30-year minimum sentence for murderer of Claudiu-Carol Kondor

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March 14, 2025

A man convicted of the murder of delivery driver Claudiu-Carol Kondor in Armley has today been given a life sentence with a minimum term of 30 years.

Mark Ross, aged 32, was found guilty by a majority verdict at Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday of the murder of 42-year-old Claudiu, who was fatally injured in a collision in Heights Drive on August 20 last year.

Ross had stolen his van while Claudiu made a delivery in Alliance Street, Armley, and deliberately crashed it into a parked car causing him catastrophic injuries after he clung to the open passenger door of the vehicle as Ross sped off.

Claudiu’s death was the subject of a murder enquiry by detectives from West Yorkshire Police Homicide and Major Enquiry Team. Over the course of the investigation, detectives seized and viewed about 110 hours of CCTV footage, recovered 368 exhibits and took 113 statements.

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector James Entwistle said: “It is truly heart-breaking that the life of an honest hard-working man has been snatched away by the cruel and callous actions of Mark Ross.

“Through the hard work, dedication and commitment of everyone involved, from those initial attending officers, the public providing information and CCTV, to the analytical and support staff and the detectives there throughout the investigation to its conclusion at court, we have been able to provide justice for Claudiu and his family.”

In a victim impact statement to the court, Claudiu’s fiancée Mariana Gheorghe said: “I don’t know how I will live without him. Everything seems so difficult to me. I’m still shocked and confused by everything that happened, and I miss him very much.

“I lost the person with whom I planned my whole future. With the loss of Claudiu, his desire to work was also lost because he loved his delivery job, the dream of getting married, buying a house in England, retiring and living a quiet life died.

“We didn’t want to return to Romania, all our plans were based on life in England. I see myself forced to leave England, the country that adopted me five years ago, the country where I found love, the country that offered me a good life, a better life, without worrying about tomorrow.

“Both me and Claudiu are the kind of people who like to work and built their lives and dreams from honest work and on their own. England, the country that offered me love, peace of mind, many joys, many moments that I once only dreamed of, that offered me mental and financial comfort, now offers me insecurity, fear and loneliness. Yes, the loneliness is the reason why I am forced to leave England.

“Now I see myself forced to return to Romania, with a broken heart, alone without Claudiu, with empty hands, without a plan for the future, without dreams, without desires, a new life that I have to start from scratch.

“To Claudiu, life has been beautiful since I met you, you left such a big mark on my heart that I feel you next to me wherever I go. I miss you, I miss us.

“I wish I could turn back time, to be able to feel happiness, love, safety, hope and dreams again with Claudiu.

“I want him (Ross) to receive the punishment he deserves and, more than that, to learn his lesson that in the current situation, those who suffer the most are not to blame for his lifestyle, but these people pay with their lives and through their suffering a price they did not deserve to pay.”

Action day to improve Farsley Celtic’s ground

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March 14, 2025

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FarsleyCeltic-25-002 — The Citadel is the home of Farsley Celtic. Photo: Kelvin Wakefield

Supporters and members of the wider community are being invited to an action day to help Farsley Celtic’s ground meet FA ground grading requirements.

Farsley Celtic Supporters’ Club is holding a day of action at The Citadel this Sunday (March 16) in a bid to help get the facilities up to required standards.

The club said: “Some of the work has already started and we will also be holding an action day at The Citadel on Sunday where we hope to get as many supporters and community members to help out at the ground.

“Any help people can provide to carry out some general tidying up or painting the hatchings around the ground would be very welcome. There’s also a wall to take down in the referee’s room and we need a joiner to fit a couple of locks in the changing rooms.

“There are lots of different jobs available to suit people of all ages and abilities.”

Volunteers are being encouraged to turn up and lend a hand from 10am.

It’s been a tumultuous season for the troubled Celts, who haven’t played a game in Farsley for almost 11 months due to delays installing a new artificial pitch.

They are playing home games 70 miles away in Buxton and sit bottom of National League North, with relegation likely. Plans for a new artificial pitch, which would have provided a major new revenue stream for the club, have now been shelved.

The grass pitch at The Citadel was ripped up last summer. But the work to install a 4G pitch was beset with delays and those plans were shelved last month.

Chairman and owner Paul Barthorpe left the football club side of the business last month – which trades as FC2010 Ltd – leaving four directors (Paul Glover, Josh Greaves, John Stubbs and Jon Wickham) to run the club.

Barthorpe’s resignation was confirmed on Companies House last week, although he still still chairs FC 2010 Holdings Ltd, a separate company which owns the ground.

