A court has been told of a young woman’s terror at becoming the latest victim of a serial stalker.

Fermanagh Magistrates Court yesterday heard that the woman had become a “different person”, lost weight and was “constantly terrified” after she realised John Hance was following her everywhere.

Hance, a 66-year-old retired lorry driver from Swanlinbar Road, Florencecourt, Co Fermanagh, believes that he only has to speak to the woman, who is in her 20s, and she will fall in love with him and run away with him

By Rodney Edwards for fermanagh.tv

A 26-year-old woman has died in hospital from injuries she sustained in a road crash in Co Fermanagh over the weekend.

The woman and two men were hospitalised following the single-vehicle collision on the Glengesh Road in Tempo on Sunday.

She lost her fight for life yesterday.

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By Rodney Edwards for fermanagh.tv

A war of words has broken out between Sinn Fein’s Thomas O’Reilly and the PSNI’s Graham Dodds.

By Rodney Edwards and Niall McCracken for fermanagh.tv

Fermanagh stations at Newtownbutler, Belleek, Belcoo and Kesh, along with Tyrone’s Fivemiletown station are to close.

By Rodney Edwards for fermanagh.tv

Police are hunting a callous hit-and-run driver after he mowed down a teenage cyclist in Fermanagh last weekend.

As the rain pelted down, 13-year-old Ciara Owens was left lying helplessly and bleeding on the wet ground after being struck by a grey car at a busy junction outside Tesco in Enniskillen.

“I was on my way to Tesco to buy a birthday present for a friend. There were loads of cars everywhere; I think the green man came on so I cycled across the junction. I was going across the set of traffic lights when the car hit me and I fell onto the ground.”

The Impartial Reporter has also learnt that seconds after hitting Ciara, the cruel driver, thought to be around 30-years-old, wound down his window and heartlessly screamed abuse at the injured girl before speeding off.

“He just started yelling at me. He said; “Stupid bitch. You could have fu**ing damaged my car. Get out of my way.” I couldn’t believe it. I said back to him; “But you ran into me?” Then he drove on and I didn’t know what to do.”

The driver left towards the Tesco car park. It’s thought he then may have entered the supermarket shortly afterwards. Ciara, meanwhile, was treated in the Erne Hospital after sustaining a fractured leg in the accident.

“Shocked” and “appalled”, her devastated father Stephen Noble has described the driver’s actions as “deplorable” and is appealing for the culprit to hand himself into police.

“I was furious when I heard about it, it still makes me angry. I think most parents would feel the same. How could anyone knock over a little girl and then drive on?”

“This happened on a busy Saturday outside Tesco. There must be lots of people who seen what happened and can help the police catch this coward. If he’s reading this, he must go to the police and admit what he’s done wrong.”

Inspector Roy Robinson from Enniskillen Police Station has appealed for witnesses who may have seen this incident last week. He also issued this warning to the hit-and-run driver.

“Come forward and hand yourself into police and we will give you credit for that. Maybe you didn’t know you injured Ciara or whatever, or that you done much damage, but you still drove on from a scene of a crime. Come forward to us before we come knocking for you.”

By Rodney Edwards for fermanagh.tv

It was a case of ‘allo ‘allo for one local Farmer at the weekend when he greeted an unusual European guest on his doorstep.

Roger Corrigan and his family were left baffled when jolly little French man Bruno Maffei turned up unannounced looking for a place to stay the night.

The outlandish cyclist, who has spent nine years touring Europe on his bike, speaks little English and arrived “puffing and panting” on the Corrigan’s family farm last Saturday.

The farmer was left flabbergasted by his encounter with the French man.

“I was just in the house after finishing the silage when the wife says, ‘Look, what’s this coming? ‘Oh, crikey.’ she said. ‘Come, look, look.’ So I went to the window to look out and this bedraggled wee man in shorts was pushing a very heavily-laden bicycle up the path to the house.”

By Rodney Edwards for fermanagh.tv

Gardai have arrested three men and recovered the van believed to have been used in the theft of a cash machine containing over £80,000 from a shop in Newtownbutler.

A mechanical digger was used to smash the Automatic Teller Machine from the wall of Declan McCabe”s SuperValu store on the Clones Road in the early hours of Saturday morning. The PSNI has been heavily criticised for taking 12 hours to get to the scene of the crime.

They blame the threat from dissident republican terrorists in the area for the delay. Read more here.

Fermanagh TV: Newtownbutler Robbery

Fermanagh TV: Newtownbutler Robbery Reaction:

Fermanagh TV: Newtownbutler Robbery caught on CCTV:

Fermanagh TV: PSNI respond to criticism over 13 hour delay. Part 1:

Fermanagh TV: PSNI respond to criticism over 13 hour delay. Part 2:

By Rodney Edwards and Niall McCracken for fermanagh.tv

Dedication, commitment and an intuitive eye for the perfect picture are some of the qualities that have earned John McVitty the highest accolade in his profession.

The Impartial Reporter photographer scooped the Regional Photographer of the Year award at the prestigious BT Northern Ireland Press Photographers of the Year Awards in Belfast last week.

Organised by the Northern Ireland Press Photographers Association, the competition attracted 422 entries from 49 photographers across Northern Ireland. Read more here.

By Rodney Edwards for fermanagh.tv

A fire which badly damaged the front of an Enniskillen sweet shop is being treated as suspicious.

The blaze at Mrs O’Malley’s sweet shop was discovered at about 2.30am on Friday when flames in the front window display were spotted by police on CCTV.

Police believe a man at the scene may have suffered burns, and have appealed for anyone who has seen someone with unexplained injuries to contact them.

By Rodney Edwards for fermanagh.tv

A Fermanagh mother who lost her son in a fatal car accident last year has spoken of her anguish after it emerged the driver could walk free from prison in just six weeks.

17-year-old Kevin McChesnie was killed when his friend Peter Smith crashed into a tree in Newtownbutler in August 2008. Last week, Smith, 18, pleaded ‘guilty’ at Dungannon Crown Court to causing Kevin”s death by driving without due care and attention while unfit through drink or drugs and without insurance.

Smith was sentenced to nine months” imprisonment. He will spend a 12 months on probation on the completion of his sentence.

Because he is entitled to 50 per cent remission and due to time spent on remand, his time inside has been cut. For Kevin”s grieving mother, June, the news has created even more heartache. Read more here.

By Rodney Edwards and Niall McCracken for fermanagh.tv