Your local voice of gedling borough since 2015
Your local voice for Gedling borough since 2015
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Staff at a law firm in Arnold cracked a smile after being announced as winners of a competition to find the best dressed Easter shop window in the town centre.
Many of the businesses in the town took part, but the winner on the day was Gladstone Solicitors, based in Market Place, who called in pupils from nearby Derrymount School to create their winning display.
Mayor of Gedling, Meredith Lawrence was on hand to judge the competition and presented a certificate to the worthy winners.
Police are asking drivers to avoid the Queens Bower Road/Bestwood Park Drive area following a single vehicle road traffic collision this morning (March 26).
Queens Bower Road is closed in both directions following the incident, which took place at around 3am this morning.
Three people – all occupants of the car – have been taken to QMC following the incident with potentially life-altering injuries.
Anyone who witnessed what happened or has any information which may assist officers is asked to call Nottinghamshire Police on 101 quoting incident number 114 of 26 March 2016.
A former social worker from Arnold convicted of abusing children in his care in the 1980s has been sent to prison for 20 years.
Andris Imants Logins, 57, was found guilty on Monday (March 21) of 17 offences, including rape, indecent assault and cruelty, committed against four children at the Beechwood Children’s Home in Mapperley in the early 1980s.
He reappeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday (March 23) for sentencing.
The trial judge, His Honour Judge Sampson, said Logins had befriended and groomed his victims and sexually abused them.
“They were available to you and powerless to do anything about it,” he told Logins.
“Your authority and their helplessness meant that they had no free choice in the matter. This was a grave breach of trust.”
Speaking of Beechwood, which closed in 2006, the judge said: “What should have been a safe haven was in fact a home from hell.”
Judge Sampson praised the victims, one of whom died before the matter came to trial, for their courage and commended the investigation by Nottinghamshire Police.
The Logins case was investigated under Operation Daybreak, which was set up in 2011 to investigate allegations of abuse at childrens homes in Nottinghamshire.
Logins is the first former employee at a childrens home to be convicted following an Operation Daybreak investigation.
After sentencing, Detective Superintendent Adrian Pearson of Nottinghamshire Police said: “Today’s sentencing of Andris Logins is a very significant moment for his victims. The past few years have not been easy for any of them as they have had to relive the harrowing and life-shaping events which took place three decades ago, in the hope that, after all this time, the criminal justice system would help them find some closure.
“Just simply being believed has been important to the victims; believed by family, friends, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and, crucially, a trial jury which returned unanimous guilty verdicts for 17 offences committed by Logins at the Beechwood Children’s Home in the early 1980s.
“It is a significant moment too for Nottinghamshire Police and Operation Daybreak.
“Around 170 people have come forward to us with allegations of abuse in the care system going back many years. It is a lengthy and hugely complex process, but Nottinghamshire Police is determined matters will be investigated meticulously until we either bring the perpetrators before the courts or we reach a point where a case can be progressed no further.
“Logins is now the second person under this investigation to have been convicted for sexual abuses which took place a generation ago and to have received a very lengthy prison sentence.
“We can guarantee our commitment to examining allegations we receive and to supporting victims every step of the way through the investigation and criminal justice process.
“If anyone is out there who is still living with the knowledge that they were sexually physically or emotionally abused while in the care of a local authority or other institution or organisation in Nottinghamshire and has still not come forward to speak to us, I would urge you to call us on 101.
“You will be listened to, you will be believed and we will do our utmost to ensure that the abusers, like Andris Logins, will be brought to justice.”
Logins will be eligible for parole after he has served ten years of his sentence. He will be placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life and barred from working with children.
He will also be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which prevents him from having any unsupervised contact with any child aged under 16.
POLICE are appealing for a good Samaritan who noted down the registration number of a car involved in a collision at a Ravenshead pub car park to contact them.
A Ford Focus struck a stationary BMW in the car park of The Hutt pub at around 7.10pm on Friday, January 8 before driving off.
A woman who was at the pub with her partner and child noted the registration number of the car and passed the information to the landlord of the pub.
The Ford Focus has now been identified thanks to her actions, but the investigating officer is keen to speak to the witness as she may have further information about the incident.
The woman, or anyone who knows who she may be, is asked to telephone 101 and quote incident number 787 of 8 January.
What a tree-mendous year it’s been for Gedling Country Park.
Leader of Gedling Borough Council, John Clarke and Councillor Kathryn Fox today planted a commemorative tree to celebrate Gedling Country Park’s first birthday.
The park, which was built on the site of the former Gedling Colliery, has attracted over 30,000 visitors during its first year.
Now the council hope to build on its success with plans for a £900,000 visitors centre, children’s play area and new toilets.
Leader of the Council, Councillor John Clarke, said: “I’m overwhelmed by the success of the first year of the park being open. We never expected it to be so popular with residents.
“This means that we will accelerate our plans for the park and we will have more facilities in place including toilets and a visitors centre which will improve the park even more. We would like to say thank you to everyone who visits the park and especially to the Friends of Group and our officers for all their hard work to help improve it and make it such a success.”
Carlton resident Paula Smith, who regularly walks her dog in the park, said residents really appreciate now having a beauty spot on their doorstep.
“We love it. I try and come up here a few times a week just to get away from it all. There was nothing for people around here before, but now we have this place why would you live anywhere else?”
