The Sentinel
£1.4M TO REMOVE ROUGH SLEEPERS FROM CITY STREETS
COUNCIL leaders have agreed to spend £1.4 million on tackling the growing problem of rough sleeping in Stoke-on-trent. The city’s rough sleeper outreach team was helping 81 individuals in the autumn – a 16 per cent increase on 2024 – while the number...
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JCB STRIKES $205M DEAL WITH U.S. ARMED FORCES
JCB has secured a massive deal to supply the United States armed forces with more than 500 machines in a deal worth up to $205 million. The contract for 535 militarised versions of JCB’S 437HT wheeled loader has been secured with the United States...
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150,000 reasons for city skills charity to celebrate
EXTRA sessions to help people learn vital new skills are on the way after a city charity was given £150,000 of National Lottery funds. Restoration Shack, based in Fegg Hayes, will use the money to employ staff to provide workshops and...
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LIFE OF MUSIC LEGEND MIKE CELEBRATED
HUNDREDS of people celebrated the life of a city music legend in a service at Stoke Minster. Mike Lloyd died on December 8 while returning home from the US. The 82-year-old was known for founding the Music Mania record shop, and bringing artists such...
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14 YEARS’ JAIL FOR GROOMING YOUNG VICTIMS
PERVERT Ashley Jepson has been jailed after encouraging schoolgirls to engage in sexual acts. The 32-year-old was found to have eight victims – aged eight to 13 – in seven months. He was arrested when police attended his Stoke-on-trent home in...
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JCB USED IN CO-OP RAM-RAID
RAM-RAIDERS used a JCB vehicle to smash their way into a Co-op store to steal a cash machine. The shutters on the front of the Co-op store in Kidsgrove were demolished while posts – used to deter ram-raiders – were also wrecked in the raid at 3am...
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LAW CHANGE IN MEMORY OF SHARLOTTE, 6, MOVES MAJOR STEP CLOSER
A MUM whose six-year-old daughter was killed by a drink and drugs driver has seen her campaign to change the law take a major step forward. Sharlotte’s Law – named in memory of Sharlotte Skynaglis, from Norton Green – has been included as part of the...
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4.8% RENT HIKE FOR TENANTS IN CITY
COUNCIL tenants in Stoke-ontrent will see their rents go up by 4.8 per cent from April. Stoke-on-trent City Council is proposing the increase for council housing rents and facility charges for garages in 2026/27 in line with government policy. This...
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£9.8M SAVINGS BUT NO CUTS TO FRONTLINE SERVICES
CITY council leaders are proposing nearly £10 million of budget savings but members of the public will not be able to have their say on them. For the first time in years the council’s draft budget includes no individual savings for public...
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POLICE PROBE AS WOMAN IN TENT BLAZE LEFT CRITICAL
A WOMAN is in a ‘critical’ condition in hospital after suffering serious burns in a tent fire. The casualty had been airlifted to hospital as police, paramedics and firefighters were all called out to Black Horse Lane on New Year’s Day. Now officers...
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ARMED ROBBER IS JAILED OVER RAID ON LONDIS STORE
KNIFE-WIELDING armed robber Ian Johnson demanded cash and fags in a convenience store raid. The 54-year-old had appeared to be a legitimate customer when he entered Londis, on Abbots Road, in Abbey Hulton, right, last January. But he then pulled out...
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FAMILY TRIBUTE TO ‘MUCH-LOVED’ BIKER WHO DIED IN CRASH
THE grieving family of a biker who died in a crash have paid tribute to the ‘much-loved’ 41-year-old. Michael Bibby, of Finstock Avenue, Blurton, died after a collision between his motorbike and a car in Belgrave Road, Dresden. Two off-duty student...
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CITY ‘ON THE BRINK OF HUMANITARIAN CRISIS’
CUTS to health, welfare and social services in Stoke-on-trent is causing increasing ‘poverty and destitution’ with the city on the verge of a ‘humanitarian crisis’. Those are the findings of a new report that exposes the impacts of austerity and the...
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MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE TO HELP SAVE POTTERY INDUSTRY
TRADE union leaders are calling on the Government to do more to save Stoke-on-trent’s ceramics industry. Pottery manufacturers have faced a torrid 2025 due to rocketing energy costs and cheap foreign imports, with Royal Stafford and Moorcroft both...
