Daily Express - 30.07.2019

6 Daily Express Tuesday, July 30, 2019

DX1ST

EXCLUSIVE

By Giles Sheldrick

Chief Reporter

THE estranged wife of

notoriously violent

convict Charles

Bronson was found

dead at her home

yesterday in a

suspected suicide.

Actress Paula

Williamson, 38, married

Bronson, 66, in the

chapel at HMP

Wakefield in 2017.

But their relationship

fell apart over pictures

of her in Tenerife, with

men allegedly placing

their heads on her chest

and kissing her.

Paula filed for divorce

from Bronson.

Her death comes days

after he claimed to

have “found true love”

and to be planning to

wed again.

Police said they were

not treating her death as

suspicious.

A statement from

Staffordshire Police

said: “A woman from

Stoke-on-Trent who

was found dead has

been named as Paula

Williamson, aged 38.”

In an interview last

year Paula said: “I need

to find somebody I can

actually go to dinner

with and have a

relationship with.

“I need to sort myself

out. I’ve got an alcohol

problem, a prescription

drug problem.”

A statement from

Bronson about the split

was read out when

Paula appeared on ITV’s

Loose Women last year.

He said: “I absolutely

abhor alcohol and

drugs. She needs help.

“I’ll miss her but she

needs to sort herself

out or she will be dead

in two years.”

Paula appeared in

Coronation Street

three times between

2008 and 2012 as an

unnamed nurse.

She also played a

doctor in Hollyoaks.

Tragedy...Paula Williamson

Bronson’s

actress wife

found dead

Head of NHS watchdog

oversaw £26m IT fiasco

A BOY aged six, a girl aged 13 and a
man in his 20s were killed when a gunman
went on a murderous rampage at a food
festival in California yesterday.
Hundreds of people fled for their lives as
the attacker opened fire with a semi-auto-
matic rifle after breaking into the Gilroy
Garlic Festival site near San Jose.
The 19-year-old killer, named locally as
Santino William Legan, also wounded at
least 15 others in a spree lasting seconds,
before he was shot dead by police.
The gunman, who was dressed in army
fatigues, reportedly told onlookers: “I’m
really angry.” But police said his motives
remain a mystery.
Stephen Romero, six, was the first victim
named from the outrage. He was playing in
an inflatable bouncy house with his mother
when he was shot in the back.
Mrs Romero has been placed in a medi-
cally induced coma after being shot in the
stomach, while her mother was being
treated for a gunshot wound to the leg.
Mr Romero, who was at home at the time,
said: “My son had his whole life to live.”
Police warned the scene was still “active”

Gunman kills children

in food festival horror

Stephen Romero, aged six, right, was killed as he played with his family; festival goers run for their lives, left, before police, centre, shot the gunman dead

as they launched a manhunt to find a sus-

pected accomplice reported by witnesses.

President Donald Trump, confronted by

what is said to be the 246th mass shooting

in the US this year, warned people to “be

careful and safe”.

The attack began at 6pm local time on

Sunday at a festival that attracts more than

100,000 people. Visitors who had been

wandering among the food stalls had to flee

for their lives as the horror unfolded.

Michael Paz, 72, who worked on a stall,

said: “He came ready to shoot because he

was wearing a protective vest.

“He was shooting left, he was shooting

right without any particular aim.”

Another witness said the gunman was

asked why he was shooting and replied:

“Because I am really angry.”

Gilroy police chief Scot Smithee said:

“It’s incredibly disheartening and

sad an event that does so

much good for the com-

munity had to suffer from

a tragedy like this.”

By Michael Knowles

By Cyril Dixon and Paul Jeeves

to get the great services they deserve,

it is critical the right person has been

appointed to the job.

“Quangocrats need real accounta-

bility to avoid these situations hap-

pening in the future.”

In 2016, NHSBT began to upgrade

the IT system used to support its

blood donation service,

but the project was

halted last year, with

the latest accounts

showing a “construc-

tive loss” of

£26.2million.

Mr Trenholm, who

served in the Hong

Kong and Surrey

police forces,

has been

the

Department of Environment Food

and Rural Affairs’s chief operating

officer and chief executive of the

Royal Borough of Windsor and

Maidenhead.

An NHSBT spokesman said the IT

upgrade was to safeguard the service’s

ability to collect and deliver blood “at

a time when we believed that our sys-

tems were likely to become vulnera-

ble in the absence of ongoing sup-

port”. But it was halted “once it

became clear the programme would

not be able to achieve its objectives in

the timeframe or cost initially antici-

pated, and that the current system

would continue to be supported”.

Mr Trenholm’s CQC role comes

amid a crisis in adult social care.

Figures show specialist dementia

homes are almost twice as likely as

ordinary care homes to receive a CQC

sub-standard rating.

The CQC said Mr Trenholm’s

appointment “followed a rigorous and

exhaustive recruitment process which

included full due diligence”.

It added: “We want our staff to be

equipped to do the best for people

who use services, so investing in the

tools to help them do this is an invest-

ment in the future.”

Jayne Connery, of Care Campaign

for the Vulnerable, also backed Mr

Trenholm, saying he was known as “a

well respected and committed care

professional”.

THE man who oversaw a doomed IT
project which cost taxpayers £26mil-
lion is now heading a major health
watchdog protecting the elderly.
Ex-police inspector Ian Trenholm
was chief executive when NHS Blood
and Transplant (NHSBT) was forced to
scrap the IT upgrade at a huge loss.
He now heads the Care Quality
Commission (CQC), which regulates
and inspects health and social care
services in England, and is in charge of
its £12million IT revamp.
NHSBT says his departure had
nothing to do with the failed project.
But John O’Connell, of the
TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Ian
Trenholm’s appointment to the CQC,
having failed to manage projects
effectively in his previous role, is
hugely concerning.
“Overseeing the care sector is
hugely important and should be the
responsibility of someone taxpayers
can trust. If care home residents are

Ian Trenholm, left, oversaw

vital NHSBT work, above

Convict...Charles Bronson