Appeal launched after child racially abused on Carlton bus

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🚨 Police issue CCTV image after child is subjected to racial abuse on bus to Carlton

Police have issued CCTV images of a man they want to identify and speak to after a child was racially abused on a bus travelling from Carlton.

The young victim had been on a bus service to the city along with some friends, when a man started up a conversation with the group.

During the conversation, the man racially abused a boy and when challenged by his friends he made a phone call before making comments that caused the group to fear for their safety.

The incident happened on the afternoon of March 4.

Investigators are now looking to speak to the man, pictured, below, as they believe he could assist them with their ongoing inquiries.

PC Chris Clayton, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “There is absolutely no excuse for anyone to act in the manner displayed in this incident.

“As a force, we take a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime in all its forms, including racism, and will always look to put offenders before the courts.

“As part of our inquiries I would encourage anyone who recognises the man pictured to please come forward, as we would like to speak to him in relation to this incident.”

Anyone who recognises the man is asked to call Nottinghamshire Police on 101, quoting 26*131079, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Calls for community support for match‑funding campaign to restore cricket pavilion

A new fundraising campaign is ramping up to raise cash for restoring a much-loved cricket pavilion - and the community are being asked for support.

CISWO – The Coal Mining Charity – are supporting trustees from Mapperley Plains Recreation & Social Club as they urge residents, cricket supporters and community partners to back a campaign to restore the Women and Girls’ Cricket Pavilion at Mapperley Plains Recreation & Social Club.

CISWO’s grants team has been working with the club’s trustees in their application for £10,022 in match funding from Sport England’s Movement Fund for the project.

To unlock this grant, the club must raise at least £10,022 in community donations.

Over £4,000 has already been raised but much more is needed to complete the refurbishment and reopen the pavilion, which has been closed since 2024 due to severe roof leaks and floor rot.

Its closure has removed essential private changing facilities, prayer space, and accessible areas for disability cricket and community groups.

Mapperley Plains Recreation & Social Club trustee David Stanley said: “Girls want to feel comfortable in their own environment so they can express themselves, and having a dedicated space where they can display their honours and trophies is an important part of that.

"Refurbishing the pavilion will also help expand community facilities, giving more people a welcoming place to connect.”

CISWO and Mapperley Plains Recreation & Social Club are encouraging everyone who values sport, inclusivity, and community wellbeing to support the campaign and help secure the match funding needed.

Anyone wishing to donate can do so online at: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/women-and-girls-cricket-pavilion-refurbishment

All donations will go directly to the Trust to refurbish the Women and Girls’ Pavilion and restore it as a hub for inclusive cricket in Mapperley.

⚠️ Heads up...

🌤️ Weather: After a bright and chilly start, the clouds will bubble up to give a mixture of sunny spells and showers, locally heavy, with the risk of hail and thunder in places, during the afternoon. Lighter winds than Sunday. Feeling warmer.

Tonight, early evening showers will fade to leave a dry night, with prolonged clear spells. Turning chilly, with a touch of frost in prone rural spots. Some isolated mist and fog patches.

Sophie had died – and still mental health doctor was getting it wrong

Before the inquest into her daughter Sophie’s death at a mental health hospital, Leisa Towle received a pack of documents.

Among them was a witness statement from Sophie’s doctor at Sherwood Oaks Hospital in Mansfield – part of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.

The doctor writes about Sophie’s life, her education, and her treatment plan on the ward.

He gets it wrong.

“He didn’t know her at all,” says Leisa, something which she’d already suspected.

“I was fuming. He said she was a ‘Cambridgeshire University’ student and that she was allowed a few hours leave each day with staff and family. She wasn’t.”

Sophie Towle died in 2024 after suffering a blood clot. A jury ruled that neglect by mental health hospital staff contributed to her death.

It’s been nearly two years since then, but Leisa remains concerned that those issues are yet to be properly tackled.

“I think there’s a culture and culture is harder to change than procedures,” says Leisa. “You’re battling with staff who are stretched, but it’s how you change their mindset. That’s the difficult thing, I think.”

Since Sophie’s death, Leisa has been in touch with Nottinghamshire Healthcare’s director of nursing, Diane Hull.

