Oxford Mail Review of the Year: October to December

OCTOBER

GUILTY OF ‘SAVAGE’ KILLING

ON October 2 after a five-month-long trial, five killers were found guilty of a savage attack which saw a man hacked to death in a Blackbird Leys alleyway.

The trial of the murder of Christopher Lemonius came to its end with gasps and sobs from the public galley at Oxford Crown Court when the jurors handed down their verdict.

Four life sentences were handed down to the killers, totalling at least 92 years between them.

WESTGATE VS. CORNMARKET

WHILE Oxford has seen an increase in shoppers and an 8.9 per cent overall increase in footfall this year, Cornmarket street suffered a drop in visitors thanks following the opening of the £440m new Westgate Centre.

Notable shops on Cornmarket remain vacant like the massive former Next unit, reflecting a shift in the retail centre of the city.

Despite this, Cornmarket still remains busiest and could be boosted by future redevelopments.

PRIDE OF OXFORD

ICOLYN ‘Ma’ Smith, an Oxford pensioner who has been feeding the city’s most vulnerable for almost three decades, received recognition for her work on national TV at the star-studded Pride of Britain awards.

We were able to reveal her award the week before the programme aired on ITV.

She told us: "I don't feel special – I am just doing what needs to be done."

NOVEMBER

IN HER OWN WORDS

DETAILS about the life of one of Oxford’s most well-known and most enigmatic characters was revealed in her own words this month.

Eleanor Bolton, known as the Botley Bag Lady, said she spurned material possessions and material support in order to not take more than her fair share.

New details on her philosophy, some of it in her own words, came out at an inquest at Oxford Coroner's Court on November 1.

The 73-year old university graduate became a fixture of the Botley area and spent most of her adult life wandering up and down the Botley Road.

She was found dead in the tin hut she slept in off the Botley Road this summer.

THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD

THOUSANDS turned out on November 11, 2018, to mark the centenary of the first Armistice Day at remembrance services across the county.

Heavy downpours failed to put off crowds, who marked the event by throwing buns in Abingdon, and then marches and minutes of silence in one of the largest turnouts for Remembrance Sunday.

Wreaths were laid and the usually bustling St Giles fell silent to mark the occasion, bringing to an end four years of commemorations of 'the war to end all wars'.

POLICE CLOSE IN ON RAIDERS

ON November 21, after an 11-month investigation into a series ram-raids across Oxfordshire, prising ATMs from walls using stolen Land Rovers, seven were arrested.

Police stormed 10 addresses in a bid to bring to justice the gang of organised criminals behind the spate of thefts which include robbing the cash point from Waitrose on Botley Road.

DECEMBER

HERO SAVES DROWNING COUPLE

FATHER-OF-THREE Stephen Gibson was awoken at 1am on Sunday, December 2, after a car crashed into a parked vehicle and veered into the River Thames by his house in Abingdon.

Mr Gibson called 999 before getting a buoy and rope and running down to help the couple who managed to escape the car underwater but were far from safe.

With the help of two other passer-bys he got the two from the river, but later brushed off any suggestions of him being a hero.

THE £100,000 THANK YOU

SEVENTEEN years and countless tombolas, football matches, talent contests and collection drives since he raised his first £1,000 at a school non-uniform day, Andy Baker, the founder of Play2Give charity, smashed his £100,000 target for Oxford’s healthcare this month.

The 30-year-old from Didcot began his mission to thank the medics who saved his life when he was a baby.

DON’T RISK IT AT CHRISTMAS

AN Oxford surgeon who was the first on the scene at a horrific motorway car crash almost exactly a year ago took the opportunity to warn others about the dangers of the roads.

Javaad Mirza told the Oxford Mail how he desperately performed CPR on the ‘cold hard tarmac’ of the M40 after he was confronted by the immediate aftermath of the tragedy while driving to work just two days before Christmas last year.

Oxford historian Mark Whittow and mechanic Shane Stokes died in the crash at around 11.35pm on December 23 after Dr Whittow’s Volkswagen Polo hit a stationary BMW in the inside lane of the motorway.

Dr Mirza, who was commended for his actions, said those moments spent trying to save the victims would remain with him for the rest of his life.