The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Project funding to get city school pupils in construction industry
A Dundee firm has won funding for a new scheme to get city youngsters into the construction industry.
Alexander’s Community Development intends to provide 24 places for high school pupils on its Transition to Trade (TTT) programme.
The funding is coming from contractor Mclaughlin & Harvey and the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (SVRU).
A spokeswoman for Alexander’s Community Development said the two pots of funding would significantly reduce the cost of the programme for schools in the city, helping to ensure young people who deserve a place get every chance possible.
She said Transition to Trade was created to provide a positive pathway for pupils in S3 to S5 into the construction industry.
“One of the aims is to remove some of the barriers that young people frequently face, such as
not having the required qualifications, or experiencing challenging home circumstances,” she added.
“Throughout the sixweek programme candidates build their knowledge in general workplace health and safety as well as developing their practical skills in painting and decorating.
“This will lead to the candidates gaining qualifications which will allow them to go directly into employment, but most importantly gaining a sense of achievement.”.
Any young person interested should speak with their DYW co-ordinator/skills Development Scotland co-ordinator or guidance teacher.
A pensioner who strangled his wife days into the first UK lockdown has been sentenced to five years in jail.
Anthony Williams, 70, told police he “literally choked the living daylights” out of his wife Ruth, 67, at their home in Cwmbran, south Wales, on the morning of March 28 last year, after he “snapped” following a period of feeling depressed and anxious.
Williams was cleared of murder on Monday following a trial in which a psychologist argued his anxiety “was heightened” because of lockdown, which impaired his ability to exercise self-control.
Yesterday, he appeared for sentencing at Swansea Crown Court after admitting manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
Judge Paul Thomas said it was a “tragic case on several levels”, but in his view Williams’s mental
state was “severely affected at the time”.
Judge Thomas said: “The overwhelming greatest tragedy here is a lady of 67 who had so much to live for, had her life ended by an act of great violence at the hands, literally, of a man she loved for very nearly 50 years.”
Williams told police he had suffered sleepless nights in the run-up to the attack due to “trivial” fears, including that he would run out of money.
In interviews read to the jury, Williams agreed with detectives that he was responsible for the killing of his wife of 46 years, telling them he “snapped” while in bed.
He said he began strangling after she told him to “get over it” when he expressed his concerns.
He said he chased his wife downstairs and again grabbed her by her throat as she tried to unlock the front door to escape, saying he found himself “throttling her to death”.
Mrs Williams was found slumped in the couple’s porch with a pair of keys in her hand.
She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead, having suffered haemorrhaging in her eyes, face and mouth which were consistent with strangulation.