36 new COVID-19 infections in Greater Lincolnshire on Monday

A charity partnership is to deliver work and social opportunities for young people in the Lincolnshire RAF family this year.

The national YMCA has partnered with the Royal Air Force’s leading welfare charity, the RAF Benevolent Fund, on its Airplay programme which delivers youth work across the country.

Young people who live on RAF bases will be able to enjoy thousands of opportunities, from arts and crafts to sports and relationship-building, with the help of several regional YMCAs.

The Airplay programme is one the RAF Benevolent Fund’s support schemes, providing youth club sessions on RAF stations to help children who may find being in a military family difficult due to the long time spent away from parents and frequent moving to new areas.

YMCA Lincolnshire will take on almost 20 new youth workers as part of the plans, operating across RAF Cranwell, Scampton, Digby, Waddington and Coningsby.

Youth project manager at YMCA Lincolnshire, Leo Williams said: “YMCA Lincolnshire’s youth service has welcomed nearly 20 Airplay youth workers to provide opportunity and engagement for young people on RAF bases across Lincolnshire.

“It is an exciting time for us all, as we further engage with communities at the heart of Lincolnshire and create meaningful impact.

“Over the next few weeks, we are set to see delivery of the Airplay project recommence across all bases. This will see a variety of activities featuring everything from arts and crafts to youth sports.

“With something lined up for everyone, it is set to be a great year!”

Small business owners in Lincolnshire will back the latest COVID restriction relaxations, but bosses warn of escalating costs ahead amid a 30-year high on inflation.

Katrina Pierce, the Lincolnshire development manager for the Federation of Small Businesses said: “The news that we are to move from Plan B and its various limitations and requirements back to Plan A will be positively received by Lincolnshire’s small business owners today.

“It shows we are moving in the right direction away from restrictions and barriers to working normally, and we certainly hope this really is the final wind down of all limits on trading.”

However, she pointed to further announcements from the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday which showed the price of food costs and energy bills drove inflation to 5.4% in the 12 months to December, the highest since it shot to 7.1% in March 1992.

Analysts have warned there is worse to come with gas and electricity costs set to rise by another 50% in the spring as a government price cap is set to be revised.

Further research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies also suggested average pay rises are failing to keep up with the rising cost of living.

Katrina Pierce, development manager for the Federation of Small Businesses in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Supplied

“Today’s announcement does come against a challenging backdrop for SMEs in the county,” said Katrina.

“Just this morning we found that the cost of inflation is at a 30-year high, which means costs on everything is escalating.

“Small businesses are also facing volatility in energy costs, difficulties sourcing labour and a range of stock and supply issues.

She said “all eyes will be on the Chancellor” in a few weeks time hoping that he will deliver a “pro small business budget”.

“But for today, it’s good to know this time next week we will be out of restrictions that affect how we live, work and socialise,” she said.

CCTV footage of someone running out of a Lincoln park moments after city man Sam Davies had been fatally stabbed has been shown to the murder trial.

The prosecution says the man, who slips and loses his footing briefly as he emerges into Browning Drive in the St Giles area, is 20-year-old Eimantas Gochman after just carrying out the attack.

Several clips – all from the same camera covering an entrance to the park between Browning Drive and Coleridge Gardens and timed at about 10.45pm on May 27 last year – were shown to the jury at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday, January 19.

William Harbage QC, prosecuting, said one showed defendant Eric Kesel walking up Browning Drive and entering the park at 10:45:16.

Another clip, he told the court, was Mr Davies going into the park, having approached from the opposite direction, at 10:46:11.

Mr Harbage said a third clip showing a man stumbling was: “A person who the Crown say is Mr Gochman seen running from the park less than a minute after Sam Davies had entered the park.”

The trial heard evidence from two residents of Browning Drive, captured on CCTV, who were chatting outside and saw two men walk by separately towards the alleyway to the park.

The women both said one of the men had firstly spent several minutes standing over the road from them apparently talking on a mobile.

One of the witnesses said both men came running back along the street a short time later and the shorter man – accepted to be Kesel – shrugged his shoulders with his arms up high and shouted either: “For ***** sake” or “****ing hell.”

This caused the man in front, who was dressed in dark clothing, to slow down.

The witness said: “They met up halfway down the street and had about a ten or 20-second conversation. Then the taller guy carried on running, turning right into Oval Approach towards Nettleham Road.”

Kesel, who lives in Browning Drive, was seen to go into a house on that street. The witness said the whole scenario had seemed odd to the two women.

She said: “There’s a running joke that there’s always something going on where we live.

“I said ‘It’s been quiet for a little while now. I wonder if this is the calm before the storm.’”

The next day she saw that the park area had been taped off by police.

Flowers and a teddy left on the railings near the scene where Sam Davies was killed. | Photo: The Lincolnite

One of the seven defendants is a 17-year-old boy. His barrister said video clips gathered by the police from Coleridge Gardens showed his client walking towards the park at 10:44:30 and walking back past the same camera at 10:47:34.

Mr Andrew Campbell-Tiech said to DC Carla Dawson in cross-examination: “During those 184 seconds, in the park Sam Davies was fatally stabbed. The prosecution case is this isn’t a coincidence.

“In the course of interview [my client] described that he went to the park to buy some cocaine, having left the taxi running at the bottom of Coleridge Gardens.

“Crucially, he told you that he never saw Sam Davies at all. In other words, when he went to the park and left it, it was before Sam Davies arrived.

“The material you have actually supports that proposition.”

Mr Andrew Campbell-Tiech said calculations of the time it took the boy to walk to the park from the camera point and back to it proved his point.

The trial was also played the 999 call from a Coleridge Gardens resident after Mr Davies had banged at his door asking for help as he bled from the two wounds.

The defendants standing trial – all from Lincoln – are Joe Jameson, 24, of Whitehall Terrace; Billy Gill,
21, of Hatcliffe Gardens; Daniel Heydari, 25, of Chestnut Street; Eimantas Gochman, 20, of Sturton
Close; Eric Kesel, 19, of Browning Drive; and Charlie Wakefield, 21, of Broxholme Gardens. A 17-year-
old boy cannot be legally identified due to his age.

All of them deny one count of murder. Jameson also denies making a threat to kill.

The trial continues, with the prosecution expected to complete its submissions next week.