Reflections: Looking back, looking forward

There have been 99 new COVID-19 cases, but no deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday, as MPs debate the Prime Minister’s plan to extend lockdown.

The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 56 new cases in Lincolnshire, 40 in North East Lincolnshire and three in North Lincolnshire.

The figure is 90.4% higher than last Wednesday’s total of 52 and up 52.31% on yesterday’s figure of 65 – a weekly total so far of 251.

The government’s public health figures removed three deaths from the region’s statisics, with North East Lincolnshire gaining two deaths, but North Lincolnshire losing three. A notice on the government website said this could be down to “improved local authority allocation for deaths in England”, which had seen some moved to different resident councils.

NHS England reported no new COVID-19 deaths.

Nationally COVID cases increased by 9,055 to 4,589,814 while deaths rose by nine to 127,926.

North East Lincolnshire’s hospitality sector has experienced a “small number of outbreaks” of COVID-19, health bosses have confirmed, as the authority detects almost 100 Delta variant cases.

The region recorded an infection rate of 71.4 per 100,000 – the 89th highest in the country and significantly higher than the England average of 63.9.

The authorities latest epidemiology report says the rise is “mainly associated with the emergence of the Delta variant in North East Lincolnshire.”

MPs this evening are debating whether to extend the emergency COVID regulations to July 19.

Boris Johnson announced a four week delay to the final stage of lockdown easing on Monday and the vote tonight is expected to be supported by a majority, despite some Conservative MPs suggesting they could rebel.

Public Health England has confirmed there are 25 variants of COVID-19 now being monitored with eight “under investigation”.

Public Health England’s strategic COVID-19 response director Dr Susan Hopkins, told the government’s Science and Technology Committee that if the Delta variant was left to spread without lockdown restrictions the R number (the number of people that each infected person could pass the virus on to) could become “greater than five and maybe up to seven” – it is currently 1.2-1.4

Vaccinations have now also been opened to people in England aged 21 and over.

Elsewhere it has been revealed that care home staff could be compelled to have their jabs or face being redeployed away from front-line care or losing their jobs altogether.

A consultation is taking place and a firm announcement is expected within a few days.

A 14-year-old boy accused of repeatedly stabbing a 12-year-old in a “brutal” murder was described to the jury as a drug user who regularly carried a knife.

A teenage girl, who said she was really close to the defendant, told the jury at Lincoln Crown Court: “He always had a knife when he went out”.

She said that he kept the knife either in a man bag or in his sock.

The girl said: “At some point in 2020 he just came into school with a knife. He had this man bag thing. He used to carry a knife with him.

“It was for protection just in case someone wanted to come at him. He told me that because he trusted me.

“It was like a little black one. You have to push the blade up. Like a cardboard knife.

“A week or two before he got kicked out of school he brought a knife in. I don’t know what he got kicked out for.”

Under cross-examination from Brendan Kelly QC, representing the defendant, she said she saw the defendant take a knife into school.

The girl described the defendant as a drug user.

“He said he suffered from depression and anxiety. He took drugs to try and help him. Weed and whatever he could get his hands on.

“He told me one time at school in a maths lesson together he took acid. That’s what he said to me. They (the teachers) didn’t know. He asked me for money a lot so that he could buy weed.”

She was asked “How many times did you see him smoking weed?” and replied “daily”.

Under cross-examination she said she knew the defendant wanted to sell drugs and had also asked her, Roberts and another youth to assist.

The girl said Roberts told her he planned to meet the defendant on the night when he died.

“They were going to meet for a drink in the park. That’s where they usually met. Central Park. That was where Roberts used to sneak out of home and meet up with him to drink alcohol.”

She said that on the night she exchanged messages with Roberts for around two hours but then the messages from Roberts suddenly stopped.

“Three hours later everyone was texting to say ‘where is Roberts?’ There was a lot of people. I thought something had happened.”

She said a teenage boy later sent her screenshots of messages in which the defendant made comments such as “This shouldn’t have happened” and “I’ve got blood on me.”

The 14 year old, who cannot be identified because of a court order, denies the murder of Roberts Buncis.

Mary Loram QC, prosecuting, has told the jury that the defendant lured Roberts out in the middle of the night and then carried out a brutal attack with a knife stabbing Roberts “again and again”.

Roberts’ body was found in a wooded area near to a footpath in the village of Fishtoft on the outskirts of the town of Boston, on the morning of 12 December last year (2020).

Miss Loram said Roberts was subjected to a brutal and prolonged attack leaving him with stab wounds to his head, back, torso, legs and arms. One of his hands was injured so severely it appeared the defendant had tried to cut it off, she said.

The trial continues.

A Lincolnshire coroner has warned people about the danger of mixing drugs following the sudden death of a 33-year-old man.

David Buck died at his home in Skegness from a massive pulmonary embolism.

An inquest into his death, held in Lincoln on Wednesday, heard that a contributory factor might have been a mixture of illicit and prescription drugs.

Speaking after the hearing, assistant coroner Marianne Johnson said: “I don’t think a lot of youngsters realise that mixing certain drugs – albeit only at therapeutic level – can cause what’s called toxicity.

