Crime

Two new Police Community Support Officers for South Holland have started their beats. PCSO Jack Craft will become a familiar face on the Spalding estates and PCSO Tracey Abbott has begun her role in Crowland. They started their new positions last week – just as Jo Reeves’ role as South Holland community policing inspector was made permanant. Insp Reeves welcomed ...

A custom-built bicycle worth £1,700 was stolen during a burglary in Pinchbeck. It happened between midday and 2pm on Thursday, August 27, at a property in Cowards Lane. Police said: “The offender smashed the door off the shed and stole a Pinerallo red, black and white carbon fibre racing bike. “The bike was custom built and worth around £1,700.” Anyone ...

Family and friends have offered a reward to catch the culprits who stole hanging baskets from a memorial to a village stalwart affectionately known as Mr Whaplode. Police were called after the flower-filled baskets disappeared between 7pm on Friday, August 21, and noon the next day from the memorial to former parish councillor Alec Welch in the centre of Whaplode. ...

UPDATE: 11am Friday Former Spalding Grammar School head of music Eric Wayman indicated guilty pleas to all 12 charges of indecent child images when he appeared at Boston Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (August 19). He is accused of possessing 4,034 indecent photographs of children, along with 11 counts of making indecent images of children. The charges, which date from June ...

South Holland residents are being invited to have their say on which crime issues in the district they would most like to see tackled. The East Lincolnshire Community Safety Partnership (ELCSP) is inviting residents to complete its latest community safety survey to help identify the issues that the group will focus on in 2016. The ELCSP is a statutory body ...

A Spalding man has been charged with a burglary in Pinchbeck Road, Spalding, on  August 11. Joshua Bloodworth (24), of St Paul’s Road, has been charged with the offence and will appear before Boston Magistrates on September 2. A handbag and contents which were stolen during the burglary were recovered.

Frustrated drivers risked their lives by weaving past closed level crossing barriers. At least five vehicles drove by the half barriers at South Drove in Spalding during a lengthy closure on Friday. An eyewitness said: “I saw four or five cars and a works van weave through the barriers at about 7.50am.” A British Transport Police spokesman said: “It is ...

A Donington lorry driver is to stand trial after denying causing the death of a man by dangerous driving. Luke Anthony Bates (31), of Malting Lane, appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday (July 31). Car driver Brian Herrick (69) was killed in a crash with an articulated lorry on the A453 in Nottinghamshire on October 6 last year. A ...

A Spalding man said to have been intending to commit a sexual offence has been remanded in custody.  Vytas Prochorenko (37) was arrested in the Hampton Court area of the town at about 10.30pm on Sunday, August 2. He was charged the following day with the offence of knowingly/recklessly trespassing on premises with intention of committing a sexual offence. Prochorenko, of St John’s ...

A Holbeach motorist is accused of being behind the wheel while almost five times the drink-drive limit. Jenna Peel (32) was arrested in the town’s Park Road on Tuesday afternoon. Police said: “She has been charged with driving a vehicle with an alcohol level of 160 microgrammes in 100 mililitres of breath.” The legal limit is 35 microgrammes. Peel is ...

A Quadring man has appeared in court accused of falsely representing that he was collecting money for the Help for Heroes charity. David Santini (53) faces two charges of fraud, one charge of theft and one charge of wearing a military uniform without permission. Santini, of North Drove, spoke only to confirm his name during a five-minute preliminary hearing at Lincoln ...

A mother who walked in on her daughter being sexually abused says it has destroyed their lives. The woman, who cannot be named because her daughter’s identity is protected by a court order, said “it was like an atomic bomb going off in their lives”. The girl was targeted on numerous occasions over a six-year period by Paul Jennings, who ...

A paedophile has been jailed for more than six years for a catalogue of sex offences against young girls. Robert Parrish (51), of Broad Gate, Weston, admitted eight sexual assaults, five exposures, and two counts of voyeurism at a hearing in June. The offences all happened in July, August and September of last year. Two of the sexual assaults happened ...

A Spalding man who admitted a series of sex attacks has been jailed for 11 years. Paul Jennings was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for life and given a life-time sexual offences prevention order. Mr Justice Goss, passing sentence at Lincoln Crown Court on Monday (July 20), said Jennings had regarded his victim as an easy target. The ...

The jury in the trial of the six teenagers accused of the murder of Spalding man Warren Free is to continue its deliberations on Monday (July 20). The jury of six men and six women at Lincoln Crown Court spent Thursday afternoon and Friday deliberating without reaching any verdicts before they were sent home for the weekend by the trial judge Mr Justice Goss. None of ...

Jurors in the trial of six teenagers accused of the murder of Spalding man Warren Free were told on Tuesday (July 14) that a 14-year-old girl accused of the killing did not deliver any of the blows that led to his death. Michael Evans QC, representing the girl, told the jury in his closing speech: “You have to decide the ...

The prosecution in the trial of six teenagers accused of murdering Warren Free has produced no evidence that one of the defendants was involved in the fatal attack, the jury was told on Monday.   Miranda Moore QC, representing one of the male defendants, who was 14 at the time, said the evidence during the trial indicated her client felt ...

One of the teenagers accused of perverting the course of justice by disposing of the weapon alleged to have been used in the incident that led to the death of Spalding man Warren Free has changed his plea and admitted the offence. The boy, who was 16 at the time of the incident, entered his new plea on Wednesday (July 8), admitting he ...

Police are investigating the shooting of a cat in Whaplode. A BB gun pellet went through Alfie’s bowel five times and clipped a kidney. After the incident on Saturday, he underwent a £1,000 operation and returned home to High Road in a lot of discomfort on Monday. Owner Shelley Flounders has been door-knocking and dropping leaflets nearby. She said: “I’d ...

A Spalding woman’s story in court which sought to blame a mysterious man in a white van for cruelty to a dog was not believed by magistrates. Charmaine Grogan (25) was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to Pepper, a female Patterdale-type terrier, between June 24 and July 2, 2014. Skegness magistrates heard that Grogan had failed to seek proper ...