January saw 44% of all Cornwall’s virus deaths

NEARLY half of all deaths in Cornwall from coronavirus since the pandemic began happened in January 2021.

Cornwall Council has revealed that 44% of deaths from the disease since March last year occurred in January as the second wave spread like wildfire across the country.

There have been 324 deaths in Cornwall since the pandemic began. It’s also been revealed that there are currently 154 patients in hospital with the virus.

There were also 641 new cases in

Cornwall in the seven days up to January 31, which is a decrease of 38% compared to the previous week.

The case rate for Cornwall, which is a measure used to work out how many cases there would be per 100,000 people currently stands at 157 cases per 100,000 people, which is lower than average compared to both the South West, which currently has 178 cases per 100,000 and England where there is currently 260 cases per 100,000 people.

The lowest case rate in England is currently Devon, where there are 70 cases per 100,000 people while the highest is Corby, with a case rate of 513.7 cases per 100,000 people.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council called on people to do their bit to ensure the declining case rate remains low, saying: “Around 44% of all of Cornwall’s Covid deaths have occurred since January 1, 2021. Fortunately, cases are beginning to decline but we all need to do our bit to make sure this number keeps falling.”

ATEENAGE boy from Cornwall who last week became Britain’s youngest convicted terrorist has avoided a custodial sentence.

The defendant, from south-east Cornwall, was aged just 13 when he got his hands on instructions for explosives and went on to lead a neo-Nazi cell from his grandmother’s house.

At the age of 14, the youth amassed a stash of terror material and shared far-right extremist ideology in online chat rooms.

He pleaded guilty to 12 offences – two of dissemination of terrorist documents and 10 of possession of terrorist material.

The defendant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was handed a 24-month youth rehabilitation order by Judge Mark Dennis, QC, at the Old Bailey yesterday.

The judge told the boy he had “entered an online world of wicked prejudice” and any reoffending would lead to a “spiral of ever lengthening terms of incarceration” to protect the public.

The judge added: “The wider picture revealed in this case – the actions, words and mindset of teenagers – is deeply concerning.”

The WMN reported last week how the court heard that between October 2018 and July 2019 the youth collected a significant amount of farright material and manuals and was active on online platforms, expressing racist, homophobic and antiSemitic views.

He talked about “gassing” Jewish people, hanging gay people and wanting to “shoot up their parades”, the court heard.

In the summer of 2019 he became the British cell leader of the FKD Feuerkrieg Division – a neo-Nazi group that idolises the likes of Anders Breivik, the Norwegian who murdered 77 young people in a shooting spree, the court heard.

The court heard the banned network favoured actions over words and encouraged individuals to commit “lone wolf” attacks.

The defendant liaised with FKD’s 13-year-old “commander” in Estonia and was responsible for vetting and recruiting members and propaganda, it was claimed.

One of his five recruits was teenager Paul Dunleavy, who was convicted of terrorism offences relating to his activities as a member of FKD in 2019 and with whom he discussed the acquisition of firearms, the court was told.

The defendant also allegedly commissioned a “Nuke London” poster which bore an image of an atom bomb cloud explosion over the Houses of Parliament with the slogan “Sterilise the cesspit that you call London”.

Police raided the defendant’s home in Cornwall on July 23, 2019, as a result of information which suggested that he had been trying to construct a weapon. No weapons were found but his mobile phone and computer were seized.

During the search, officers found a Nazi flag and a copy of a neo-Nazi text depicting post-apocalyptic sadistic violence.

In a police interview, the defendant, now aged 16, denied having had any racist, homophobic or antiSemitic views, and said his comments and posts were just “to look cool”.

He claimed that he had been considering leaving FKD for about a month. .”

In mitigation, Deni Matthews said the teen had a troubled upbringing.