WRITE STUFF:
Plans to help relieve congestion at town centre bottleneck given the green light
Three children have won prizes in a short story competition organised by Jonathan Gullis, MP for Stoke-on-trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke. Nearly 100 entries were received from Key Stage 2 children across his constituency.
The winner was Alana Barker, above, of Greenways Primary Academy, with ‘Koops’.
Runners-up were Olivia Hall with ‘Milo the Mischievous Cat’ and Elijah Stubbs with ‘The Dragon Rescue’. Both are from St Thomas Church of England Primary School. Jonathan said: “It was extremely hard to choose.” The winners’ work will be showcased at Staffordshire University. Prizes were also donated by Carse&waterman and Bee Active.
A SUPERMARKET’S plans to tackle a town centre bottleneck have been given the green light by councillors.
Customers leaving the Morrisons car park in Stone at busy times of the day have faced regular delays in getting onto the town’s ring road in recent years.
And that has led to complaints and defrosted goods.
Last year the supermarket chain applied for permission to add an extra lane to the westbound Mill Street exit onto Christchurch Way and signalise the crossroad junction to reduce congestion. And earlier this month the plans were approved by borough council planning officers.
An officers’ report said: “The proposed development would increase vehicular capacity of
the junction of Mill Street and Christchurch Way, would not result in any adverse impact upon the safe and efficient operation of the highway network and therefore should not be refused on highways grounds.
“The most significant potential
impact upon the character and appearance of the surrounding area relate to the loss of trees, which act as a filter to views of modern urban development and soften the landscape around the junction. Replacement planting can be secured by condition.”
Members of Stone Town Council, who have highlighted the traffic issues on a number of occasions, welcomed the proposals when they were put forward.
Councillor Jim Davies said: “What it does is give us an idea of the confidence that Morrisons have in having their store in Stone that they’re prepared to make this investment.
“There’s a problem with people being stranded in the Morrisons car park for 40 minutes or more while their frozen food is defrosting in their car.”
Councillor Jill Hood said: “I’m glad Morrisons have put their heads above the parapet. It’s going to go a long way to help people get onto and off the Morrisons site, particularly on bank holidays when everyone is queuing to get off.
“So many people come from surrounding areas to shop there and that brings them into town and spending money in the High Street.”
PERVERT Matthew Charlesworth was snared by paedophile hunters after trying to meet up with an ‘underage girl’ in a Stokeon-trent park.
The 31-year-old made contact with three ‘decoy’ 14-year-old schoolgirls who were in fact adults looking for child abusers.
Using the name Matt Charlei on Facebook, he told one of the ‘girls’ he was aged 20 and soon began talking about sex with her and another girl.
A member of the paedophile group then agreed to meet the defendant at Hanley’s Central Forest Park at 2pm on June 11.
But after showing up, he was ‘handed over’ to the police and he was arrested the next day.
Now Charlesworth has been handed an extended sentence at Stoke-on-trent Crown Court which is made up of 32 months custody with six years on licence.
Prosecutor Sharon Bahia said the defendant was jailed for three years in 2017 for meeting a child following sexual grooming, sexual activity with a child, attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming and possessing extreme pornography.
He was made the subject of a SHPO which prohibited him from contacting girls under 16.
But Charlesworth then contacted three ‘14-year-old girls’ who were in fact decoys. Miss Bahia said: “He made contact with one. She said she was 14. The defendant continued to chat with her, telling her he was 20. He quickly steered the chat into a sexual nature.
The second ‘girl’ was also 14. He also talked sexually to a third decoy, who also claimed to be 14.
The final decoy was a 28-yearold woman and they arranged to meet up at the park. Miss Bahia said: “The paedophile hunter group produced a number of chat logs of evidence. There were hundreds of pages of messages with all three decoys.
“His phone was seized. He was allowed to leave but he was formally arrested the next day.”
Charlesworth, of Vale Street, Stoke, pleaded guilty to three charges of attempting to breach a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), three offences of attempting to engage in sexual communication, and attempting to incite a child to engage in nonpenetrative sexual activity.
Jason Holt, mitigating, said the defendant is ‘incredibly lonely’ and isolated. He said: “He does lead a very solitary life. He has no family and no friends to speak of. Until he realises he can’t carry on the way he is he will spend longer periods in custody.”
Judge Paul Glenn made Charlesworth the subject of a new SHPO which will run indefinitely. He will also be on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and was barred from activities involving children and vulnerable adults.
Judge Glenn said: “You were communicating with adult members of a paedophile hunter group, rather than three teenage girls you thought you were communicating with. You sent hundreds of messages plainly trying to groom those children which you thought they were.”
The judge said it was ‘quite disgusting material’. He added: “I am satisfied you represent a significant risk of serious harm to members of the public by the commission of further specified offences. You represent a risk to young females under 16.”