Greenock Telegraph
INFECTION FEARS AND LEAKING WARDS AT HOSPITAL
STAFF at Inverclyde Royal have raised the alarm about water pouring into wards from leaking windows.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
BAG £200 TO SPEND AT TESCO COACH HIT WITH CONTACT BAN FOR SEX ASSAULT
A DISGRACED rugby coach has been put on the sex offenders register after he groped a woman during a ‘celebration’ event at Greenock Wanderers’ clubhouse.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
POLICE PAIR SERVE JUST WEEKS OF 17-MONTH SENTENCE
A POLICE officer and a former constable who were jailed after they ‘seriously abused’ their positions in the force are back on the streets. The Tele can reveal that former policemen Connor Claire Amber Young Beggs and Kevin Montgomery have both been...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘I HAD TO TELL THEM THEIR DAD WAS GONE’
A LARKFIELD mum and her three young children will walk in the footsteps of much‑missed dad John Kane — one year after he took his own life. Stacey Watson, 36, was left heartbroken when her former partner and the father of her children died last July...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
DARREN SHARES STORY OF GETTING THE DEVASTATING NEWS IN BID TO HELP OTHERS ‘I GOT CANCER DIAGNOSIS WEEKS AFTER ENGAGEMENT’
A BRAVE Gourock man who learned he had testicular cancer just weeks after getting engaged has urged men to set any embarrassment aside and put their health first. Darren Orr was diagnosed with the illness on July 30, 2025 – a few days after he turned...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
INJURY AGONY PUSHED NICKY TO THE BRINK
A GREENOCK football ace has bravely revealed that he tried to take his own life several years ago. Nicky Low started to experience severe depression when he was injured during a spell playing for Derry City in the League of Ireland.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘I KNOW THEY ARE BACK TOGETHER AGAIN NOW’
A DEVOTED son who lost his beloved parents within weeks of each other said knowing his mum and dad are ‘together again’ is providing him with a lot of comfort as he grieves. Owen Coyle’s dad Alex died on October 19 last year aged just 61. Only four...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
ABUSER STARVED DOG TO DEATH
5 A CRUEL animal abuser starved his pet dog to death after failing to adequately feed her over a seven-week period. Andrew McLaughlin, from Port Glasgow, handed the dead bulldog Luna into the Small Animal Hospital in Glasgow on November 26, 2024.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
BIKE LANE FINES HIT 88 DRIVERS SHOPKEEPERS AND CYCLISTS SAY IT’S ‘TIP OF THE ICEBERG’
THERE have been 88 fines for ‘dangerous’ parking on Greenock’s cycle lanes and footpaths have been handed out according to new data - but shopkeepers and cyclists say the issue is far worse than figures show.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
KEPT WAITING
THE number of patients waiting in ambulances for more than an hour to be seen at Inverclyde Royal Hospital has more than tripled in the space of five years. Shocking new figures from the Scottish Ambulance Service show that last year almost 700...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
ON THE LAMB
SHEEP and cows wandering the streets of a new Greenock affordable housing development are making life a daily misery for the people living there – and are presenting a ‘serious safety risk’. For months livestock have been escaping from a field near...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
LIFELINE WARDENS FACE AXE
A DEVASTATED Greenock pensioner was on the verge of tears as he told of his fears that a lifeline warden service could be axed at the sheltered housing complex where he lives.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
BUTCHER HIT BY VANDALS AGAIN
THE owner of a Port Glasgow business which has been repeatedly targeted by thieves is counting the cost of another attack. Vandals smashed the door of Duncan Craft Butcher in Church Street in the early hours of Monday morning in an attempted...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
TEEN PULLED KNIFE AT PUPIL PARTY
A GREENOCK teenager has avoided jail time after he pulled a knife from his waistband when a fight broke out as youngsters celebrated the last day of school. Hundreds of pupils had gathered to mark the end of their time at secondary school.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘LUCKY TO BE ALIVE’
A PENSIONER who was left with serious spinal injuries after being knocked down by a car travelling at 20 miles an hour says she would be ‘in a box’ if the vehicle that hit her had been going any faster. Mhairi Harvey is still recovering from a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘UNSAFE SWAMP’
