logo
Man cleared of preventing burial of two babies after their bodies were found at house on quiet street

Man cleared of preventing burial of two babies after their bodies were found at house on quiet street

Daily Mail​20-05-2025
A man has been cleared of hiding the deaths of two babies who were found dead at a home.
Zilvinas Ledovskis, 50, of Phoebe Road in Swansea, south Wales, was held with his ex-partner, Egle Zilinskaite, 30, over the grim discovery of the babies in their former home.
The van driver was due to face trial later this year charged with two counts of concealing the birth of a child and two counts of preventing the lawful and decent burial of a dead body.
Following a review of the evidence, the van driver was found not guilty at a hearing before Cardiff Crown Court today, after the prosecution said it would be presenting no evidence against him.
Zilinskaite, 31, of Crwys Road, Cardiff, pleaded guilty to the charges in April last year and is due to be sentenced later this year.
Addressing Mr Ledovskis, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, the Recorder of Cardiff, said: 'The prosecution has offered no evidence against you and accordingly I direct not guilty verdicts to be entered.
'That concludes the proceedings so far as you are concerned.'
The charges relate to the discovery of two babies at an end-of-terrace home in Maes-Y-Felin, Wildmill, Bridgend, in November 2022.
The two children, previously referred to as Baby A and Baby B in court, died some time between January 1 2017 and November 26 2022.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Newport: Seven charged with Commercial Road disorder after unrest
Newport: Seven charged with Commercial Road disorder after unrest

BBC News

time3 hours ago

  • BBC News

Newport: Seven charged with Commercial Road disorder after unrest

Seven people from Newport have been charged in connection with a report of violent disorder in the Police officers were called to Commercial Road after a group of men were seen fighting at about 15:20 men aged 25, 28, 33, 40, 42 and 52 and a 17-year-old boy, who are all from Newport, were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder. The six men have been remanded into custody while the 17-year-old has been released on police are all due to appear at Newport Magistrates' Court on 4 August. An eighth man, a 40-year-old, from Newport, has also been arrested suspicion of violent disorder and is currently in police Police Ch Supt John Davies said: "I hope that these charges show our communities that we are heavily invested in responding to and investigating reports of crime and that we are committed to helping keep the streets of Gwent safe."We will continue to work with our partners to identify the issues and tackle the causes surrounding this incident."

Legal aid cyber-attack has pushed sector towards collapse, say lawyers
Legal aid cyber-attack has pushed sector towards collapse, say lawyers