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COUNCIL SPENT OVER £1M ON HOTEL ROOMS FOR HOMELESS
STOKE-ON-TRENT City Council spent more than £1 million on hotel rooms for homeless people last year. The council placed 933 families and individuals in B&BS on a temporary basis in 2024/25, up from 846 in the previous year. This cost a total of £1.06...
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PRIEST’S PLEA AS WIFE STUCK IN CARE HOME 178 MILES AWAY
A PRIEST is urging a council to get his wife home – after she was placed in a care home 178 miles away. Father David and Linda Isiorho have been married for 35 years and were planning to move from North Staffordshire to Stowmarket, Suffolk, during the...
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ORGANISED CRIME COPS SEIZE £1.5M OF MONKEY DUST
POLICE have seized monkey dust worth an estimated £1.5 million after a parked van was targeted in Stoke-on-trent. Officers from Staffordshire Police’s organised crime department carried out a search of a vehicle which was left in a street off Weston...
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BETTING GIANT BET365 TAKES ON AN EXTRA 1,000 WORKERS
THE number of staff employed by gambling giant bet365 has topped 10,000. Latest figures show Etruria-based bet365 had a global workforce of 10,056 staff at the end of March – up from 9,145 in 2024. It comes as revenue soared by nine per cent in...
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GRAN WINS VISA BATTLE TO SEE FAMILY AT CHRISTMAS
GREAT-GRANDMOTHER Anna Coates is looking forward to a festive reunion with her family – after Government red tape almost left their Christmas plans in tatters. Home Office officials twice refused Anna’s 20-month-old greatgranddaughter – whom she has...
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NEW OWNERS FOR SHOPPING CENTRE
THE Potteries Centre has new owners after changing hands. Belgate Estates has sealed a deal with XPE Group to take control of the Hanley complex. It comes as centre director Amy Whittaker has left and the Ice Palace Santa’s grotto has been closed...
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WILL OATCAKE MARTINI LEAVE COCKTAIL FANS SHAKEN AND STIRRED?
CUSTOMERS have a chance to try a drink shaking up Stoke-on-trent’s cocktail scene - a savoury martini inspired by the city’s most iconic dish. The limited edition creation, below, reimagines the classic bacon-andcheese oatcake in a playful yet refined...
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YOU WILL HAVE A BALL!
‘AY up, me ducks!’ Christmas is coming and the festive season has truly arrived with Jonathan Wilkes returning for his remarkable 21st Regent Theatre panto. This year, it’s the classic tale of Cinderella and it delivers, as always, a true festive...
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YOU’RE A JEMM!
A KIND-HEARTED NHS hero has kick-started a campaign to deliver homecooked Christmas dinners to needy people across the Potteries. Jemm Marian, from Kidsgrove, will be handing out dozens of festive meals on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. District...
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GET YOUR FLU JABS BEFORE FESTIVITIES AT CHRISTMAS
FAMILIES have been urged to take up the offer of a flu jab – as hospitals come under ‘severe pressure’. Critical incidents had been declared at both the Royal Stoke University Hospital and Stafford’s County Hospital this week due to ‘extremely high...
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WOMAN DIES IN HIT&RUN CRASH
A PEDESTRIAN was killed in a hit-and-run on a busy city road. It happened on Leek Road outside Carmountside Crematorium at just after 8am yesterday. The pedestrian, a woman in her 70s, died in hospital as a result of her injuries. Police have now...
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JAIL FOR OAP , 68, ‘AT FRONT & CENTRE’ OF HANLEY RIOTS
A PENSIONER has been jailed after he was ‘at the front and centre of the mob’ during the Hanley riots. Arthur Walker was involved in the mass disorder for more than an hour before he made his way home. During that time the The 68-yearold: Was part...
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TWO WOMEN ON MOBILITY SCOOTERS MUGGED
A ROBBER targeted two women on mobility scooters in a terrifying street mugging. He was spotted by police trying to steal from his vulnerable victims in Burslem town centre. A 37-year-old man has now been arrested on suspicion of robbery after...
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‘CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL AND IT’S HITTING US NOW’
FIREFIGHTERS were called out to an extra 1,000 incidents over the first half of the year – largely due to the hot, dry summer. Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) responded to 5,409 calls between April and September, compared to 4,436 over...
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‘DRINK-DRIVER LEFT US FOR DEAD AFTER SMASH’
HARD-WORKING farmers Stuart and Valerie Heath had enjoyed a day out in Wales on their motorbike and were just yards from their North Staffordshire farm when their lives were changed forever. Stuart, aged 68, was riding the motorcycle responsibly on...