If you want to have your say on future plans for the park and visitors centre, then you can take part in the survey on the council’s website: http://www.gedling.gov.uk/leisure/parksopenspaces/gedlingcountrypark/
Theatre lovers in Gedling borough will soon be able to get their hands on discounted tickets to shows at Nottingham Playhouse after the venue was awarded a grant from the local council
Gedling Borough Council has given a £5,000 grant to Nottingham Playhouse to support two strands of work in Gedling borough for younger and older age groups of residents.
Firstly, £2,500 will go towards concessionary theatre tickets over the next 12 months. Half of the tickets will be for young people aged 14-24 and the other half will be for older residents aged 60 plus.
The remaining £2,500 will be used to commission outreach educational theatre work in particular communities of Gedling borough, including Netherfield, Newstead, Killisick, Daybrook and Bestwood Village.
Young people in the borough aged between 14-24 will get 50% off ticket prices; older residents, aged 60 plus, can enjoy the same discount.
The remaining cash will be used to commission outreach educational theatre work in particular communities of Gedling borough, including Netherfield, Newstead, Killisick, Daybrook and Bestwood Village.
The discounted tickets initiative aims to make theatre more accessible to residents, whilst the outreach educational theatre will give members of communities a chance to take part in theatre workshops, which boost confidence and could provide a new hobby.
Councillor John Clarke, Leader of Gedling Borough Council and Councillor Kathryn Fox, Portfolio Holder for Community Development presented the cheque to Stephanie Sirr, chief executive at Nottingham Playhouse and artistic director, Giles Croft, in Arnot Hill Park yesterday (March 22).
Councillors Clarke and Fox released a joint statement, saying: “This is an exciting partnership which we hope will grow in future and enrich residents’ lives. Theatre and the arts can have big positive effects on overall wellbeing and the community outreach theatre is a great opportunity to put this into practice.”
Stephanie Sirr said “We’re delighted to extend our work for young people and those in need further into Gedling and are hugely appreciative to Gedling Borough Council for helping this to happen.”
Children from Carlton have visited a roadworks site near their school to learn more about how roads are built and repaired.
Pupils from Westdale Infant School and children at Hazel Hurst Nursery were invited to get a closer look at the works by Tarmac and Nottinghamshire County Council, who are carrying out the repairs in Westdale Lane.
They were given a tour of the site by workers and told about how roads are built, as well as learning about health and safety.
Cadets from the local Air Training Corps were also invited to tour the site in the evening.
Jayne Piper, school manager at Hazel Hurst Nursery, said the children really enjoyed the visit.
She said: “We have been so impressed by the time that all the lovely gents and ladies at Tarmac have taken today to show our children the work that they are carrying out on the road outside our school.
“The children loved wearing their hi-vis jackets and hats and being able to climb inside the monster machines, which was a highlight of the day. It was brilliant.”
Nottinghamshire County Council engineer Steve Whylds was one of the people showing children around the site on the day.
He said: “When carrying out carriageway resurfacing schemes of this type near a school, Nottinghamshire County Council and Tarmac try whenever possible to do so during school holiday periods to help keep disruption to a minimum. Because of other work commitments we were unable to do so on this occasion so took the opportunity to invite the local school children to the site to show them the removal and laying of the tarmac surfaces.
“This was a great local community success with the children enjoying safe and co-ordinated access to the specialised paving machinery”
A former residential social worker has been convicted of abusing children at a Mapperley children’s home in the early 1980s.
Andris Imants Logins, 57, was found guilty of 17 offences yesterday (March 21) following a two-week trial at Nottingham Crown Court.
The jury unanimously found him guilty of four counts of rape, 12 counts of indecent assault and one count of cruelty. He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on Wednesday (March 23).
Logins committed the offences between 1981 and 1984 while working at the former Beechwood Children’s Home in Mapperley.
The case was investigated under Operation Daybreak, which was set up in 2011 to investigate allegations of historic abuse in children’s homes in Nottinghamshire.
Logins is the first former employee of a children’s home to be convicted following an investigation under Operation Daybreak.
Detective Inspector Rob McKinnell said: “Logins was employed to look after some of the most vulnerable children in Nottinghamshire. He was expected not just to be a carer, but a protector and a role model too for young people who had endured very difficult early lives. Some had already suffered abuse at home.
“Those victims have spoken of the trust they placed in him at a time when they needed adults they could trust and rely upon. One even spoke of seeing Logins as a friend.
“Despite being given a position of such great trust and responsibility, not just by his employers but by the children themselves, he exploited at least three young people for his own sexual gratification and inflicted violence upon at least one.”
He added: “Victims have told us that life at Beechwood at that time was, to use their words, ‘brutal’. Without going over the harrowing detail of how these victims were abused, it is sufficient to say that Logins took advantage of their vulnerability and used it not only to abuse them but to also buy their silence.
“For too many years the victims of Logins’ abuse have felt that no one would believe them – their families, their friends, the local authority and even the police.
“I hope that this case and this verdict demonstrates that victims are being heard and they are being believed, while their abusers are at long last facing the consequences of crimes they perhaps thought they had got away with.”
A warning has been issued over a scam claiming people have won a big cash prize in a postcode lottery.
Gedling borough residents are being warned about the scam by police after a number of local people received the letter through the post informing them of their lottery win, despite never entering the competition.
The letter, pictured,left, informs recipients they’ve won £425,000 and are to send their details to the lottery organisers head office in London to claim their prize.
They are then asked to pay a release fee before they can receive their money.
Samantha Hancock, crime prevention unit manager for Nottinghamshire Police, said: “You cannot win a competition you didn’t enter and you should never have to pay a release fee to claim your prize. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is”
If you receive a letter then call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040
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