She’s trying, as a bereaved victim, to help drive change.

“I think one of the biggest things is listening,” Leisa says. “Listening to patients and listening to families and involving them in every step of the care.

“Because often we were excluded, or we didn’t know what was happening, and Sophie didn’t know what was happening. It made her mental health worse because she thought people were doing things behind her back.”

It was only in Nottinghamshire that Sophie, who was diagnosed with Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD), experienced these problems.

When she stayed at hospitals run by Rotherham, Doncaster & South Humber Trust, she had an entirely different experience.

“In Doncaster, they seemed to be very coordinated,” says Leisa. “Everyone seemed to know what they were doing and working to the same aims. In Nottinghamshire, sometimes the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing.

“The doctor in Doncaster just knew Sophie. She really knew her, as a person, not just as a patient. She would go in and see Sophie in the morning if she was still in bed and help her get up. I don’t think the doctors in Nottinghamshire ever had that human touch.”

Leisa thinks Sophie would still be alive if she had stayed in Doncaster. She was moved back to a Nottinghamshire Healthcare ward when a bed became available because, being from Mapperley, it was her “home” NHS trust.

In Doncaster, Sophie was immediately put under one-to-one observations – meaning someone was watching her 24 hours a day, including when she slept or went to the bathroom.

In Nottinghamshire, Leisa says they avoided one-to-one observations “at all costs” because they were viewed as “restrictive” and “deskilling,” and patients were meant to build their own skills to deal with their emotions.

But being on one-to-one worked for Sophie, Leisa says.

“I knew Sophie inside and out,” says Leisa. “It took me a long time, but I did. But the staff weren’t willing to adapt how they dealt with her from the knowledge that I had and from what Sophie was telling them.

“They just kind of had a one-size-fits-all treatment plan, really. They treated everybody the same.”

It was recently reported that Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust reduced its spending on bank and agency staff – supply staff – by 34% in 2025/2026.

But in the same meeting of the trust’s board of directors, questions were raised about ongoing vacancies and sickness absence rates, which means that a fifth of staff are “missing” at any one time.

A number of employees who gave evidence at Sophie’s inquest, and cared for her while she was in hospital, were serving their notice period and preparing to leave the trust at the time of Sophie’s death.

The trust has said that it recognises the importance of permanent staff and understands the knock-on effect of high turnover on levels of absence and the trust’s reputation as a place to work or receive care.

Leisa reiterates that point.

“Sophie dreaded evenings and weekends because there’d often be staff on that she didn’t know and they didn’t know her,” says Leisa. “The reliance on bank and agency staff was a problem. Her friends felt the same. 

“When there were staff on that didn’t know them, it just sent the whole ward off, because (the staff) just didn’t know what their issues were and how to deal with them, and so it just makes it really, really hard to feel safe, really. It just seemed to be very disjointed.

“In Doncaster, we saw the same staff over and over again. We felt like we were getting to know them, and I felt like I could trust them. Often, her one-to-ones were conducted by her named nurse. At Sherwood Oaks, we didn’t even know who her named nurse was.”

There are “really good people” in mental health care, asserts Leisa – but not enough of them.

“I’ve been working with people who I do know are really trying hard to make positive changes, but a lot of these people are hidden away behind doors in their offices, in their own little bubbles.

“They need to be on the ward, witnessing what happens, in the thick of it, to show that they’re supporting the staff and they’re willing to do what they’re trying to implement as well.”

A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Healthcare said:  “We recognise the important role personalised care planning, therapeutic relationships, individual risk assessments and safety plans all have in contributing to safe, compassionate care, and they are fundamental to all our improvement work.

“Therapeutic observations are prescribed as part of someone’s care plan depending on their individual needs and all care plans and risk assessments are audited on a weekly basis and any concerns are escalated and addressed.

“We have got better at listening to families and involving them in decisions about their loved one’s care, and this continues to be a priority area for improvement.  Families provide valuable insight and we welcome all feedback as the experiences of people who use our services are a vital factor in us driving improvement.”

Joseph Connoly (Local Democracy Reporter)