POLICE at Launceston are appealing for information about an incident involving two women and two dogs last month.

A 28-year-old local woman was walking along Tavistock Road in Launceston at 8.40am on February 13 when she was approached by another woman who was having trouble controlling the two dogs she had with her.

She managed to get them under control but when the victim walked by, she shouted at her and followed her for a short time.

Police are seeking a woman who is described as white, in her late thirties, with ginger hair and of heavy build. She was wearing light blue jeans and a blue top. The two dogs were a bulldog/boxer-type breed.

THREE nurses who were sacked after a mentally ill patient was allegedly assaulted at Bodmin Hospital have won a two-year battle to clear their names.

Experienced nurses Sharon Little, Martin Smith and Tim Spear – all from the Bodmin area – were dismissed by the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust for gross misconduct after a violent patient was forcibly restrained on Harvest Ward.

An employment tribunal judge, who ruled the nurses were unfairly sacked, said it was "extraordinary and unreasonable'' for the trust to believe the evidence of a dangerous and disruptive psychiatric patient instead of the testimony of the nurses.

Judge Nicholas Roper said the decision to sack them for gross misconduct effectively ended the careers of three people who, between them, had 50 years' experience of caring for the mentally ill. Each had a previously unblemished disciplinary record.

The incident happened in February 2012 when a male patient, with a history of violence and aggression, and who was perceived to be a danger to women, was acting violently in the early hours of the morning, and was restrained physically by a staff team which included Mr Smith and Mr Spear, after they had failed to calm him down.

Mr Spear was hit in the face and the patient had attacked Mr Smith with a chair.

The patient's mother later complained that her son had sustained injuries to his ribs and ankle.

Mrs Little was the nurse in charge and, although not physically involved in restraining the patient, authorised the procedure.

An investigation and disciplinary hearing by the foundation trust deemed the patient to have been assaulted, and Mrs Little failed to complete an appropriate report into the assault.

Mrs Little contended that she did not report the assault as she did not believe the patient had been assaulted.

Judge Roper, finding that the three nurses had been unfairly dismissed, said there were no reasonable grounds for sacking them for gross misconduct.

He criticised the foundation trust for believing the evidence of the mentally-ill patient over that of the experienced nurses, who were immediately suspended and who gave their evidence more than a year after the incident took place.

Judge Roper said: "The claimants were criticised for being inconsistent in their recollections, and this aspect featured in the decision to dismiss them.

"In contrast, the patient was found to be credible, and his evidence preferred to that of the three claimants.

"In my judgement, that is an extraordinary and unreasonable conclusion. (The patient) was an inconsistent and unreliable witness.

"He is a very ill psychiatric patient who is dangerous and disruptive."

Mrs Little said she and her colleagues had undergone considerable stress over the past two years.

"It has left me in a position where I have to rethink my future, because the trust has a monopoly on mental health provision in the county, and it is now impossible for me to find a comparable job within mental health," she said.

"It has taken an impartial judge to say that we were telling the truth about what happened, and all three of us feel vindicated in the actions we took that night."

Despite the tribunal ruling, the trust's nurse executive, Sharon Linter, stood by the sackings.

"The decision to dismiss three members of clinical staff was made, following an internal investigation conducted in line with the trust's agreed employment policies," she said.

"In order to ensure the safety of its patients, who are often very vulnerable, the trust believes the dismissal of these staff members was fair and appropriate."

STUDENTS at a school in Saltash celebrated St Piran's Day in true Cornish style.

The corridors of Saltash.net Community School were filled with Dyhd da and Gool Peran Lowen last Wednesday as the school celebrated St Piran's Day.

Students in Years 7 and 8 produced posters and poems on the theme 'my favourite thing about Cornwall', with displays around the school and prizes for the best entries.

Adam Killeya, citizenship teacher and a trustee of Cornish education charity Cornish Quest, who organised the programme of events, said: "It is so important that students have the chance to celebrate the fact that they are at a Cornish school, and to understand more about what that means."

Teachers incorporated Cornish content into their lessons, including study of human rights, tin mining and tourism.

Students in the Area Resource Base for severe and complex special needs baked pasties, while students in French were able to compare parts of the French language with Cornish.

The school canteen was serving a special lunch menu in honour of the day, with pasty pie, followed by scones, jam and cream.

There were also assemblies and quizzes on the Cornish theme.

