Five years on from COVID, one survivor reflects on having to fight for his life
Mark Hammersley is a survivor. Standing in the Welsh sun, smiling broadly with an outreaching hand to welcome me, he looks the picture of good health.
There is no sign of the trauma. Or the desperate battle for life he fought and won.
Mark Hammersley, who was treated for COVID in an intensive care unit in October 2020
I first met Mark as he gasped for air in Warrington Hospital’s intensive care unit. It was October 2020 and the country was in the grip of the second wave of the COVID pandemic.
“The first 24 hours was critical. I was unconscious really in many ways,” Mark reminds me.
He doesn’t need to. The image of Mark wearing a breathing mask attached by a tube to a CPAP machine will stay with me for a very long time.
He had been admitted after becoming poorly while moving house. Mark was 57 then and his underlying health conditions put him at serious risk.
His raspy voice was barely audible over the constant bleeping of the ICU’s life-saving diagnostic machines.
“I’ve got diabetes and I’m overweight so they’re my risk factors. So to be honest for me it’s still early days,” he told me at the time. His underlying health issues meant Mark had to shield for most of the year. And until then it had worked.
Standing next to his bed I asked Mark if he was concerned about his health, about the possible outcome.
“I’m worried yes,” he replied. “But I’m feeling safe if that makes sense.”
Mark tells me now that the doctors treating him were not sure he would make it through the night. They had warned his wife that he was not likely to survive. But instead of inducing Mark into a coma and putting him on life support using a ventilator, the doctors gambled by using a CPAP machine.
Doctors caring for COVID patients in 2020. Pic: PA
The Continuous Positive Airway Pressure unit crucially keeps airways from narrowing or collapsing.
And that decision, Mark is convinced, ultimately saved his life. He is aware that the outcomes for COVID patients put on ventilators were not good.
Five years on and Mark is still feeling the impact of that devastating infection. But he is a relieved man.
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“I have been told that I have scarring on my lungs but it’s not affecting their functionality, whether it will later on in life I don’t know,” he says.
“So at the moment it’s still a process but I’m a lot better than I was certainly five years ago and it affects you in different ways. When I was in hospital and afterwards I had a lot of muscular pain so for about 18 months I probably couldn’t even put a shirt on properly.”
Paramedics and staff at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital in April 2020. Pic: PA
In the ICU bed next to Mark’s I also interviewed a young grandmother. She was sat upright and also breathing with the help of a CPAP machine. But she was much more talkative and alert compared to Mark. She was confident her treatment was going well.
But when I returned to the hospital a few weeks later to follow up with both patients I was told she had died shortly after filming.
Mark was aware. He knows that he will live with the long-term health complications from COVID for the rest of his life. But he’s still thankful, every single day for that opportunity.
Chris Whitty, Boris Johnson and Patrick Vallance during a COVID news conference on 9 March, 2020. Pic: Reuters
The National COVID Memorial Wall in London. File pic: PA
The UK will mark the five-year anniversary of the start of the COVID pandemic on Sunday.
The deadly virus shut down the world after it spread from Wuhan in China at the start of 2020.
Between March of that year and July 2022, an estimated 180,000 people died after contracting COVID in England and Wales, according to figures published by The King’s Fund thinktank.
The UK government said Sunday’s day of reflection will be an opportunity for the public to remember those who lost their lives, as well as reflect on the impact the virus had on everyday life and pay tribute the frontline workers.
Criminals who refuse to attend their sentencing hearings will face further punishment under a new law.
The government is introducing the Victims and Courts Bill to parliament today, which will include more jail time or loss of privileges in prison in England and Wales for criminals who refuse to attend court for sentencing.
Several high-profile offenders have refused to face victims’ families, sparking a public outcry and calls for a change in the law.
The families of murdered primary school teacher Sabina Nessa, law graduate Zara Aleena and mother-of-three Jan Mustafa have all campaigned for the change after their killers were absent from sentencing hearings.
