Top stories last week included Wisbech St Mary tragedy and sentencing of West Walton drug dealer
Find more about this, as well as the rest of last week's biggest stories, below... Fundraiser launched to support family of girl, 16, who died in tragic crash[1]
Eden Bunn, from Sutton Bridge, died after the car she was travelling in entered the River Nene off North Brink at Wisbech St Mary on Tuesday night. Five teenagers were in the car at the time, with three making it out alive - but 18-year-old Declan Berry from Wisbech is still missing, with searches continuing today.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to support Eden's family, describing the news of her death as "devastating".
It says: "After much consideration and seeking consent from family to do so, we have decided to set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to help the family give Eden the best send-off - one which a much-loved daughter, sibling, granddaughter, niece, and auntie - to Axl - deserves." 'Dead man walking' begs for jail over fine after being caught driving illegally[2]
A poorly-sighted and partially deaf 80-year-old begged for prison over a fine after being caught driving with a revoked licence. Police were out on patrol on Elm High Road at Elm on January 21 last year when they spotted a silver BMW speeding and undertaking other motorists.
Behind the wheel was pensioner William Lee, of the Melissa Caravan Park in Wisbech, who had his licence taken away just months before by the DVLA as he was deemed unfit to drive. Magistrates decided to hand the defendant a three-month conditional discharge and a ?26 victim surcharge, and added six points to his licence - which remains invalid. New pavilion will be 'once-in-a-generation' for town - but more funding is needed[3]
After more than a decade of planning, a "once-in-a-generation" pavilion is now entering its final phase - but is in need of the community's support.
Wisbech Town Cricket and Hockey Club's new pavilion, located on Harecroft Road, is just three months away from its completion date after construction got under way last August, but a crowdfunding page has been launched in a bid to raise ?50,000 to help see the project through to the finish.
The former premises, built when the club started in 1962, were deemed no longer fit for purpose. The club currently has more than 300 members, including its five men's and five ladies' hockey teams, three men's cricket teams, and junior sections in each, so it has outgrown the space. 'The Gap' is finally filled as site is transformed from eyesore into shop and flats[4]
An official completion ceremony was held at a High Street site as it was "transformed" from an eyesore to a shop and flats.
The Wisbech site known as 'The Gap' had been a problem for more than 40 years after the former Cook's Butchers collapsed. Now, after this scheme, Fenland District Council is in the process of finding tenants for the small ground-floor shop area and the flats above.
'Great deal of abuse' for oil company staff amid spiralling costs in Fenland[5]
A heating oil distributor described the "great deal of abuse" its staff have received amid spiralling costs for customers. The previous week, North East Cambridgeshire MP Steve Barclay said some Fenland suppliers seem to be "taking advantage with what looks like profiteering" following the breakout of war in Iran.
However, George Youngs, the chief operations officer of George J Goff - which sells heating oil across East Anglia - hit back at such suggestions. He insisted that his company has never cancelled a customer's order, but was "very worried" that for the first week after the war started it "simply didn't have fuel to cover the orders placed".
Drug-dealer who brought ?1.5m of illegal substances into the area jailed[6]
A dealer who used encrypted communications platform EncroChat to facilitate the sale of illegal drugs worth around ?1.5million was jailed. Ricky Peppercorn, 36, of Salts Road in West Walton, was sentenced at King's Lynn Crown Court after previously being convicted of conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis, as well as failing to provide the PIN code for a mobile phone seized on his arrest.
EncroChat was one of the largest global providers of encrypted communications, promising users anonymity by automatically deleting messages and completely wiping data if anyone attempted to hack the device.
But when international authorities cracked that encryption in 2020, thousands of messages which had been sent between criminals were then passed to police forces across Europe.
References
- ^ Fundraiser launched to support family of girl, 16, who died in tragic crash (www.fenlandcitizen.co.uk)
- ^ 'Dead man walking' begs for jail over fine after being caught driving illegally (www.fenlandcitizen.co.uk)
- ^ New pavilion will be 'once-in-a-generation' for town - but more funding is needed (www.fenlandcitizen.co.uk)
- ^ 'The Gap' is finally filled as site is transformed from eyesore into shop and flats (www.fenlandcitizen.co.uk)
- ^ 'Great deal of abuse' for oil company staff amid spiralling costs in Fenland (www.fenlandcitizen.co.uk)
- ^ Drug-dealer who brought ?1.5m of illegal substances into the area jailed (www.fenlandcitizen.co.uk)