A GREENOCK mum-of-two has described her frustration at watching her garden turn into a ‘hazardous swamp’. Tenant Jade McLellann first reported issues with drainage at her Lothian Road home in May last year. But despite repeatedly asking for support,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
CHILD ABUSE PERVERT ON TRIAL HID MORE SICK PICTURES
A SEX offender has admitted having indecent photographs of children on a device at his home while he was awaiting trial for similar offences. Robert Leith had the material on a PC at his Greenock flat between January 2023 and April 2024.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
COUNTING THE COST
AN ACCIDENT on a Greenock cycle lane caused by ‘obscured road markings’ sparked a £42,500 compensation payout to a member of the public, the can reveal.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
HAIRDRESSER IS JAILED FOR HAMMER ATTACK
A HAIRDRESSER who smashed a man over the head with a hammer at his salon in Greenock has been jailed.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
EX-PRIEST GUILTY OF ‘RAPING’ TWO BOYS
A FORMER Greenock priest is behind bars after being convicted of ‘horrendous sexual crimes’ on two young boys. Vincent Cassidy was found guilty by a jury of historic indecent sexual assaults on two children in the 1970s following a trial at the High...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
FOURTH IN COURT OVER DAD’S MURDER
A FOURTH accused has appeared in court charged with the murder of Greenock man Robert Best. The body of the 50-yearold was discovered in a field near High Mathernock farm, outside Kilmacolm, on Tuesday, November 11 last year. Mr Best, pictured, had...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘SOMEONE WILL GET SERIOUSLY HURT’
RESIDENTS are demanding action over fears for school children forced to use a ‘danger’ junction at one of Greenock’s busiest roads. Following a recent crash and a series of near misses Councillor Colin Jackson has raised the alarm about the junction...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Update on train services as blaze clean-up begins
TRAIN services between Inverclyde and Glasgow remain significantly disrupted as work begins to demolish what little is left of the building destroyed by a huge blaze next to Glasgow Central Station. Work towards reopening the high level platforms at...
Read Full Story (Page 2)
BRAVE TEEN’S INSPIRING STORY HELPS OTHERS
A BRAVE schoolgirl who endured a gruelling six-and-a-halfhour spinal surgery when she was just two years old is now using her musical talents to help sick children. Connie Hunter was born with tethered spinal cord syndrome, which causes tissue to...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
TESCO SMASH DRIVER JAILED
A RECKLESS driver who came within metres of striking a child in a pram when he crashed his vehicle into a Greenock supermarket has been jailed for more than a year. Derek Partridge narrowly missed the pram and an elderly woman on a mobility scooter...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
WOMAN CANCELS SURGERY IN HOME ORDEAL
A GREENOCK homeowner had to delay an emergency stomach operation after a ceiling collapse forced her out of her house for three months. Desperate Helen McGoldrick is locked in a dispute with River Clyde Homes over repairs to the roof of her...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘ABSOLUTE DISASTER’
A DEVASTATED Greenock businessman who watched his family firm go up in flames as a massive inferno tore through it has vowed to rebuild his ruined premises. Alessandro Varese, who owns Glasgow’s iconic Blue Lagoon fish and chip shop and the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
YES SIR, WE CAN BOOGIE
WORLD Cup fever is well and truly taking hold of football fans across Inverclyde with excitement building in pubs and clubs over the last few days following a landmark decision by Inverclyde Council. The licensing board has granted a ‘blanket...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘CYCLE LANE MUST GO’
A CONTROVERSIAL cycle path in Greenock town centre should be removed because it’s driving customers away from stores and isn’t being used properly, campaigners have claimed. Councillor Graeme Brooks is backing retailers who say footfall has halved in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘THE BEST PERSON TURNED PURE EVIL’
A BRAVE young woman who suffered horrific abuse at the hands of her violent partner has described how he went from being the ‘best person in the world’ to ‘pure evil’ - with neighbours fearing he’d killed her one night. Kayleigh Dewar spoke to the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘ASSISTED DYING LAWS COULD KILL PEOPLE LIKE ME’
