Sharon Barrowman

[Tom Edwards ✍️​🎙️👨‍💻 @tomedwardsbbchw]

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Senior scouts boss charged with fraud after £200k goes missing👇

Hereford and Worcester Scouts had to cancel a two-week trip to Canada involving 100 children after the massive fund was removed from their bank account.
https://t.co/C3x93F7kWm

[Robert Barrowman snr @robjnr_robert]

@bbchw #justiceforrobjnr

[Artur Nadolny @ArturNadol7566]

15 CARE HOMES SHUT DOWN BECAUSE ONE WHISTLEBLOWER REFUSED TO STAY QUIET

You're an adult with learning disabilities living in a care home in Devon. At night, instead of a bed, you get put in an empty room. No heating. No bed either, just an inflatable mattress on the floor and an armchair. And a camera watching you the whole time.

That was Veilstone care home in Buckland Brewer, near Bideford. Run by a company called Atlas Project Team Ltd. The man in charge was Paul Hewitt. He'd actually sold the business back in 2006 but stuck around and kept running the show anyway.

Here's the part that really gets me. In 2009 and 2010, inspectors from the Care Quality Commission visited a dozen Atlas homes and wrote them glowing reports. Great job, well done, gold stars all round. Meanwhile residents were being locked in cold rooms overnight like it was some kind of punishment.

A whistleblower tried to raise the alarm in 2011. And what did the regulator do with that information? Passed it along to the local council and moved on. It took a second whistleblower going straight to the police that same year before anyone actually bothered to check properly.

When they finally did check, it wasn't pretty. Residents had been shut in that room over 1000 times. Left for hours with barely any food or water. No telly, no furniture, nothing to do but sit there in the cold. Prosecutors later called it organised and systematic abuse, which is a very polite way of describing what happened.

All 15 Atlas homes across Devon, Hampshire and Berkshire got shut down in 2012. Police launched Operation Baddeck. By the time it went through the courts, 22 people had been charged with 86 offences between them, including conspiracy to falsely imprison and conspiracy to ill treat vulnerable adults. The home manager, Jolyon Marshall, got 28 months. His wife was convicted too. Thirteen people in total.

Reporting restrictions meant the public couldn't even find out the full story until years later, once all the trials had finished.

CQC eventually said much has changed since 2011. Good to know, though it took two whistleblowers, a police investigation and years of court cases to get there.

This is exactly why whistleblowers matter. Nobody else was checking. Nobody else noticed. One person refused to stay quiet and that's the only reason any of this came out at all.

SOURCES: @BBCNews @johnpringdns

[BBC Hereford & Worcester @bbchw]

The government has ended its intervention into Herefordshire Council's children's services after bosses decided enough improvements had been made.

Read more: https://t.co/H1fK0e0AzT

[BBC Midlands @bbcmtd]

Ex-chief constable committed gross misconduct https://t.co/pLJEDXDeSQ

[Bromsgrove Standard @BromStandard]

Here is a sneak preview of the front page of tomorrow's Bromsgrove Standard - #tomorrowspaperstoday

[Robert Barrowman snr @robjnr_robert]

@tomedwardsbbchw #justiceforrobjnr

[BBC Hereford & Worcester @bbchw]

Government ends children's services intervention https://t.co/9HAz90rNMU

[ITV News Central @ITVCentral]

Suspended chief constable resigns day before misconduct hearing
https://t.co/at5zfRDAAh

[Carers Trust @CarersTrust]

Senior politicians including Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Angela Rayner met unpaid carers today as the government sets out a bold push for a National Care Service.

We welcome the energy the government is putting into social care, and hope unpaid carers remain central to these reforms.

[Daniel Hewitt @DanielHewittITV]

NEW: The Prime Minister praises our @itvnews investigation into Blue Ribbon Healthcare Group.

“There is profiteering in this sector and dangerous cost cutting on the backs of vulnerable people. I’m glad ITV has exposed that poor practice in recent days.”

https://t.co/UxPbCeZnEA

[Rightful Lives @RightfulLives]

Accountability, Accountability, Accountability.
@andyburnham.

[zoë bread @zoebread]

i’ll be a completely different person in 6 to 8 months

[Sally R @SallyStrength]

We say no to #SEND reforms

[Andy Burnham @andyburnham]

When I said I was going to do politics differently, I meant it.

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours in Cardiff city centre inviting people to ask me anything about my plans for the UK.

[SEND Action @SEND_Action]

@andyburnham Will you protect disabled children’s rights?

https://t.co/v4VVaoALAR

[Special Needs Jungle @SpcialNdsJungle]

The LGSCO’s Annual Review for 2026 shows #SEND education made up more than a third of all Ombudsman cases upheld, more than any other single issue.
Most upheld:
➡️ SEN assessments and reviews: 647 cases
➡️ Second most upheld: SEN provision and EHCPs: 625 cases

[Cllr. Samuel Evans 🔶️🇺🇦 @SamuelMarcEvans]

At tonight's Bromsgrove Council meeting I raised that my residents are not due to have a scheduled road sweeper visit until April 27. Responses to my questions will be given in writing. Hopefully the Council will change their schedule to ensure that we don't have to wait so long!

[Robert Barrowman snr @robjnr_robert]

@SamuelMarcEvans #justiceforrobjnr