In a club statement, the directors described the past few weeks since Barthorpe’s resignation as ‘relentless’. They said: “As a board we are continuing to look at ways to bring in fresh funding into the club and ensure some stability moving forward.

“We have been meeting various potential funders [regarding the pitch], including the Football Foundation, as well as contractors and the league. Those discussions are complex and take time, but are progressing and are our priority.

“We hope to make a positive announcement regarding a new grass pitch once everything is in place.”

The statement commercial brochures had been circulated to businesses in Farsley and beyond. Any com apnoeas interested in becoming a partner should contact Jonathan Wickham on jon@farsleyceltic.com.

A crowdfunder aimed at securing the immediate future of the club has so far raised more than £13,500. The crowdfunder can be found here.

The Celts play league leaders Scunthorpe United at Buxton tomorrow as they look to secure their first win since Boxing Day.

Would you like to live at LILAC co-housing community?

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March 14, 2025

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Sponsored content

LILAC’s pioneering co-housing community is vibrant and friendly community of 32 adults and 12 children and young people based in West Leeds – and it is seeking new tenants.

Residents are community-focused and committed to a greener future.

LILAC currently has three vacancies; a two-bedroom, first-floor flat with balcony, a one-bedroom, first-floor flat with balcony and a one-bedroom, second-floor flat with balcony.

lilac leeds 3 — View: Lilac wants to hear from you.

Five adult members and two children are moving on and to re-balance the multi-generational community they are are particularly looking for younger adults and children, though not exclusively.

LILAC stands for ‘Low Impact Living Affordable Community’, and tenants live across 20 straw bale homes. There is also a common house and shared facilities and gardens. Established in 2013 in Kirkstall, LILAC are a cooperative and a ‘Mutual Home Ownership Society’, meaning members own LILAC together.

Community: LILAC members on an away weekend.

All applicants must:

Want to live in and fully contribute to a community.
Wholeheartedly support LILAC’s vision, values and aims.
Be able to pay the deposit and meet other necessary financial criteria.
Fully engage with the recruitment process, so everyone gets to know each other.

More about capacity and skills:

LILAC thrives on the participation, socialising and the work of itsmembers. It is important that you have enthusiasm for active involvement and see Lilac as place to live in the medium to long term.

The community needs a broad range of people and skills across our task teams which include: finance, secretarial/legal, landscape, maintenance, food, common house, process and learning teams.

A spokesperson said: “We believe that we all bring our own unique contribution, and we recognise that our energy and capacity naturally varies at different stages in our lives.”

lilac leeds 2 — Fancy moving into LILAC? Now’s your chance!

All applicants must:

Want to live in and fully contribute to a community.
Wholeheartedly support our vision, values and aims.
Be able to pay the deposit and meet other necessary financial criteria.
Fully engage with our recruitment process, so that we all get to know each other.

If you are interested in join gin the LILAC community, expressions of interest should be made As soon as possible.

There will be an open day on 29 March 2025, and an applicants day (induction) 12 April, deadline for applications is 24 April.

More information about living at LILAC, and full details on cost and how to apply can be found here.

New Farnley decorator paints his way to greener future

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March 13, 2025

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A national trade body has shone a spotlight on a New Farnley painter and decorator who has placed protecting the environment at the core of his business.

The Painting and Decorating Association (PDA) created a case study about PDA member Anthony Wade of Sprayform Painting and Decorating Ltd – winner of the PDA Premier Trophy Award for Small Contractor 2024.

Anthony is a member of PDA’s sustainability initiative Paint Green and has been taking strides to reduce his environmental impact, including a water filtration system of his own invention.

Now, Anthony, whose business has won six industry awards over the years, is sharing his journey with fellow painters and decorators across the UK. He said: “My business, my clients and my wellbeing have all benefitted from moving in an eco-friendly direction.

“I’ve looked at various aspects of my business and found ways to reduce my environmental impact, from using water-based coatings and low-pressure spray machines to choosing compostable dust sheets and creating my own filtration system for paint wastewater in my back garden.

“I was delighted to win the Small Contractor category at the Premier Trophy Awards. I knew I was up against some of the best decorators in the country, and I think it was the combination of a high-quality job with all the environmental work I’ve been doing that impressed the judges.

“To then be asked to feature in a PDA case study for Paint Green is really exciting.”

An estimated 55 million litres of excess paint is generated each year in the UK – and much of it ends up in landfill or being disposed of as hazardous waste.

It’s believed that only around two per cent of left-over decorative paint is reused – by Leeds-based recycling social enterprise Seagulls, for instance – or remanufactured.

The PDA’s Paint Green initiative encourages Association members to take their first steps towards sustainability and commit to reducing waste and recording their efforts year-on-year.