A GREENOCK man who suffered a life-changing stroke has told the Tele of his fears that proposals to legalise assisted dying in Scotland could lead to the deaths of many people like him across the country. Neil Howieson says he believes that draft...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘WE’RE READY TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE IN FERGUSON MARINE’
WORKERS at Ferguson Marine stand ready to ‘restore confidence’ in the Port Glasgow yard after securing a guaranteed five-year pipeline of work, according to the site’s CEO. In an announcement made yesterday, the Scottish Government confirmed its...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
THOUSANDS ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL AS RESULT OF MISUSE OF DRINK AND DRUGS
MORE than 4,000 hospital admissions in Inverclyde over the last five years have been the result of misuse of drugs or alcohol, according to ‘deeply concerning’ new figures. Shock statistics from Public Health Scotland reveal that 3,279 alcohol-related...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘IT’S AN ACCIDENT JUST WAITING TO HAPPEN’
A DERELICT farm filled with thousands of dumped tyres described as a ticking ‘time bomb’ fire hazard could claim the lives of youngsters who are sneaking into the area, residents fear. Inverclyde Council has issued a dangerous building notice for...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
HUGE RISE IN COUNCIL TAX PLANNED
HOUSEHOLDS face a massive hike in council tax bills. Councillors are being asked to approve an increase this year to plug a £6.2 million budget black hole.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
DRIVER WHO RAMMED HEAD-ON INTO POLICE CAR JAILED
A DRIVER who seriously injured a constable when he used his BMW as a ‘battering ram’ during a police chase has been jailed for more than twoand-a-half years. Lewis Wiggins left one officer with a prolapsed disc in his spine when he drove directly at...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
KNIFE ATTACK MURDER BID
A KNIFE attacker has been found guilty of repeatedly stabbing a man in a brutal murder bid at the victim’s Port Glasgow home. Michael Doherty knifed his victim on the head and body during the assault before asking police: “How is the c*** anyway?”...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
THIEVES STRIKE AT DAY CENTRE FOR 4TH TIME
A DAY centre for older people in Greenock has come under attack from heartless criminals for the FOURTH time - with hundreds of pounds raised by service users stolen in the senseless raid. Crown Care Centre in King Street is one of a number of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
BRAVE TEEN CELEBRATES ‘CANCER- VERSARY’FULL
A BRAVE Greenock teenager who battled stage four cancer is celebrating his life one year on from ‘ringing the cancer bell’. Jon Jai Stanton, 13, was diagnosed with stage four non-Hodgkin lymphoma in August 2024 and endured a gruelling chemotherapy...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘HE LIVED FOR HIS FOOTBALL’
WARM tributes have been paid to Inverclyde’s record-breaking king of football – who bounced back from family tragedy to become one of the Scottish game’s longest serving managers. The family of Greenock footballing legend Larry Barilli have paid...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘THEY JUST GAVE UP ON MY MUM’
A DISTRAUGHT daughter has hit out at the health board after her previously mobile mother was left bed-bound with no rehabilitation plan in place following a four-month stay in hospital. Outraged Angela Jack has raised a catalogue of concerns about the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
55 DAYS FOR CEILING FIX
A FURIOUS son has hit out at housing bosses after his dad’s ceiling collapsed only days before Christmas. William McGowan, 83, who lives at the Crosshill Gardens retirement housing complex in Port Glasgow, has Alzheimer’s and has been left traumatised...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
20mph LIMIT ‘COULD COST LIVES’
LIVES could be put at risk by plans to introduce 20mph speed limits on Inverclyde’s streets, a campaigning councillor has warned. East Renfrewshire told the council that firefighters would have to adhere to the limits when in their own vehicles.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘IRH NURSES SAVED MY LIFE’
A GREENOCK woman has hailed the nurses at Inverclyde Royal Hospital who she says saved her life. Nening Anderson told the Telegraph that she “thought she was going to die” after being admitted on Christmas Day with a severe infection caused by...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘WE SAY TO FIRE CUTS’