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EX-ROYAL STOKE DOCTOR CHARGED WITH 45 SEX OFFENCES
A FORMER doctor at Stoke-on-trent’s main hospital has been charged with 45 sexual offences. Nathaniel John Spencer worked at the Royal Stoke University Hospital and Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley. The charges follow a ‘complex’ Staffordshire Police...
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FAMILY SAY GRANDAD ‘LEFT TO DIE’ AT ROYAL STOKE
THE grieving family of a grandad ‘left to die’ in his hospital bed have spoken about their traumatic loss. Phillip Unwin died at the Royal Stoke University Hospital on April 3, 2024. The 68-year-old, of Fulford, had been taken there the day before...
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DAD’S ANGER AS LOUIS, 14, LEFT WITH NO SCHOOL PLACE FOR YEAR
A 14-YEAR-OLD boy has been left without a school place for a year. Louis Leverton was permanently excluded in November 2024 after becoming involved in a fight with another pupil at The King’s Church of England Academy, in Kidsgrove. Dad Paul Leverton...
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‘STAY AWAY FROM A&E’
A ‘SIGNIFICANT INCREASE’ is being reported in A&E attendances at Stoke-ontrent’s main hospital. A ‘rise in flu’ cases is also increasing the pressure on the Royal Stoke’s accident unit. It comes as patients have been sharing pictures and videos of...
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3,000 FAMILIES TO GAIN AFTER BENEFITS CAP ON KIDS AXED
UP TO nine homes could be built on a patch of ‘private land’ in Meir Heath, if city planners give the go-ahead. DB Developments Staffordshire Ltd is seeking permission for properties on a Green Belt site off Grange Road. It has submitted a formal...
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OAPS WILL GET X-RAYS IN CAR AT THEIR HOME AFTER FALLS
AN X-RAY car is being tested by healthcare professionals this winter in a bid to prevent elderly people going to hospital if they don’t need to. The vehicle, which contains an X-ray machine and radiographer, will travel to patients who suffer a fall....
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PLANS FOR CITY TO BE ‘SMOKE-FREE’ BY 2030
NEW plans have been drawn up to make Stoke-on-trent ‘smoke-free’ within five years. Stoke-on-trent City Council’s new tobacco control strategy aims to reduce smoking in the Potteries to five per cent by 2030, in line with a national target. Current...
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MURDER PROBE AS MAN DIES AND 5 ARRESTED
POLICE have launched a murder investigation following the death of a man in North Staffordshire. Emergency services were called out to Werrington on Wednesday night. A man - aged in his 50s - was confirmed dead at the scene in Park Avenue at around...
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DRIVER WHO KILLED PAL IN 82MPH CRASH JAILED EIGHT YEARS
MOTORIST Sharuyan Sasikumar killed his friend as he tried to reach 90mph after drinking whisky. The 23-year-old had driven two friends to a viewpoint looking across the city of Stoke-on-trent on the evening of September 25 last year. His driving was...
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DON’T IGNORE US
THE boss of a Stoke-on-trent pottery firm has called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to give the ceramic industry a ‘level playing field’ on energy costs. Portmeirion chief executive Mike Raybould says the Government needs to be doing more to support UK...
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SAFETY BLITZ AS 32 KILLED ON ROADS IN ONE YEAR
MOTORISTS have been urged to check the safety of their vehicles under a campaign launched after 32 people died and hundreds were injured in crashes in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-trent last year. Charity Brake ran Road Safety Week with support from...
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‘WORST IN THE COUNTRY BY SOME MARGIN’
WEST Midlands Ambulance Service is facing the worst level of hospital handover delays in the country ‘by some margin’, it has revealed. Last month more than 8,000 lost hours were caused by delays at Stokeon-trent and Staffordshire hospitals, primarily...
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MAN JAILED FOR DOUBLE STABBING IN HANLEY PARK
A MAN carried out a double stabbing with a pair of scissors in a city park. Abdulrahin Abbker plunged the blade into one man’s stomach, then the leg of the second victim. He has now been jailed for the attack. Stoke-on-trent Crown Court heard the...