The Guardian

time3 hours ago

  • The Guardian

Legal aid cyber-attack has pushed sector towards collapse, say lawyers

Lawyers have warned that a cyber-attack on the Legal Aid Agency has pushed the sector into chaos, with barristers going unpaid, cases being turned away and fears a growing number of firms could desert legal aid work altogether. In May, the legal aid agency announced that the personal data of hundreds of thousands of legal aid applicants in England and Wales dating back to 2010 had been accessed and downloaded in a significant cyber-attack. Three months on, much of the legal aid system remains offline as services are being rebuilt, with lawyers unable to access records or bill for their services, particularly in civil cases. Chris Minnoch, the chief executive of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, said he had had members calling him in tears, staying up into the night waiting for payments to come through and having to negotiate extended overdrafts. 'Lots of barristers and solicitors are saying to us: this is the straw that breaks the camel's back. We wouldn't be surprised that by the time things are eventually fixed, there will be fewer [legal aid] providers because people just can't take the stress any more,' he said. Although the Legal Aid Agency has set up a contingency payment system, where legal aid practitioners can apply for weekly payments equivalent to the average they were paid in the three months running up to the hack, many said it was not enough. One barrister working primarily on legal aid cases, who asked not to be named, said they were offered only £9.50 a week under the contingency scheme. 'Its obviously really laughable and I know a lot of colleagues were offered a very low rate,' they said. 'I am still doing legal aid work, but financially I am not in a good position. I've had to think about other forms of income, rely more on my partner, and I'm just not able to afford certain things that I would otherwise. 'It's particularly had a really massive impact on barristers from working-class backgrounds.' Jenny Beck KC, of Beck Fitzgerald, which specialises in supporting victims of domestic abuse, said the contingency payments had enabled the legal firm to keep going, but could cause a headache further down the line. 'They are based on a guesstimate, so if we underclaim or overclaim, we'll be in some difficulty,' she said. 'We're literally flying blind in an area where there's no margin to play with. So from a business perspective, it's deeply dangerous.' She said lawyers were spending at least an extra two hours on each case due to online systems being down and they were having to turn away more people as a result. 'The bottom-line impact is that we can look after fewer clients because our processing times for everything are longer,' she said. 'We now have to keep a manual note of everything; we've gone back to paper which we're later going to have to input. 'We've got no management information, we've got no control over our cashflow, and everyone at the frontline is beleaguered and exhausted because their administrative hours have doubled and they're able to help less people.' Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion She also said the hack had badly damaged trust with vulnerable clients. 'The people who are at most risk and who need confidentiality like nobody else, we're telling them, well, we've been putting your stuff into an unsafe system,' she said. 'It's a major erosion of trust.' There have long been concerns about legal aid 'deserts' as lawyers have gradually withdrawn from services due to lack of funding, and there are fears the long-term consequence of the hack will be less access to justice for the most vulnerable in society. 'We're constantly forced to turn away work because we just don't have capacity to, and that was happening even before the hack just because of the limited funding of legal aid,' said Abbi Hart, the co-chair of Young Legal Aid Lawyers. 'This is just going to make it worse. The system was in a pretty bad way beforehand, now it's even more concerning.' A Legal Aid Agency spokesperson said: 'We apologise for the disruption the changes to payment processes made in response to the cyber attack have caused. We understand the difficulties this is causing civil legal aid providers and are working as quickly as possible to restore online systems. 'A contingency system is in place and barristers and solicitors can use our simple escalation process if they feel the average pay figure is inaccurate.'

BBC faces criticism over delay in paying court-ordered damages to Gerry Adams
BBC faces criticism over delay in paying court-ordered damages to Gerry Adams

The Independent

time3 hours ago

  • The Independent

BBC faces criticism over delay in paying court-ordered damages to Gerry Adams

The BBC has been criticised for not yet having paid court-ordered damages to former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams. The corporation lost a major defamation case earlier this year after Mr Adams took them to court over a 2016 episode of its Spotlight programme and an accompanying online story. They contained an allegation that Mr Adams sanctioned the killing of former Sinn Fein official Denis Donaldson. Mr Adams denied any involvement. In May, a jury at the High Court in Dublin found in his favour and awarded him 100,000 euros (£84,000) after determining that was the meaning of words included in the programme and article. The BBC, which was found by the jury not to have acted in good faith nor in a fair and reasonable way, was also ordered to pay the former Sinn Fein leader's legal costs. Adam Smyth, director of BBC NI, expressed disappointment in the verdict and said the corporation believes it supplied extensive evidence to the court of the careful editorial process and journalistic diligence applied to the programme and accompanying online article. After the decision, the broadcaster's legal team was granted a stay in the payment of the full award as it took time to consider an appeal, subject to paying half the damages (50,000 euros or £42,000) and 250,000 euros (£210,000) towards solicitors' fees. In June, the BBC confirmed it would not pursue an appeal. However, it is understood that by August 1 the BBC had not paid the damages. Mr Adams previously indicated that he planned to donate what he receives to good causes. He specified that these would include for children in Gaza as well as groups in the Irish language sector and those who are homeless. A source close to Mr Adams told the PA news agency: 'The delay by the BBC is deplorable and it should move speedily towards discharging the order of the court.' A BBC spokesperson said: 'Total costs will be finalised and payable in due course.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store