MEMBERS of the public have overwhelmingly rejected plans for a major reshaping of fire service cover in Inverclyde. And a leading campaigner against the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) proposals for the area says the public’s views send a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘THIS WILL BE HER LEGACY’
CHILDREN and young people at the end of life will be treated with ‘dignity’ in their final hours in hospital as part of a lasting legacy spearheaded by the late cancer campaigner Molly Cuddihy. During her eight-year fight with cancer and deadly...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
JAIL FOR KILLER WHO STABBED FRIEND
A KILLER has been jailed for nine years for stabbing his friend to death at flats in Port Glasgow. Lewis Mullen, 25, killed Jack Trainner, 27, during an altercation in the common close of a block of flats in Brookfield Road two years ago. He...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘IT NEEDS TO BE DEMOLISHED’
BOSSES at cash-strapped Ardgowan Hospice have vowed to press ahead with the demolition of a derelict former church building they say is draining money away from the provision of vital front-line services. The charity told the Telegraph that they are...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘BETRAYED BY COUNCIL BOSSES’
A ‘BETRAYED’ businessman who lost hundreds of thousands of pounds due to a fouryear-long road closure has been left gutted after council bosses told him they have abandoned their plan to repair the route. Robert Kirkpatrick has been asking the council...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
IRH REPAIR FUNDING REJECTED
CRITICAL repairs needed to make Inverclyde Royal Hospital wind and watertight will not go ahead after the Scottish Government rejected a bid for funding. Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board has confirmed that it will not be able to deliver on a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
RESIDENTS FACE BEING LEFT ‘HOMELESS’
HOMEOWNERS living in Greenock flats with condemned RAAC roofs have now been abandoned by housing bosses and are in danger of being forced out of their homes. Factors River Clyde Homes have taken the decision to stop providing maintenance, carrying out...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘I’M PINCHING MYSELF STILL’
A MUM-OF-TWO has told how she suffered from severe seizures which left her injured and forced doctors to cut off her wedding ring in a bid to save her finger – before medication helped her turn her life around. Jaclyn Wallace, 46, was diagnosed with...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘I WENT FOR AN EAR TEST TO SHOW MY HUSBAND I WASN’T DEAF... BUT IT TURNED OUT I WAS’
A CHURCH organist who went for a hearing appointment to prove to her husband there was nothing wrong with her ears has told how it led her to the life-changing discovery that she was profoundly deaf. Patricia Broom told the Telegraph that her husband,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘MURDER BID’ HAIRDRESSER IN THE DOCK
A HAIRDRESSER has gone on trial charged with attacking a man with a hammer and attempting to murder him at a barber shop in Greenock town centre. Alan Stocks is alleged to have repeatedly struck the man on the head with the item at Room 2...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
SCHOOL’S STILL OUT
CONCERNS are growing about the impact on hundreds of students as the main West College Scotland campus in Greenock remains shut due to a ‘critical’ boiler breakdown - with Scottish ministers coming under growing pressure to intervene in the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
HIGH STREET ‘TRAGEDY’
SHOCK figures which show that almost 1,000 Inverclyde businesses have closed down in the last five years have been branded a ‘tragedy’ - as local traders warn that more firms will close if the crisis is not addressed. New data from the Office for...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘SMEARS ARE RACIALLY DRIVEN’
THE businessman behind a bid to convert a former Inverclyde care home into a ‘house of multiple occupation’ claims he’s the victim of a racially-driven smear campaign by those opposed to his plans.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘I HAD FIVEP3 SEIZURES AT CAPPIELOW’
A KITMAN who was left fighting for his life after taking five seizures while working at Cappielow has told how ex-Ton boss Dougie Imrie and his assistant Andy Millen came to his rescue – and he has since defied the odds to make an incredible...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
