Kirjahaku

All I am is a fisherman. That’s all I’m guilty of, Your Honour.On 31 May 2010 eleven holdalls were discovered along the shore near Freshwater on the Isle of Wight; when opened they contained £53m worth of cocaine – the biggest haul ever found in UK waters. A local fishing crew was accused of waiting in the Channel for the bags to be thrown from a passing cargo ship in an operation allegedly masterminded by a local scaffolder.The Freshwater Five is a true story that cuts to the heart of the British judicial system. Did five men really attempt one of the world’s biggest drug smuggling operations – or were they simply in the wrong place, at the wrong time? Why did the police hastily alter key surveillance statements, why were logs blacked out or mysteriously left empty – and why was crucial evidence never disclosed at trial? All five men fiercely denied the allegations, but a jury rejected their version of the events.This is the story of what actually happened as told by the skipper of the crew. It’s a story that reveals the human misery of brutal prison sentences and a story that leaves the reader with one question: Does the British legal system really dispense justice?

While it is still possible to travel from Swansea to Shrewsbury along the quaint and sleepy Heart of Wales line, today’s experience is a far cry from its heyday, when heavy goods and express trains worked their way over the Welsh hills. In this volume, we explore the southern end of the line, including the now closed section running along the Swansea shoreline and the branch to Carmarthen, and document its complicated history around the Swansea and Llanelli areas.

Having covered the southern section of the Central Wales Line and its branches in the volume entitledSwansea to Llandovery, this volume traces the line from Llandovery to Craven Arms, where it met the North & West line and took its traffic on to Shrewsbury. This takes in the remarkable feats of engineering the Victorians undertook to forge this line across the Welsh hills, as we take a nostalgic look at a railway lost; its country stations, signal boxes and heavy goods and express trains largely replaced by simple request stops and single-car diesel units.