Year 8 students completed a range of Cornish-themed projects as part of Integrated Learning, including on social issues in Cornwall, Cornish enterprise and tourism in Cornwall.

See pages 30-35 for more on St Piran's Day in Cornwall.

POLICE have launched a road safety campaign targeting a "treacherous" stretch of the A38, which has claimed several lives.

There have been a number of fatal collisions along the A38 between Plymouth to Liskeard, including a crash which killed 19-year-old motorcyclist Adam Smart in June last year.

In November Lee Skeldon, 27, and Christopher Williams, 21, lost their lives near Whity Cross, Saltash, when their car travelled across the carriageway and hit a wall.

This month police will promote safer driving and will aim to reduce casualties by enforcing speed restrictions and police patrols.

Inspector Dan Ivey, responsible for policing in the South East Cornwall area, said: "Statistically, this stretch of road has a number of serious injury and fatal road traffic collisions.

"The speed restriction for the parts of the road which extend to a dual carriageway is 50mph and it is very clearly signposted as such.

"Drivers are regularly ignoring this, overtaking and speeding way in excess of this restriction, even crossing onto the protective hatch markings or crossing double white lines to overtake."

Police have described the stretch of the A38 between Trerulefoot and the Tamar Bridge as "treacherous".

The police have pledged to get more officers onto the roads to tackle the fatal four – inappropriate speed, intoxication, driver distraction and failing to wear seatbelts.

There were almost 120 accidents on the A38 in 2012, the most recent year for which figures are currently available.

There are also higher numbers of accidents at junctions around Plympton and towards South Brent.

The majority of accidents involve one or two vehicles, but there were two multivehicle pile-ups involving five vehicles and three involving four.

Mr Ivey said an officer stood near Stoketon Cross with a handheld speed detection device that caught six drivers in just one hour travelling at between 65 to 77mph – in a 50mph zone.

He said: "The sections of dual carriageway on the winding stretch of this route are designed for overtaking slow-moving heavy goods and agricultural-type vehicles.

"We have witnessed people driving way in excess of the 50mph restriction, recently in strong winds and driving rain, and in circumstances which place themselves and other road-users in significant danger."

THE FOWEY area has a new Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) to take over from Linda Thomas.

Lloyd Paynter was previously part of the Bodmin neighbourhood team, covering the rural areas around the town, a role PSCO Thomas will now take over.

Mr Paynter is no stranger to the Fowey, Golant and Polkerris area he is now covering, and said he was looking forward to carrying on the good work of his predecessor.

He said: "I have strong connections with the area, originally coming from St Blazey and having been educated at Fowey School.

"My wife comes from Fowey and my in-laws still live in the town.

"Before joining the police I spent six years as the office manager for the Fowey Pilots. Prior to that I worked as a car park inspector covering Fowey and, going back even further, worked for many years as a shipping agent in Par and Fowey.

"Naturally, I have a good knowledge of the marine environment and, with a view that marine crime is a concern to many people, hope to be able to carry out regular patrols around the coast as well as my land-based role.

"I know many people in the area but am looking forward to getting to know many more people while I am out and about," he said.

Mr Paynter has worked for Devon and Cornwall Police for the past seven years, covering the Bodmin rural area, including the villages of Lanivet, St Breward and Withiel, one of the largest beats in the force.

He has won praise for setting up a number of youth-led initiatives in the past few years, raising money himself for youth football teams. He also ran a successful rural police surgery project, visiting the villages on his former patch.

He said: "I covered eight parishes and assisted in Bodmin town, so I'm well used to dealing with a wide variety of neighbourhood concerns, and frequently attended parish council meetings where I established contacts with many people in the community.

"I hope to be able to adopt a similar idea with local surgeries in my new role, depending on public interest."

PCSO Paynter, who is based at St Blazey police station, can be contacted on 101 or via e-mail lloyd.paynter@devonandcornwall.pnn.police.uk

POLICE are warning shopkeepers to be aware of a fraud known as "ringing the changes" after a recent incident in Wadebridge.

Two men of Asian or Eastern European appearance are being sought after defrauding store owners in a number of towns in Cornwall.

Police say the pair struck at a convenience store in Wadebridge on Wednesday, February 19, when they bought an item of low value.

The men entered the shop with a number of £20 notes and asked the staff member to change them into £10 notes.

As the cashier started to do this, the male asked for them to be in different notes, but the transaction was aborted and the men were asked to leave the shop.