PDA Chief Executive, Neil Ogilvie, said: “PDA members who sign up to our Paint Green scheme make a pledge to drive down waste by reducing, reusing or recycling paint and paint containers.

“By sharing his experiences in the case study, Anthony is demonstrating how an innovative approach to sustainability can make a real difference.”

Read the case study about Anthony here.

Wyther Lane Bridge repair work to start next week

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March 13, 2025

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By John Baron

Contractors will be working to secure damaged Wyther Lane Bridge next Monday – but it could be several weeks before the bridge is reopened.

Leeds City Council says contractors will be on site from Monday, 17 March and that work to repair the bridge – which was damaged after being hit by a vehicle last week – will take three to five days.

Once the bridge – which is the responsibility of the Canal and River Trust – repairs are completed, the council’s highways department will put additional measures in place to reduce the likelihood of bridge strikes in the future.

Thos measures – as yet unspecified – will take a further two weeks after which the council hopes the bridge should be in a position to reopen in early April.

In 2021 Wyther Lane Bridge was closed between March and December following a crash which caused damage to the bridge over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

Horsforth: Police crack down on anti-social behaviour

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March 13, 2025

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Police in Horsforth have urged people to report issues with an anti-social behaviour as they continue to crack down on problems in the town.

At the end of January, police received a surge of reports regarding youth-related anti-social behaviour in and around the Horsforth Hall Park, Town Street and Drury Fields areas.

A dispersal order was implemented on 18 February, which allowed police powers to disperse anyone seen to be causing anti-social behaviour, with a power of arrest attached should they return.

Police are still investigating incidents, with some offenders having attended Police stations for interviews.

A police spokesperson said: “We carried out an environmental audit of the area, to ensure any changes to the area – such as CCTV coverage and lighting – were optimised.

“We also identified key offenders, attending their home addresses, speaking to parents about their behaviour and delivering banning letters from local businesses.

“We are happy to report that recent figures show a reduced amount of antisocial behaviour in the Horsforth area, however, we would ask that residents continue to report any instances of anti-social behaviour to us because without it being reported, we cannot begin to take action.”

As part of the longer-term strategy, police are working with partner agencies to identify some diversionary activities and provide educational inputs on the impacts of anti-social behaviour, drugs and knife-crime.

Contact police

In an emergency dial 999. In a non-emergency dial 101 Get advice on which number to call here.

Town Street revamp on agenda at Armley Forum

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March 13, 2025

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Armley Town Street - Theaker Lane junction visualisation — What Armley Town Street could look like at its junction with Theaker Lane.

Crime, housing and the latest on the Armley Town Street revamp consultation will be discussed at the next Armley Forum public meeting.

A public consultation was held last August into £2.9m proposals to reduce bus delays while improving the street environment for visitors and shoppers with wider pavements, planting and landscaping and more crossing points.

Highways officers will be at the meeting to discuss feedback to the consultation.

West Yorkshire Police will also be on hand to discuss crime issues in Armley, and there will also be an update from the local housing manager.

Armley Forum, which is chaired by Councillor Andy Parnham (Lab, Armley) will be held on Wednesday, 19 March at Armley Hub, Stocks Hill, 7pm-8.30pm.

Leeds arts charity shortlisted for Northern Music Award

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March 13, 2025

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Leeds-based arts charity Pyramid has been shortlisted for the Flare Audio Music and Culture for Wellbeing Award at this year’s Northern Music Awards.

High Rise Music, Pyramid’s weekly group for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD), is in the running for this prestigious award which aims to celebrate groups that use music, arts and culture to support people with health, wellbeing and socio-economic issues.

James Hill, Director of Pyramid, said: “We’re very proud to see our High Rise Music Group shortlisted for the Flare Audio Music and Culture for Wellbeing Award at this year’s Northern Music Awards. High Rise has, for over 15 years, enabled people with PMLD discover the joy of performing and co-producing music.”

High Rise supports people, irrespective of abilities or disabilities, to come together to create new and innovative music. Its members regularly work with professional musicians and have previously collaborated with Opera North and the Leeds Lieder Festival. The group have also produced many original musicals which have been performed in venues across Leeds, including Bramley Community Centre.

Sandy Trappitt, Director of Fundraising, Nordoff and Robbins, said: “At Nordoff and Robbins, our music therapists use the power of music to help people across the UK connect, communicate and truly express themselves.

“We included the Music and Culture for Wellbeing award as part of the Northern Music Awards, alongside our artist and industry honours, to shine a light on some amazing Northern organisations who embed creativity into their health provision. The nominations we received this year were inspiring and we look forward to announcing the winner on the night.”