Ms Nessa’s sister, Jebina Islam, Ms Aleena’s aunt, Farah Naz, and Ms Mustafa’s cousin, Ayse Hussein, said: “This move holds offenders to account.
“It sends a clear and necessary message: the justice system is not something you should be able to opt out of.
“It is not about punishment through force – but about ensuring that perpetrators cannot remove themselves from the consequences of their actions.”
Teacher Sabina Nessa was killed by Koci Selamaj in 2021 after he drove to London to assault a stranger
They said the legislation is a “step in the right direction” and the proposed punishments indicate it is “being taken seriously”.
The trio added: “This change supports victims and society alike. It shows justice being done.
“It gives families a moment of recognition and a form of reparation. It is a moment of reckoning for the convicted.”
Under the new legislation, judges will be able to sentence offenders for up to two more years in prison for avoiding justice.
Those already facing lengthy imprisonment or whole life orders could have a range of prison punishments, such as confinement to their cells and being stripped of privileges, such as extra gym time.
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Former Tory prime minister Rishi Sunak had pledged to change the law after meeting the mother of murdered nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, and Sir Keir Starmer promised to enact it.
Olivia Pratt-Korbel was killed by Thomas Cashman, who refused to attend his sentencing hearing in 2023
Thomas Cashman, the gunman who killed Olivia as he chased a drug dealer who had run into her Liverpool home, did not appear in court to hear his life sentence in April 2023.
Earlier this year, triple crossbow and knife killer Kyle Clifford refused to attend his sentencing when he received a whole life order.
Southport child murderer Axel Rudakubana was removed from his sentencing hearing for repeatedly shouting in January.
Teacher Sabina Nessa was killed by Koci Selamaj in 2021 after he drove to London to assault a stranger
Zara Aleena was killed by Jordan McSweeney, who should have been recalled to prison at the time. Pic: PA
Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones said: “I would like to thank the remarkable families of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Jan Mustafa, Sabina Nessa and Zara Aleena and countless others who have campaigned tirelessly for offenders to have to face the reality of their crimes by attending their sentencing.
“Justice isn’t optional – we’ll make sure criminals face their victims.”
The bill also says it will restrict parental responsibility from child sex offenders who commit serious crimes against their own children.
The powers of the Victims’ Commissioner will also be strengthened to require them to produce an independent report on whether agencies are meeting their statutory duty over the Victim’s Code to hold the government to account.
Child protection charity the NSPCC backed the move, saying they hope it will improve how young victims and survivors are treated, but said it was “not a complete solution”.
Eighteen-year-olds will be allowed to drive trains due to concerns over labour shortages, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced.
The current minimum age for someone wanting a career on the railways is 20.
But with 87% of night-before cancellations made because a driver is unavailable, the government has decided to lower the age of entry by a couple of years.
Several operators rely on drivers to work extra shifts voluntarily.
At present, the average age of a British train driver is 48, while 30% are due to reach retirement age by 2029.
A consultation on lowering the minimum age for drivers, carried out last year by the Conservative government, received “overwhelming support from across the industry”, the DfT said.
Other nations which have lowered the age for train drivers are France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, officials added.
Transport for London opened driver apprenticeships on the Underground to 18-year-olds in 2007.
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Training to drive mainline trains generally takes between one and two years.
Assessment and qualification standards will be unchanged.
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Industry body the Rail Safety and Standards Board said its research had shown 18-year-olds are “capable of safely becoming train drivers”.
New job and apprenticeship opportunities could be available as early as December, the DfT said.
Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, said the government was “future-proofing” the railways against “delays and cancellations caused by a shortage of drivers”.
Mick Whelan, general secretary of train drivers’ union Aslef, said: “At the moment, young people who want to become train drivers leave school or college at 18, get other jobs, and we miss out as an industry as they don’t wait around until they turn 20 to find a career.”
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