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GIRL WITH A ‘SUPER RARE GENETIC DISORDER’ IN A NEVER ENDING FIGHT FOR NHS HELP
A SCHOOLGIRL who is one of only around 10 children in the world with the same genetic disorder has ‘fallen into a gap’ in NHS provision. Little Summer Calvin, nine, has been diagnosed with HERC1, which means she is abnormally tall for her age, but...
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Niamh goes ‘full circle’ at the New Vic
ACTOR-MUSICIAN Niamh Hine has gone ‘full circle’ as she prepares to make her New Vic debut this Christmas. Niamh experienced her very first live theatre production at the Basford venue in 2004. Now she is among the cast for the theatre-in-the-round’s...
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TORY LEADER QUITS TO JOIN REFORM ON CITY COUNCIL
THE leader of the Conservative group on Stoke-on-trent City Council has quit the Tory party – to join Reform UK. Daniel Jellyman has been on the city council since 2015 and represents Hanford, Newstead and Trentham. But he has now become the second...
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SOME OF CITY’S MOST ICONIC BUILDINGS ARE NOW ‘AT RISK’
AN historic town centre has been added to a national list of ‘at risk’ heritage. Burslem conservation area is among the new additions to Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register in 2025. The conservation area covers the ‘historic Georgian core’...
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‘POTTERS BANK’ BID TO BEAT THE LOAN SHARKS
A NEW credit union has been launched in Stoke-on-trent to help protect vulnerable people from loan sharks and ‘predatory’ payday loan firms. The Potters Bank, the first credit union to operate in Stoke-on-trent in nearly 20 years, will offer lowcost...
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PCSOS SET TO LOSE PAY IN CHANGES TO THEIR HOURS
CHANGES to PCSO shifts could see some lose thousands of pounds in pay, a union has claimed. Unison is calling on Staffordshire Police to reconsider the ‘ill-conceived’ proposals to change PCSO shift patterns - which would mean fewer being on patrol in...
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11 YEARS FOR 100MPH A500 SLIP ROAD DEATH CRASH DRIVER
DANGEROUS driver Sulejman Zekthi – who killed a man after driving at more than 100mph on an A500 slip road – has been jailed for more than 11 years. The 34-year-old dad took the £105k Audi vehicle without permission from his workplace in Wolverhampton...
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DEFEND YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW.
A nightclub could open next door without you being consulted! Plans for licensed premises in your neighbourhood could be hidden from view if new government proposals for secret alcohol licensing notices get the green light.
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‘BEING HOMELESS DOESN’T ENTITLE YOU TO ACT LIKE GOLDILOCKS’
PROFESSIONAL thief Jade Cobden was compared to Goldilocks as she was jailed for burgling two homes while homeless. The 32-year-old used the washing machine, a bed and a toothbrush at one house before stealing items. At a second she was ‘spaced out’...
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£812M PLAN TO CREATE ‘A CITY THAT WORKS FOR ITS PEOPLE’
NEW homes, extending a city museum and improvements to roads and schools are all included in plans to spend £812 million of taxpayers’ cash over the next decade. City councillors have approved an updated capital programme which features a raft of...
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DAUGHTER, 63, KILLED MUM, 91, THEN TOOK HER OWN LIFE
TROUBLED Karen Wilshaw killed her 91-year-old mum Joyce by repeatedly striking her to the head with a hammer before throwing herself out of an upstairs window. When the initial suicide attempt did not work, the 63-year-old walked back into the house,...
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BACK TO THE FUTURE!
A FORMER pottery building will be turned into a cutting edge AI data centre – with surplus heat warming nearby buildings. The proposed data centre and its heat recovery system, which could save 10,500 tonnes of carbon over its lifetime, will be part...
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SIX HOMELESS CAMPS IN CITY SHUT DOWN IN JOINT OP
City council and police take action
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SCHOOLS STILL NEED £4.9m OF REPAIRS AS PFI DEAL ENDS
NEARLY £5 million of school repairs still need to be carried out – as a controversial PFI contract finally comes to an end. Stoke-on-trent City Council’s school PFI agreement – which was the first scheme of its kind in the country, as well as the...
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TAXI DRIVER AVOIDS JAIL AS CYCLIST PARALYSED
TAXI driver Khalid Mohammad left a cyclist paralysed when he drove into him at a busy city junction. The 66-year-old’s Toyota Prius collided with his victim while making a ‘risky manoeuvre’ at the junction of Moorland Road and Wedgwood Street in...