The male became very insistent that the cashier complete the money exchange and initially refused to leave the shop, police said.

Sergeant Robin Moorcroft, from Wadebridge police, is warning shopkeepers to be "vigilant" and report anything suspicious as quickly as possible.

"Should you see any suspicious individuals in your premises, particularly individuals attempting to 'ring the changes', please call 999 for police attendance," he said. "It would be helpful to have a description of the individuals and any vehicle they use."

THREE nurses who were sacked after a mentally ill patient was allegedly assaulted at Bodmin Hospital have won a two-year battle to clear their names.

Experienced nurses Sharon Little, Martin Smith and Tim Spear – all from the Bodmin area – were dismissed by the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust for gross misconduct after a violent patient was forcibly restrained on Harvest Ward.

An employment tribunal judge, who ruled the nurses were unfairly sacked, said it was "extraordinary and unreasonable'' for the trust to believe the evidence of a dangerous and disruptive psychiatric patient instead of the testimony of the nurses.

Judge Nicholas Roper said the decision to sack them for gross misconduct effectively ended the careers of three people who, between them, had 50 years' experience of caring for the mentally ill, and each had a previously unblemished disciplinary record.

The incident on Harvest Ward happened in February 2012 when a male patient, with a history of violence and aggression, and who was perceived to be a danger to women, was acting violently in the early hours of the morning, and was restrained physically by a staff team which included Mr Smith and Mr Spear, after they had failed to calm him down.

Mr Spear was hit in the face and the patient had attacked Mr Smith with a chair.

The patient's mother later complained that her son had sustained injuries to his ribs and ankle.

Mrs Little was the nurse in charge and, although not physically involved in restraining the patient, authorised the procedure.

An investigation and disciplinary hearing by the foundation trust deemed the patient to have been assaulted, and Mrs Little failed to complete an appropriate report into the assault.

Mrs Little contended that she did not report the assault as she did not believe the patient had been assaulted.

Judge Roper, finding that the three nurses had been unfairly dismissed, said there were no reasonable grounds for sacking them for gross misconduct.

He criticised the foundation trust for believing the evidence of the mentally-ill patient over that of the experienced nurses, who were immediately suspended and who gave their evidence more than a year after the incident took place.

Judge Roper said: "The claimants were criticised for being inconsistent in their recollections, and this aspect featured in the decision to dismiss them.

"In contrast, the patient was found to be credible, and his evidence preferred to that of the three claimants.

"In my judgement, that is an extraordinary and unreasonable conclusion. (The patient) was an inconsistent and unreliable witness. He is a very ill psychiatric patient who is dangerous and disruptive."

Mrs Little said she and her colleagues had undergone considerable stress over the past two years, but were now glad that the tribunal had proved they should not have been dismissed.

"It has left me in a position where I have to rethink my future, because the trust has a monopoly on mental health provision in the county, and it is now impossible for me to find a comparable job within mental health.

"It has taken an impartial judge to say that we were telling the truth about what happened, and all three of us feel vindicated in the actions we took that night.''

Despite the tribunal ruling the trust's nurse executive, Sharon Linter, stood by the sackings.

"The decision to dismiss three members of clinical staff was made, following an internal investigation conducted in line with the trust's agreed employment policies.

"In order to ensure the safety of its patients, who are often very vulnerable, the trust believes the dismissal of these staff members was fair and appropriate.''

MORE than 75 people have logged objections to the proposed felling of 70 trees on a St Ives estate to make way for building plots for holiday lets.

The plans have been lodged by the Christian Guild, owners of Treloyhan Manor Hotel.

The historic hotel, built for St Ives shipping magnate Sir Edward Hain, sits in its own gardens which overlook St Ives Bay.

The hotel is in need of renovation and the owners are proposing to clear the 70 mature trees to make way for 16 building plots.

Councillors at St Ives Town Council voted 6 to 3 in favour of the proposals because of the new jobs the hotel expansion would bring.

But local people have raised concerns that replacement trees would not recreate the environment for wildlife and fauna on the estate.

SCIENTISTS tracking a great white shark which is currently just 800 miles off the Cornish coast say they have no idea where she will go next.

The 2,000lb, 4.4-metre shark, named Lydia, became the first of its species to date recorded crossing the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and bookies Ladbrokes say she is 2-1 to visit Cornwall as her first port of call.

