admitted that they have no evidence to link Luke Atley, of Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, with an attack on Salinder Singh Khera and his colleague Sunil Kumar.

The 26 year old was charged with grievous bodily harm, actual bodily harm, and possession of a blade.

But the Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed it will not be proceeding with the case.

District Crown Prosecutor Carolyn Oakley said: “The victims did not know their attacker and the key issue in the case was the identification of the assailant.

“Unfortunately, the CCTV was only of moderate quality and was not sufficiently clear to invite a jury to be sure that the defendant was the attacker.

“Identification procedures were carried out, but no positive identifications were made.

“In addition, police submitted several items for forensic analysis, but no links were found to Mr Atley.

“As with all cases, the CPS work closely with the police and the matter was kept under constant review.

“However, in light of these factors, it was decided that there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction and we had no alternative but to offer no evidence.”

The attack happened on November 26, and Mr Atley first appeared in court two days later.

Mr Khera said he was stunned when a knife-wielding man leapt over the counter, threatening to kill him.

He struggled with the man, and was saved when Mr Kumar leapt to his defence.

SO, our whole economic system is suffering from a massive hangover but it’s binge drinking that’s going to get sorted out.

You may wonder whether that nice Mr Cameron has got his priorities right – but there’s no denying that, if he can make some headway, he’ll have made as big a contribution to public health as his unlamented Labour predecessors did by introducing the smoking ban.

There’s a strategy on the way, of course, but for starters the PM has called for bars and supermarkets to help tackle a problem that costs the NHS £2.7bn a year.

But it shouldn’t be about money, and we shouldn’t even be thinking about a ban.

And the PM ought to be looking to recruit far beyond the pint-pullers and grog floggers to help achieve this admirable end.

It’s one of those issues – like seat belts and the smoking ban, which have been great successes, and the ban on using your mobile at the wheel, which is still a boil to be lanced – where the vast majority of us are just waiting for someone to take a sensible lead.

And the way to do it is to make life more difficult for the drinker – and when I say drinker, I don’t just mean the lager-fuelled lout or the alcopop addled teenager – I mean all of us.

I’m fed up of all sorts of expensive measures being put in place to pick up the pieces of other people’s lack of self-control. The aim has got to be to stop people regarding the act of getting completely hammered as an option for a night out, or even a night in.

So here are a few ideas to throw into the mix, for the PM to consider over a relaxing glass of wine one evening.

Number 1, ban all alcopops. Strong drink isn’t supposed to taste like lemonade.

Number 2, restrict the sale of all spirits to people over the age of 25. If I had my way I’d also make it illegal to use mixers to soften the taste of hard liquor, for the same reasons that alcopops have to go, but I do enjoy the occasional gin and tonic so that one will have to stay on the drawing board.

Number 3, by all means introduce a higher unit price for alcohol but don’t penalise those who enjoy a bracer but know when to stop – jack up the pub prices only after the first two drinks, introduce maximum purchase rules in supermarkets and the like just like they have for painkillers these days, and halt the sale of alcohol in containers larger than one litre, especially if we’re talking about super strength cider.

Number 4, forget street pastors and people being paid by the public purse to get drunk and incapable kids home safely. Employ them instead to wander town centres at closing time, corner people who have had a skinful, and paint their faces purple.

The paint should not be permanent, of course, but it should be pretty much immovable for a week or so as evidence of a bender that would last a lot longer, and be a lot more visible, to the world at large than a hangover.

Then it would be for the rest of us to bring peer pressure to bear, and sneer and snigger at the victims for long after whatever memory they had of a good night out had faded. Purple paint would make them pariahs, and we’d soon change their habits.

Sir Jimmy Savile’s famous Carawagon failed to sell at auction over the weekend, after interested bidders did not meet its £12,000 reserve.

The Bucks Herald understands that the highest bid was £11,250 for the 1978 Range Rover estate, which has a double mattress in the back and ‘the faintest smell of rich Cuban cigar smoke’.

