A Local 46-year-old man arrested in search for the missing 5 year old Welsh girl April Jones
The parents of the five-year-old Welsh girl April Jones, who has been missing since she got into a van just yards from her home on last Monday evening have pleaded with the person who took her to let “our beautiful little girl come home”.
A Local man was arrested on Tuesday afternoon and taken to a police station in Aberystwyth for questioning over the missing five-year-old girl who still remains missing. The man arrested over the abduction was known to the Jones family.
April Jones who was last seen by another child getting into the driver’s side of a grey van which drove off in the town of Machynlleth.
A 46-year-old local man has been arrested in the Machynlleth area where five-year-old April Jones was apparently abducted on Monday night. Police said he had been taken to a police station in Aberystwyth for questioning, but April has not been found.
At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Detective Superintendent Reg Bevan, of Dyfed-Powys police, said: “We are continuing our investigation to find April, however, within the last hour we have arrested a 46-year-old male from the Machynlleth area who is being detained at Aberystwyth police station.
“We made the arrest just outside Machynlleth and we are hopeful this individual will assist us in finding April, who is still missing. We are still pursuing all lines of inquiry with the view that April is still alive and we will continue to do so until we find her.
“For obvious reasons we are not able to give you details of the individual that we have assisting us with our inquiries.”
The man had a similar vehicle as the one described and was arrested on foot walking outside the town. The vehicle has been located and is being examined.
Key places in events surrounding April Jones’s disappearance
Bevan said the police’s priority was to find April and bring her home to her family.
Coral Jones, 40, and her husband Paul, 43, were due to appeal for information at the police press conference in Aberystwyth just under 22 hours after their daughter was seen getting into a van-type vehicle on Monday evening.
Officers said they were becoming increasingly concerned for the safety of the five-year-old, who disappeared while playing out with a friend near her home on the Bryn-y-Gog estate in the market town in Dyfi valley, north of Aberystwyth.
Earlier the force said she had apparently got into a vehicle willingly, prompting a major search by officers and scores of volunteers.
Police confirmed they were looking closely at the movements of known registered sex offenders living in the area.
Meanwhile, in north Wales, a 12-mile stretch of the A487 has been closed off by police. The force referred all inquiries to Dyfed-Powys police.
Rise in Irish people’s mental health problems linked to economic crisis
The economic crisis is putting a major strain on people’s mental health with an increase in the rate of suicide, self-harm and admissions into psychiatric hospitals over recent years, according to campaigners.
In its pre-budget submission, the Mental Health Reform campaign group says these indicators highlight the urgent need for the Government to ensure mental health services are protected over the coming months.
Latest official figures show a 7 per cent increase in suicides between 2010 and 2011, while the number of people reporting to hospital with self-harm increased by 4 per cent during the same period, the fourth successive increase.
In the meantime, the rate of first admissions to inpatient psychiatric units increased by 5 per cent in 2010, the most recent year for which figures are available.
In its submission, the group says that by continuing to invest in reforming mental health services and related public services, authorities can ensure that people experiencing poor mental health have the best chance of recovering and participating fully in society.
“The Government has a duty to protect the vulnerable in society, and must ensure that the already negative effects of the economic crisis are not exacerbated by the lack of services for people experiencing poor mental health,” its submission states.
In the programme for government, the Coalition parties pledged to “vastly improve access to modern mental health services in the community”.
It also pledged to ring-fence €35 million annually for the development of community mental health services.
However, there are growing doubts among campaign groups and Opposition political parties that these pledges will be fulfilled.
Latest figures indicate that not enough appointments have been made to staff community mental health teams which will be needed to modernise services over the coming years.
The Mental Health Reform group makes eight key recommendations for the Government ahead of December’s budget.
They include a commitment to continue investing in community-based mental health services – €35 million in 2013 – which, it says, have been shown to be better value for money than hospital-based services.
It also calls on authorities to:
Ensure there are no further cuts to funding for mental health and related voluntary and community organisations.
Avoid reducing the living standards of people with a mental health condition on social welfare payments by maintaining rates at their current level; reducing the individual minimum contribution for rent supplement back down by €6 per week; and restoring the fuel allowance cut made in 2012.
The submission notes that the link between economic downturns and poor mental health has been firmly established, as reported by the State’s mental health watchdog, the Mental Health Commission.
In a recent submission, it said there was a “wide-ranging and reliable body of evidence which documents a strong negative association between poverty, debt, unemployment, and mental health”.
During this recession, known factors for poor mental health such as unemployment and income inequality are increasing.
With unemployment rates of almost 15 per cent, a widening gap between rich and poor, and some tax increases disproportionately hitting the poor, there is little sign that economic pressure on much of the population will ease any time soon, it says.
Health minister James Reilly:
Wants to Charge no-show patients for follow-up appointments
HEALTH MINISTER JAMES REILLY WANTS HOSPITALS TO USE TEXT MESSAGING TO MANAGE OUT-PATIENT APPOINTMENTS.
