Hello and welcome back to The Valleys Lead.
This week, we’ve heard about the seven deaths in a Middlesbrough car crash following a car travelling the wrong way on the A66. And then there was the death and two injuries during a police pursuit near Stratford-upon-Avon.
It’s been a week that all eyes are on the rise of dangerous driving on UK roads.
Nine years ago in the south Wales valleys, there was a case of dangerous driving that led to the death of Sophie Brimble. But the driver who was racing the car she was thrown out of is now allowed to drive again and her family is campaigning to change the law as a result.
The story is below (and we’d appreciate you sharing it to get justice for the family) - but just quickly - we’d love you to support The Valleys Lead. There isn’t another publication doing what we are in the south Wales valleys - covering stories from all these valleys, going behind the headlines to report on stories that matter to locals, asking questions of people in power, and speaking with real people in the valleys about their opinions and experiences. This kind of journalism takes time and effort, and we’d love your support to keep reporting about stories that need to be heard.
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The Valleys Briefing
(A little round-up of some stories in brief from our valleys. Anytime you have something you’d like to share, no matter how big or small, email laurencrosbymedlicott@gmail.com):
Plaid Cymru Senedd Member Lindsay Whittle says he is becoming increasingly concerned that the historic Llancaiach Fawr, near Nelson, may never reopen.
The Tudor Manor house has now been shut for two summers with seemingly no immediate hope that it will once again welcome visitors. Whittle, who is a former leader of Caerphilly Council, said: “I don’t think we have got to the bottom about what is happening with Llancaiach Fawr. The Council leader has talked about a preferred route for the operation of Llancaiach Fawr but there was ongoing legal, financial and operational due diligence to resolve. Frankly, this is turning into a complete farce of the Labour Party’s own doing. The second most important historical landmark in the county borough – after Caerphilly Castle – is lying closed and we have absolutely no idea if or when Llancaiach Fawr will reopen.
The way this whole episode has been handled does worry me and I am increasingly concerned that it will never reopen to the public. Come clean, Caerphilly Council.”
Darren Thomas, the founder and former CEO of the mental health charity Signposted Cymru, based in Aberdare, resigned in July 2026 after a regulatory warning from the watchdog. The Charity Commission has opened a case against Signposted Cymru after learning the organisation continued to employ Thomas as CEO despite him being disqualified due to having an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA). An IVA is a legally binding agreement to pay off debts over a period of time. The Charity Commission does not allow a person to run a charity if they are bankrupt or subject to an IVA.
A school for pupils with additional learning needs is due to nearly triple in size after plans for a major expansion were approved. The Buarth Y Capel satellite site of Ysgol Ty Coch in Ynysybwl, Rhondda Cynon Taf, currently has 34 pupils but will be able to accommodate up to 94 following the development. The expansion is also expected to increase the number of staff based at the site from 19 to 54.
“How could he be driving again?”: Sister of crash victim fights for change after driver escapes punishment
In the early hours on 26 July 2017, Aimee Coombes woke to a phone call from her mother to say that Aimee’s younger sister Sophie Brimble, age 20, had been in a car accident in Brynmawr, Blaenau Gwent.
“I got out of bed and immediately got dressed to go find out what happened,” Aimee told The Valleys Lead. “My mum and I met on the Heads of the Valleys Road for us to go together. When we got there, there were fire engines, ambulances, and police cars everywhere. Blue lights amid total darkness because the car crashed into a lamp post and had shut down all the street lights.”
Aimee asked the police what was going on with Sophie, where she was. “They said they couldn’t tell me – that we’d have to wait for the liaison officer to turn up,” she said.
Minutes felt like hours, and when the liaison officer arrived, Aimee and her mother were told that Sophie had passed away at the scene of the accident.
“I didn’t believe it,” Aimee said. “We went home and I expected she was going to walk through the door and tell us that it hadn’t been her – that there had been a mistake. It wasn’t until we identified her body the next that it hit home.
In the days following Sophie’s death, Aimee was told that Sophie’s boyfriend Jay Bayliss, had been racing on Beaufort Road with Sophie in the passenger seat when he crashed into a lamp post.
“That’s all we knew,” she said.
Soon after Sophie’s funeral, Aimee found out she was pregnant with her second child. “I felt a lot of guilt,” Aimee remembered. “Sophie had gone and I had fallen pregnant. It didn’t feel like the right time.”