The High Rise Music Group has ambitious plans to share its message of inclusivity and joy in its most recent collaboration with Leeds Lieder Festival, entitled ‘Happiness, a sharing’.

The group will perform work inspired by the theme of happiness, co-produced with Leeds Lieder musicians, at an intimate concert at Archive in Kirkstall Road on Friday, 4 April from 10am to 12pm. More details and to book tickets here.

Pyramid’s High Rise Music Group is one of six shortlisted organisations for the Flare Audio Music and Culture for Wellbeing Award. The winner will be announced at this year’s Northern Music Awards ceremony on Thursday 27 March at Liverpool Olympia.

The event also features performances from Blossoms, Lightning Seeds, The Zutons, Luvcat, Chiedu Oraka and very special guest, Dr John Cooper Clarke.

Tickets are available for purchase online, with prices starting at £40+ £1 venue restoration levy.

Video: Board game launched to help prevent county lines grooming

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March 13, 2025

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Lewis-Edwards-playing-Nicked-landscape — Lewis Edwards, of Forward Leeds, playing Nicked.

A West Leeds-based service is launching a new game to help prevent county lines grooming and child criminal exploitation.

The city’s alcohol and drug service Forward Leeds is launching Nicked on 18 March 2025, which is National Child Exploitation Awareness Day.

Forward Leeds Young People’s Group Worker, Lewis Edwards, who designed the game, said: “The game helps young people recognise warning signs that they might be being groomed.

“Child criminal exploitation can be quite similar to domestic abuse in that people don’t believe it will happen to them. It’s often a positive quality like loyalty, bravery or a willingness to protect someone that enables a young person to be manipulated”.

Lewis first had the idea to develop the game following conversations with youth workers who wanted a way to explore the topic of child exploitation in a non-confrontational and open way. Lewis has been playing a version of the game with young people’s community groups since last year and the results have been encouraging.

Staff at Restore, an alternative education provision based at CATCH in Harehills, Leeds, have already been playing the game with pupils.

Restore Mentor Becky McHale said: “When we played the game the pupils all got engaged and it gave them an opportunity to speak about things they usually wouldn’t feel comfortable speaking about with teachers.

“For some of them they probably felt they were able to “show off” but in this context it was beneficial to the flow of the game and bringing up important risk factors that usually get hushed up.”

The game will be available for schools, youth groups and community organisations to borrow from the Public Health Resource Centre in Leeds or through Forward Leeds from 18 March 2025.

Forward Leeds has three main sites in Leeds:

3 Armley Court in Armley
Kirkgate in the city centre
Irford House in Seacroft

Forward Leeds also runs the Leeds centre for those in recovery from substance issues, 5 WAYS to Wellbeing at The Recovery Academy in Burley.

Armley: Man guilty of murdering Amazon driver Claudiu-Carol Kondor

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March 12, 2025

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A thief has been found guilty of murdering an Amazon delivery driver who was trying to stop his van from being stolen in Armley.

Claudiu-Carol Kondor was pronounced dead at the scene after suffering catastrophic head and chest injuries in the collision in Heights Drive on August 20 last year.

The 42-year-old, from Sheffield, had been delivering a package to an address in Alliance Street, Armley, shortly before 7pm that day when Mark Ross jumped into the driver’s seat of his silver Ford Transit Cargo van.

Claudiu tried to intervene, holding onto the passenger door as Ross sped off onto Whingate Road.

He clung to the open door with his feet scraping along the road as Ross swerved the van around at speed. Shocked witnesses saw him shouting for help, clearly in fear for his life.

The van initially clipped a parked car further up Heights Drive before colliding heavily with another parked car, opposite the junction with Heights Way, fatally injuring him.

Ross sped away and arranged for the van to be taken to a back street at Broom Nook, Belle Isle, to be stripped of its parcels.

The vehicle was then left in Highlands Walk, Belle Isle, where it was recovered by officers after its on-board tracker was followed.

Detectives from the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team carried out extensive house-to-house enquiries in the area where the van was recovered and found a witness to the van being left.

That information, combined with CCTV from the scene of the van theft, led detectives to Ross.

Over the course of the investigation, detectives seized and viewed about 110 hours of CCTV footage, recovered 368 exhibits and took 113 statements.

Ross, 32, pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murder. At his trial at Leeds Crown Court he claimed he had been unaware of Claudiu hanging onto the open passenger door and said he had crashed into the parked car after losing control on speed bumps.

But the prosecution’s case was that Ross was aware of Claudiu and had collided with the car deliberately to knock him off and escape regardless of the serious harm this would cause him.

Today, Ross was found guilty of Claudiu’s murder by a majority verdict by the jury. He’s due to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on Friday.