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450 HOUSES PLANNED AT FORMER CITY SCRAPYARD
A 26-ACRE site next to the A500 is being earmarked for a 450-home estate. The Longport land had been operated by F Mcguinness & Sons since 1945 and latterly by Staffordshire Waste Recycling Centre. But a deal for the site has now been struck with a...
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£18K BENEFIT FRAUDSTER JAILED FOR SIX MONTHS
A BENEFITS cheat was caught out after undercover officials filmed him coaching a football team. Grandad Andrew Vincent scammed the taxpayer out of £18,000. Stoke-on-trent Crown Court heard the 62-year-old began claiming Personal Independence Payment...
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£100M BOOST TO SAFEGUARD 8,000 JOBS
DIGGER giant JCB is to invest £100 million in its Staffordshire global headquarters to help safeguard more than 8,000 jobs in the UK. The company says the announcement, on the eve of its 80th birthday, demonstrates its ‘long-term commitment’ to...
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TWO MORE HELD AFTER DEATH OF ALEX, 17
POLICE investigating the hit-and-run death of a 17-year-old boy have made two more arrests. They have now detained a 17-yearold boy and a 20-year-old woman on suspicion of causing the death of Alex Woodward by dangerous driving. It follows the...
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TWO HELD AFTER TEENAGER KILLED IN A HIT-AND-RUN
A TEENAGE boy has died and two people have been arrested following a hit-and-run collision in Stoke-on-trent. The 17-year-old died in hospital after emergency crews were sent to Dawlish Drive, in Bentilee. The street, along with nearby Wellfield Road...
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WOMAN FORCED ‘VULNERABLE’ VICTIM TO CARRY OUT ‘SEX WORK’
CRUEL Anna Stukova forced a ‘vulnerable’ woman to steal from shops – and carry out sex work for cash. Now the 30-year-old, of Tunstall, is awaiting sentencing over what police have dubbed a ‘nearly twoyear campaign of violence and...
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NURSE TREATED FOR CANCER AT HOSPITAL WHERE SHE WORKS
A&E nurse Lisa Blakeman is being treated for a rare blood cancer – at the hospital where she works. The 39-year-old single mum has juggled working at the Royal Stoke University Hospital accident unit with bringing up her two boys. Now she has been...
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£1M BID TO KEEP PEOPLE OFF STREETS
STOKE-ON-TRENT has been allocated an extra £1million to help prevent homelessness and support families through this winter. The Government funding will strengthen local services and provide immediate help for those who are most at risk of having...
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THIS PUB’S FOR THE INN CROWD
A NEW landlady has taken over a pub – after it has sat empty for ‘ages’. Charity champion Beth Rigby, 34, is the proud new licensee of The Terrace Inn in Penkhull New Road. Owned by Craft Union, the dog-friendly watering hole has undergone a...
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REFUGEE JAILED AFTER THROWING BRICKS DURING RIOT IN CITY CENTRE
A MAN seen repeatedly hurling bricks during the Hanley riots has been locked up. Iraqi refugee Aso Hassan was seen encouraging counter-protesters as violence erupted following the murder of three girls in Southport. Stoke-on-trent Crown Court heard...
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BINMAN EXPOSED AS A RAPIST BY HIS VICTIM AS HE EMPTIED HER BIN
A RAPE victim ‘wants the world to know what a monster’ her rapist is - after discovering him emptying her bins. Chelsea Jones was at home in Bucknall when she discovered her rapist Aidan Edwards was now working as a council binman. It was more than...
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50 IN HOSPITAL WITH COVID AS WINTER ARRIVES A MONTH EARLY
WINTER pressures are hitting Stokeon-trent’s main hospital earlier than expected – with 50 patients with covid now occupying beds. Ambulance handovers at University Hospitals of North Midlands were taking 78 minutes on average at the end of September...
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PROBE AFTER FIRE AT CHIPPY
FIREFIGHTERS put out a blaze at a fish and chip shop. An investigation has been launched after the fire at Fisherman’s Catch in Congleton Road, Butt Lane just before 6pm last night. The street was blocked while crews extinguished the flames. A...
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DOCTORS SHOCKED AS PARALYSED GRAN LEARNS TO WALK AGAIN
A WOMAN left paralysed due to a rare complication of her cancer has shocked doctors by learning to walk again. Sylvia Cameron, 79, who was born in Stoke-on-trent and now lives in Evesham, was diagnosed with paraplegic lymphoma, which had left her...
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