ABUSER MADE 1300 CALLS FROM JAIL
A DOMESTIC abuser brazenly breached a court order preventing him from contacting his ex-partner by calling her more than 1,300 times in six months - while he was behind bars at HMP Greenock. Raymond McNab committed the offence while in prison for a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
FIFTY WAIT HALF A DAY AT IRH A&E
MORE than 50 people were left waiting in excess of 12 hours to be treated at Inverclyde Royal Hospital’s A&E department earlier this month - one of the highest weekly totals since records began. New statistics released by Public Health Scotland show...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
CHILD RAPIST’S LIES EXPOSED
A RAPIST who was jailed after getting his child victim pregnant was back in the dock after he lied to a woman about his identity and hid his relationship with her from police.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘RAW SEWAGE POURED INTO MY HOME ... ONE YEAR ON , IT’S NOT FIXED’
A GOUROCK man has slammed Scottish Water for taking a year to fix a sewer collapse that left raw sewage pouring through his dining room ceiling. Barrie Kelly, 59, hit out at staff from the company for repeatedly insisting that the problem at his...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘I CHEATED DEATH AND I’M SO GLAD TO BE ALIVE’
A BRAVE mum who cheated death after a horrific road crash says she still feels lucky to be alive – almost 25 years after the accident. Sandra McKenzie’s car veered off the road in June 2001 while she was driving to work – and medics said they didn’t...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
£500,000 COCAINE RAID GROUP IN COURT
FOUR accused have appeared in court after police seized drugs worth an estimated half a million pounds in a raid in Greenock’s west end. One man and three women have been charged with being concerned in the supply of cocaine to another, or others, at...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
SOBS FROM GALLERY AS SENTENCED IS PASSED
A POLICE officer and a former constable have been jailed for a total of 17 months after they ‘seriously abused’ their positions in the force. Connor Beggs, 32, and Kevin Montgomery, 35, were last month convicted of neglecting or violating their duty...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
1,400 REPAIRS OUTSTANDING
THE repair back log for Inverclyde’s largest social housing landlord has risen to more than 1,400 outstanding jobs despite almost £20 million being spent on trying to bring issue under control, an investigation by the Tele has found. Figures obtained...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘PETROL BOMB’ EVACUATION
A MAN allegedly brandished a ‘petrol bomb’ at police officers, forcing a tenement block in Greenock to be evacuated, the Crown claims. Russell Hunter has appeared in court charged with refusing to leave his flat in Dempster Street on Monday, January...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
SCHOOLS AND NURSERIES HIT BY BIG CYBER ATTACK
INTERNET access was shut off at schools and nurseries across Inverclyde yesterday after a cyber attack compromised the account of a senior member of the council’s education staff. Schools were taken offline on Monday to allow Inverclyde Council to...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘I WOULD HAVE ENDED UP IN PRISON OR DEAD IF IT HADN’T BEEN FOR CHANCE MEETING’
A PORT Glasgow dad who was left homeless when he was just 16 years old says he would have ended up in prison or dead if it hadn’t been for a chance meeting with a recovery worker. Darryn Farnham is only 34 and has been through more trauma than most...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
TV guide, puzzles, recipes and more...
‘Growing up in Glasgow in the 1980s - men weren’t getting married to each other, so I always just thought that’s not on the cards for me, it’s something that happens to other people. It wasn’t a thing’
Read Full Story (Page 1)
GUILTY
A PORT Glasgow man is facing years behind bars after being convicted of the brutal killing of a man at a block of flats in the town. Lewis Mullen was found guilty of stabbing 27-year-old Jack Trainner, pictured right, and leaving him bleeding in a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
CANNABIS GROWER PLEADS FOR JAIL — BUT JUDGE SAYS NO
A KILMACOLM man who pleaded guilty to growing cannabis in a bedroom in his house and having an illegal weapon in his living room wanted to be sent to jail for the crimes. Adam Carson admitted to producing the controlled drug and being in possession of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)