“A decent, hard-working man”

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector James Entwistle said outside court: “Claudiu was a decent hard-working man and it’s clear he was determined not to let Ross take his livelihood. For half a mile he bravely clung to the open door as Ross swerved the van around at speed before deliberately crashing, leaving him fatally injured.

“Claudiu came to the UK from Romania to make a better life for himself. He was described by his work colleagues as being not just a dedicated and valued member of their team but a friend and a confidant. He was also a familiar friendly face to the many people he delivered to.

“His partner, who had also come to the UK for work, has since returned to Romania now seeing no future here. She and Claudiu’s family have been left utterly devastated by his death.

“It is truly heart-breaking that the life of an honest hard-working man has been snatched away by the cruel and callous actions of Mark Ross.

“Through the hard work, dedication and commitment of everyone involved, from those initial attending officers, the public providing information and CCTV, to the analytical and support staff and the detectives there throughout the investigation to its conclusion at court, we have been able to provide justice for Claudiu and his family.”

Armley: Charity highlights growing demand for food banks

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March 12, 2025

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Armley mission food bank — Andy Dalton with some of the donated food.

By Andy Dalton

Residents in West Leeds are needing more food to eat – that’s the experience of a charity based in Armley.

The Leeds City Mission Compassion Centre in Mistress Lane in Armley has been adding up its statistics as they prepare their annual report for last year.

Its Pantry Project foodbank has faced unprecedented demand from people living at the margins over the previous 12 months.

Between January and December a total of 200 food parcels were given to people in need. 2102 packets and tins of food were donated by churches, philanthropic individuals, supermarkets and businesses to the Pantry Project.

Hundreds of other items were added, financed by financial donations and grants. Surplus short life food such as bread, confectionery and vegetables were also supplied.

A total of 392 large supermarket trays of food were donated by High Street giants such as Aldi, Tesco and Sainsburys. Over 90 visitors requesting food help were helped during the year.

Volunteers at the Compassion Centre have given over 250 hours to collect, sort, display and pack the food. Food from supermarkets has been collected on a daily basis.

Pantry Project manager Sinclair Martin said that many visitors to the foodbank were struggling to find suitable work or had benefit payments delayed.

Others were in jobs with zero hours contracts or low pay. Rising prices and pressure on family budgets were other factors. All combined to account for the consistent and increasing stream of people heading for the Pantry Project at the Compassion Centre each week.

Sinclair Martin said: “We would like to thank everyone who has donated food to the City Mission. This has enabled us to meet the pressing needs of many people requesting help”

The Pantry Project at Leeds City Mission Compassion Centre is open Monday to Friday (not Wednesdays) between 10am and 3pm.

Leeds City Mission is one of the oldest charities in the city being in continuous existence since 1837. It works with marginalised people and those struggling with life. It is a multi-church agency and the Compassion Centre premises in Mistress Lane (end of Town Street) are diagonally opposite Armley Library.

‘Unsuitable’ Bradford Road phone mast plans withdrawn

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March 12, 2025

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Pudsey_mast — The mast would have been situated off Bradford Road. Photo: Google

by Don Mort, local democracy reporter

Plans for a 20 metre-high mobile phone mast in Pudsey have been withdrawn after the location was deemed unsuitable.

Telecoms firm Cornerstone sought consent from the council for a 5G installation on Bradford Road.

The mast, complete with antennas, a transmission dish and equipment cabinets, would have been fixed at the junction with Peckover Drive, near Morrisons and Lala’s restaurant.

Concerns were raised that the installation was too close to nearby homes after ward councillors were consulted.

Calverley and Farsley ward councillors had objected.

Councillor Andrew Carter (Cons) said the mast would be “highly visually intrusive”.

Now Cornerstone, which supplies equipment to mobile firms including Vodafone, has withdrawn its planning application and is seeking an alternative site.

A spokesperson for the company said: “Cornerstone always aims to work closely with local communities and planning authorities.

“Cornerstone proposed a mobile phone base station site in Pudsey but further investigation has shown that the proposed location does not comply with our build requirements.

The company said that an upgrade was needed for an existing telecoms mast on the corner of Sunnybank Lane and Bradford Road.

The new base station would have helped meet 4G and 5G requirements in the area.

The spokesperson added: “Cornerstone are committed to providing digital connectivity to Pudsey and will review our options locally.”

Councillor Peter Carlill (Lab, Calverley & Farsley) welcomed the decision to withdraw the application. He added: “Many thanks to residents for raising their concerns regarding overshadowing and other issues.

“The company say they are looking to find a new location for consideration, so we will provide an update when they get in touch.”