The converted vehicle, registration number YBL 322T, was owned by the TV legend when he was at the height of his fame in the late 1970s.

Sir Jimmy used to sleep in it when he was travelling between one of his five houses while doing charity work. There was a great deal of interest in the Carawagon’s sale in Buckinghamshire, because Savile raised in excess of £20 million for the National Spinal Injuries Unit in Stoke Mandeville.

He bought the vehicle in 1978 and sold it in 1983. A spokesman for Historics at Brooklands, the group handling the sale, confirmed that the vehicle is still available to buy if anyone is interested.

]]> 1.3545242 Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:58:14 +0000 http://www.bucksherald.co.uk/work_starts_on_repairing_town_bridge_1_3545235

WORKS are due to begin on Wednesday on Stoke Road Railway Bridge in Aylesbury.

Bucks County Council will be carrying out temporary road repairs over the Chiltern Railway lines on Stoke Road, with work finished by Friday.

Work involves the removal of defective area of anti-skid material on the bridge and replacing it.

Previous attempts to repair the area have been hindered by the cold weather.

Further permanent repair work is scheduled for later on in the year.

A section of Stoke Road will have to be controlled by temporary ‘Stop and Go’ boards to provide alternate one-way traffic flow during off-peak hours, between 9.30am-3.30pm, to ensure the works are carried out safely.

A ‘NARCISSISTIC psychopath’ who tried to set fire to Wing police station and a Vale home in an extreme case of harassment has been found guilty of a series of offences.

Al Amin Dhalla, a 42-year-old Canadian national, was found guilty unanimously of harassing Dr Alison Hewitt, a student doctor based in Brighton, and her mother Pamela Hewitt who lives in Aston Abbotts with her husband David. He was also convicted of setting fire to Pamela’s home, attempting to set fire to a police station, theft, criminal damage and perverting the course of justice.

Detective Chief Inspector Rebecca Mears, of Aylesbury police, said she felt that had the police not intercepted they ‘could be looking at a murder, if not three’.

Dhalla began by buying a van in London and having it specially adapted to allow easy access into the back from the driver’s seat and having the window removed.

He then equipped himself with an air rifle with telescopic sights, a BB pistol, two mini crossbows modified to increase their power, and rounds of ammunition.

Suspicions were raised after he was spotted target practising in a field near Wiltshire and was arrested by local police.

Pamela and David’s home was then deliberately set alight, shortly followed by an arson attack at Wing police station.

The victims were then safeguarded by police before they took charge of the manhunt to locate Dhalla and gather crucial evidence needed to investigate the arson attacks and harassment.

Convinced Dhalla may turn up at the hospital where Alison worked, police circulated his photo at the hospital, when staff alerted police he was masquerading as a doctor, dressed in a white coat and wearing a stethoscope around his neck, seeking details of the staff rota in attempts to locate Alison.

The following morning Dhalla was spotted at the hospital by staff who called police, who then arrested him. A further car he hired was found near-by, containing empty fuel cans and various weapons, including a loaded crossbow in the front passenger seat.

EXTRA police will be patrolling the area near Aylesbury Rail Station aft er a teenager was raped in the early hours of Friday morning.

The attack, on a 19-year-old woman, was reported at 2.20am close to Station Way.

Detectives have said the attacker is mixed race, in his mid 20s, with short black hair.

He was wearing a blue and white striped cardigan.

Det Chief Insp Justin Fletcher, who is heading the investigation, said on Tuesday: “We appreciate that this incident has caused concern in the community.

“I would stress that we are taking this matter very seriously and that incidents of this nature are rare in this area.

“We are putting on extra patrols in the neighbourhood to help reassure the community and I would urge anyone with any concerns to speak to those officers.”

Anyone with information about the incident should contact the Aylesbury CID team via the 24-hour inquiry line on 101.

Information can also be passed anonymously to charity Crimestoppers, on 0800 555111, or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.