A man who killed a 21-year-old man had told mental health services of his fantasies to murder – but was not given adequate help, a report has found.

Some of the most vulnerable people in Neath and Port Talbot have been hit with massive hikes in the cost of staying in their own homes.The county council has put up charges for home care by an inflation-busting 25 per cent, from £8 to £10 per hour.

THE levels of care given to a man who died two hours after being admitted to a psychiatric hospital “violated every principle of nursing”, an inquest heard yesterday.

ASTHMA sufferers in Wales are facing a postcode lottery when it comes to the help they receive to manage their condition at home instead of being admitted to hospital in an emergency.

A charity often seen to be bringing relief to war zones and international disasters is bringing its message a little closer to home.

Wales’ first mental health first aid course is being launched. Charity Mind Cymru says it hopes the training will raise awareness about mental health problems.

It aims to recruit and train 75 people across the country to become instructors who will deliver the course in their areas over the next year.

Participants will learn about common mental health problems, including drugs, depression and self-harm, but they will not diagnose conditions.

The charity said one in four experienced mental health problems each year in Britain.

One of Mind Cymru’s training managers, Carol Evans, said the course was a “wonderful concept to educate people” about the issues.

AN 84-year-old woman who suffered from schizophrenia and dementia and needed constant care died after being neglected by nursing home staff, a court heard today.

Gladys Thomas, was taken to hospital with a broken rib, broken collar bone and extensive chest bruising and died just days later, Newport Crown Court was told.

And Prosecutor Gerard Elias QC said there was evidence Miss Thomas had been forcibly restrained with a ligature before paramedics arrived.

Eight staff of the Bryngwyn Mountleigh care home in Newbridge, South Wales, this morning went on trial accused of neglecting Miss Thomas during her time at the home between September and October 2005.

Mr Elias told the jury, “The prosecution says that the evidence indicates these defendants had significant contact with Miss Thomas such that he or she must have been aware of her condition and didn’t record it or do anything adequate to deal with it – or if not aware of her condition, wasn’t doing his or her job properly because that individual should have seen the condition she was in and taken necessary action.”

A 16-YEAR-OLD girl who lay dying of a heroin overdose while her mother and elder sister allegedly watched TV was visited by a social worker hours before she died.

Amman Valley councillor Kevin Madge has defended himself over allegations that an increase in the social services charges for 2008/2009 was “not acceptable”.

A counselling service for pupils is to be set up across Wales after recommendations were made following an inquiry into sex abuse by a teacher.