“They perhaps need to understand that, singularly, therapeutic level is fine but mixing it with other therapeutic-level drugs is likely to cause a toxic effect that can then cause death.”

Mrs Johnson gave an example of paracetamol and cocaine.

The inquest was told that Mr Buck lived with his parents in Clarke Way.

The night before his death on November 28, 2020, he went out to a friend’s house to collect a phone charger.

His father, also named David, waited up until he came home at 2am.

Giving evidence, Mr Buck Snr said his son was unsteady on his feet and “clearly under the influence of something”. He sat with him before going to bed at 5.30am. When he checked on his son at 9am, he found him unresponsive and called 999.

East Midlands Ambulance Service gave CPR but was unable to revive Mr Buck Jnr. His father said in the inquest that the family was grateful to the paramedics for their attention.

The inquest was told that other contributory factors to the death were chronic drug-related heart disease and morbid obesity.

Evidence was heard that Mr Buck Jnr was “troubled”. He had lost a lot of weight and was self-conscious about the loose skin but was due to be referred by a mental health team for surgery which would have helped him.

Mrs Johnson concluded that his death was as a result of natural causes.

A 103-year-old man from Lincoln who was pushed over and then stabbed by an intruder at his front door has lived to tell the tale, and his family have been raising money for the charity that supported him.

John Cox, 103, had to fight off the intruder in the Ermine area of Lincoln in February last year when he came to John’s door claiming to be from the council.

He said he was there to check the lights, but John recognised it as a scam and said: “You’re not coming in here, mate.”

The man then shoved John over before stabbing him in the arm with a blade, and running away in panic.

His wife Joan, 98, was upstairs at the time and was said to be horrified by what she saw when she heard John calling for help.

John said the scene was a “bloodbath” and it took nine hours for hospital staff to stem the flow of blood coming from his arm.

Miraculously, he survived this ordeal despite his age. John will turn 104 in February, but the incident hasn’t fazed him.

“These things happen in life to make you stronger,” John told The Lincolnite. “I’m proud of how I defended myself because too many people think they can do this to elderly, vulnerable people.

“The thing I was most worried about was my watch, it was a birthday present from my wife and I thought I had lost it!

“I think the amount of blood scared him (the intruder) a bit, deep down I think he was more frightened than I was.”

John is a fit and healthy man for his age, and his key to a long life has been keeping busy and active, which is why he still washes up, does gardening and even uses an exercise bike upstairs.

After the incident, John and his family were put in the capable hands of Victim Support, an independent charity for victims of traumatic crime.

Victim Support contacted John every week, and would call him regularly during coronavirus lockdown to make sure he was still doing okay.

John’s daughter Jill said: “We can’t thank them enough really, they’ve been absolutely brilliant for John and the whole family.

“We didn’t know about Victim Support before this happened, so we just wanted to raise awareness and help them however we could so that more families can be given the support we were.”

The Cox family have taken it upon themselves to help Victim Support as a token of their gratitude for the handling of John’s situation, and have spent the last year trying to raise money for the charity.

Due to the pandemic, they were unable to host any fundraising events or raffles, but managed to raise £300 for Victim Support, which will go towards making communities safer and installing new alarm systems on doors and windows of local residents.

A restaurant and Prosecco bar inside a popular department store in Spalding aims to add a different dimension to the customer experience — and The Lincolnite went to check it out.

Hills Department Store in Spalding was initially due to close after 60 years of trade, but jobs were saved when Lincolnshire firm Coneys Clothing Stores stepped in to buy the business.

The department store reopened under the new ownership in March this year, with Riverview Cafe opening for takeaway in April and indoor dining in May.

It serves a range of dishes, including sausage and mash, chicken goujons, Piri Piri chicken skewers, bacon, brie and cranberry panini, and broccoli and stilton quiche. There are also a range of desserts such as a raspberry and white chocolate cake.

The Prosecco Bar was a new addition in March this year to move with the demand. It sells a range of drinks, including wine, vodka, rum, whiskey, and flavoured gins, as well as cocktails from Lincoln bar Strait & Narrow. The cocktails can be bought as gifts or served at the Prosecco Bar for you to drink there.

The bar also sells Hills’ own labelled Prosecco, red and white wine, rose and the latest addition of its own champagne. In addition, it also hosts exclusive wine tasting evenings.

As part of the bar, there is also a wine shop stocking a universal selection of award-winning and the firm’s own wines to create a warm and friendly environment for wine lovers. The wines will be available to buy online here in the coming months.

Eleanor Read, Prosecco Bar and Wine Shop Manager, told The Lincolnite: “Weekends are an absolute winner and it is steady in the week, but is really picking up. The rapport with customers is really building and people are coming here from word of mouth too which is great to see.”

The department store, restaurant and Prosecco bar are opening between 9.30am-5pm Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm on Saturdays, and 10am-4pm on Sundays.

Managing Director Scott Crowson said: “I have been amazed by the support from the customers who have given me some extremely welcoming comments and hope the people of Spalding will continue to support one of the town’s largest independent stores.”

Nick Snookes, General Manager at the store, added: “I am extremely pleased with the reception to the changes since reopening under new management.”

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