“I want all out-patients attendees to be texted at least three days in advance and to text back either ‘Y’ or ‘N’ as to whether they are going to attend or not,” he said.
Dr Reilly said patients would be reminded again by text message on the day of their appointment.
“And if they don’t turn up and don’t respond, then I don’t believe it’s unreasonable that we should charge them the next time they wish to come.”
Dr Reilly, speaking at a conference in Dublin yesterday organised by the Health Management Institute, said out-patient departments should also show people some respect in managing appointments.
He said 35 patients should not be asked to turn up at 9am for just one appointment slot.
“That just displays disdain to our fellow citizens and that is possibly part of the reason why many people do not turn up,” he said.
Dr Reilly told how a paediatric clinic in the West had changed monthly appointments to better suit parents and their children.
“Quite often at these monthly sessions, it becomes clear that the parents and children did not really need to attend at all.
“So we are dragging parents away from their jobs, dragging children out of school — wasting time, wasting money.”
Dr Reilly said parents were texted in advance of the appointment and were delighted to be invited to be a real part of the team taking care of their child.
Many parents who replied to the text messages said their children were making progress and did not need to attend the clinic.
“This is a hugely important cultural change, where we bring the clients and the patients who use our service into the decision-making process. As a GP, I long ago [rejected] the paternalistic attitude that doctor knows best.”
Dr Reilly also said the importance of strong leadership in the health services was insufficiently valued.
Dr Reilly said the HSE’s Succession Management Programme was being piloted in each of the four health service regions.
An initial 30 people have completed the 12-month programme, a further 10 people started the programme last month, and an additional 60 would take part over the next year or so.
“This has to be a very positive development,” said Dr Reilly.
Brendan Gleeson now shooting a new comedy film in Sligo
Principal photography has begun in Co Sligo on Calvary, the new black comedy-drama which reunites Brendan Gleeson with The Guard‘s writer-director John Michael McDonagh.
‘Calvary’ is a dark comedy about a priest Father James Lavelle (Brendan Gleeson) who is tormented by members of his own parish in Sligo. ‘Calvary‘ has received a whopping €975,000 production loan in the last round ofIrish Film Board funding.
First day of principle photography has been set for the 24th of September with 3 week shoot in Sligo followed by a further 2 weeks in North County Dublin.
The press release announcing the commencement of principal photography says: “Calvary‘s Priest [Brendan Gleeson] is the flipside to The Guard‘s Sergeant Gerry Boyle. A good man intent on making the world a better place, he is continually shocked and saddened by the spiteful and confrontational inhabitants of his small country town. After being threatened during confession, he must battle the dark forces closing in around him.”
Calvary also stars Marie Josée Crozé, Isaach De Bankolé, Aidan Gillen, Domhnall Gleeson, Dylan Moran, Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Pat Shortt and David Wilmot.
“I would like to thank the Irish Film Board, and the BFI [British Film Institute], for their continuing support for filmmaking that seeks to escape from the tiresome, rarefied confines of Dublin 4. Up the West!”
American farmer eaten by own pigs while feeding them
The Farm near Riverton, Oregon above, where investigators believe 700-pound pigs ate their 70-year-old owner.
American authorities are investigating how an Oregon farmer came to be eaten by his own pigs, after some of the man’s remains were found at the hog enclosure.
Terry Vance Garner, 70, did not return after leaving his house last week to feed the pigs, some of which weigh 318 kilograms or more.
At least one of the pigs had reportedly bitten the farmer in the past.
“Mr Garner was not observed for several hours,” Paul Frasier, district attorney for Coos County, said in a statement.
“When a family member went to look for him, when he arrived at the hog enclosure, he found the dentures of Mr Garner on the ground.
“Further searching of the enclosure revealed that Mr Garner’s body was in several pieces, with a great majority of the body having been consumed by the hogs.”
Detectives were investigating various theories of how he died, including that he suffered a heart attack or some other medical emergency “which then put him in a position where the hogs could consume him”.
“Another scenario … is that given the age and health of Mr Garner, that one or more of the hogs knocked Mr Garner to the ground, whereupon hogs killed and consumed him,” the statement said.
Mr Frasier says there are reports “that at least one of the hogs in the past had bitten or was otherwise aggressive towards Mr Garner”.
“What little that was left of Mr Garner’s body was examined by a forensic pathologist on Saturday,” the statement said.
“The pathologist was not able to identify, from what remained, the cause and manner of death.”
Police and the district attorney are continuing their investigation, but for the moment the cause of death is listed as “undetermined.”
Foul play has not been ruled out.
“Due to the unusual circumstances presented by this case, the sheriff’s office is investigating to determine if foul play may have resulted in the death of Mr Garner,” Mr Frasier told the local Register Guard newspaper.
“For all we know, it was a horrific accident, but it’s so doggone weird that we have to look at all possibilities.”
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