She has swum more than 19,000 miles since a tracking device was fitted to her near Florida as part of the Ocearch scientific project.

However, her GPS tag only gives off a signal when she's near the water's surface meaning scientists sometimes have to wait days between new readings.

Dr Gregory Skomal, a senior fisheries biologist with Massachusetts Marine Fisheries, said: "I have no idea what to expect from her next.

"I've been working with sharks for a very long time now and I have never seen anything like this.

"She's just short of 800 miles away from your (UK) coast now but in the grand scheme of things that really isn't far for her. It's all very exciting.

"It's hard to say how long it might take her.

"If she decides she wants to get to England she could get there in days."

It is also believed that Lydia may be pregnant and possibly looking to rear her young in the warmer waters of the Mediterranean.

Chris Fischer, expedition leader and founding chairman of the Ocearch shark-tagging project, said: "If I had to guess, I would guess that Lydia is pregnant and that she has been out in the open ocean gestating her babies and that this spring she will lead us to where those baby white sharks are born."

Sharks normally give birth to between 2 and 12 babies at a time after a gestation period of 11 months. Blood samples didn't show Lydia was pregnant when researchers used a 34,000kg hydraulic platform to hoist her from the water to fit the tracking device.

JACK Nowell is not the only Cornishman impressing in an England shirt after Truro College's Jack Stanley starred in his country's U18s' win over Scotland at the weekend.

While Nowell's accession as a full international continues on the Six Nations stage, 17-year-old Stanley is continuing to make an impact at youth level.

On Sunday the Truro College student was named in head coach John Fletcher's starting XV and played around 60 minutes of England's hard-fought 28-6 win at Dalziel.

This was England's first international of the season as they prepare for next month's FIRA/AER European Championship in Poland.

And Jack, who plays for Exeter Chiefs' U18s, did his prospects of being included in Fletcher's final squad with a solid display at tight head prop.

He said: "I was pleased with my performance and hopefully I'll get another chance to show what I can do when we play against France.

"It was a great game to play in (against Scotland). They put a lot of pressure on us but we worked very hard and got the result we deserved."

Jack, a former Helston School and Bolitho School student, is now back at College in Truro, where he is in his first year of a Sports Performance & Excellence course.

This weekend he will be at home in Helston watching England's decisive Six Nations clash with Italy, where Nowell is likely to start for Stuart Lancaster's men.

Like Stanley, Nowell came through the Chiefs' renowned Academy system and the youngster will be hoping to follow in his footsteps.

Stanley said: "It's great to see Jack Nowell doing so well. We might be a little out of the way down here but it just shows you anybody can do it if you work hard enough.

"I've obviously got a long way to go but being involved with the Chiefs and England has been a great experience."

Stanley's involvement in the Chiefs' Academy has given the teenager valuable experience playing in the U18s League against sides such as Saracens.

Last season he played in the U18s' Premiership final win against Northampton.

He said: "It's amazing in my age group to be coming up against top young players. It can only help my game. Playing in the final against Northampton was a brilliant experience."

THE head of Network Rail has issued a full and unreserved apology to families bereaved by incidents at level crossings, including one in which a Long Rock pensioner died.

The admission came following a scathing attack by MPs on the company which controls Britain's rail network.

House of Commons Transport Committee chairman, Louise Ellman, said Network Rail had shown "a callous disregard" for families suffering from level crossing accidents.

The report produced by MPs detailed a number of incidents where people had died on level crossings, including that of Jeanette Nicholls, who was fatally struck by a train as she used the Mexico crossing at Long Rock in October 2011.

The crossing was used solely to access the beach and the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said Mrs Nicholls may not have heard the train horn because of the prevailing wind direction. There were no other warning systems.

The RAIB recommended safety improvements for the crossing, although the issue has become controversial after the coroner at the inquest into Mrs Nicholls' death recommended it be closed.

It was subsequently shut in June last year and in November, Cornwall Council extended the closure and applied to the Secretary of State to have the right of way extinguished.

The group Friends of Long Rock Mexico Crossing is continuing to campaign to have the crossing reinstated as they say it provides a vital community facility.

Network Rail chief executive, Mark Carne, said that the company had undergone major changes.

"I wish to extend a full and unreserved apology on behalf of Network Rail to all those whose lives have been touched by a failing, however large or small, made by this company in managing public safety at level crossings and in failing to deal sensitively with the families affected."