26/02/2014 BBC Oxford News

BBC News Channel, but now on BBC One, it's time for the news where

you are. Here: A 75`year`old woman from

Milton Keynes, who admitted strangling her terminally ill

husband, has been given a life sentence after a judge ruled it

wasn't a mercy killing. Sheila Sampford has been told she must

spend at least nine years in prison. The court heard caring for her

husband who had leukaemia had "got too much". Neil Bradford was in

court. Sheila Sampford weren't as she relived the moment she strangled

her 83 world husband. The 75`year`old told the judge at Luton

Crown Court was the worst thing she had ever done. I did what I did for

John, she said. For love, and to stop him suffering. He was my rock.

The couple were just three months away from celebrating their golden

wedding anniversary last July, when she killed him at their home in

Milton Keynes. She said it was a plan they had discussed together on

numerous occasions, and she was acting out of love and devotion, and

to end his suffering from leukaemia. Today, it emerged John Sampford

showed no sign of wanting to take his own life and was coping well

with his terminal diagnosis. The court also heard that Sheila

Sampford had told police at the time she had just snapped. I don't know

what I did, she told them. Today, the judge ruled this was not a mercy

killing, an explanation the race have never accepted. This has always

been treated as a murder inquiry. But, as the inquiry progressed, it

became obvious it was not just around Mr Sampford's health, but

there were other factors in the inquiry that led us to believe

Sheila had committed this murder. There was no jury in the case

because Sheila Sampford pleaded guilty to her husband's murder last

month. The judge described her evidence as unconvincing. He did not

agree Mr Sampford wanted to die, or asked his wife to kill him, or that

she was acting out of compassion. He said, under immense stress, you

snapped. Your actions denied family members of the chance to say

goodbye. Sheila Sampford was jailed for life with the minimum term of

nine years. Jude Lanchin, an expert on criminal

law, says the legal system may need an overhaul. My view is that the law

really needs to be reviewed in relation to the whole issue of

murder and people who find themselves in very desperate

circumstances with loved ones, and to may well be acting on their

instructions, and trying to help them in their dying days. Do you

sense there is a change coming in the law? In the same way that a

review has been done around assisted suicide, I do think it should be

looked at more widely in terms of a situation where a murder charge or

an attempted murder charge would be brought instead of an assisted

suicide charge. A builder from Aylesbury, who is on

the run, has been jailed for six years for conning a vulnerable

pensioner out of more than half a million pounds. John Jenkins, who's

70, was sentenced in his absence after failing to turn up for the

last day of his trial at St Albans Crown Court. The jury found him

guilty of fraud by false representation. A warrant has been

issued for his arrest. A 48`year`old Didcot woman, arrested

in connection with the Jayden Parkinson murder investigation, has

been released on bail. The 17`year`old's body was found in a

grave at All Saints Church in the town in December. The woman was

detained on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. Two people

have already been charged in connection with the case.

Nearly 10,000 homes in Oxford alone are at risk of flooding, according

to Friends of the Earth. The charity analysed data from the Environment

Agency and suggests around 5,000 of those properties in the city are at

"significant risk" of flooding. A campaign's been launched to get more

men working in childcare across our region. The co`op nursery chain will

be working with local job centres and recruitment agencies to boost

the number of men thinking about a career with children. At the moment

just 2% of nursery workers in the area are men, as Stuart Tinworth

reports. Play time at this nursery in Witney.

The centre had been struggling, but has now more children, and a good

rating from inspectors. Manager Gareth has been here for just over a

year, and he's in the minority as a male nursery worker. But he didn't

start out in childcare. I started off in agriculture, moved on to

neighbouring work, and then an opportunity came up working with

children. Seeing how children grow and develop, and how they enable

themselves to use scissors, pens, pencils, is far more rewarding than

a finished job of a wall, or a driveway late, or an electrical unit

done. 4500 people work as nursery workers in Oxfordshire alone, but as

few as 12% of those are men. Now, the organisation that runs this

chain of nurseries once that to change. The move follows research

that shows children benefit from having a male role model in their

early years stop there will be apprenticeships and support offered

to help people start their careers. And there'll be a job fair next

month at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. It is getting rid of that

stigma that we are nursery nurses, and it is a female dominated

possession to go into. I definitely believe we need more men. Some

children, who have come through us, may not have that father figure. And

what do the children make of their manager Gareth? He's funny. Is he?

Yes. He's got funny ears. An Oxfordshire woman has given birth

on a the pavement of a busy New York street. Polly McCourt, originally

from Black Bourton near Carterton, had been trying to hail a taxi to

take her to hospital after she went into labour. Her baby girl was born

in the street. Mother and baby Isla Isabel, named after a passer`by who

gave Ms McCourt her coat, are doing well and are very grateful to those

who stopped to help. We have no way of contacting

Isabel. She gave me her coat to cover me. And that is your middle

name. It was meant to be my name! Her middle name is Isabel.

Now, the regional forecast with Alexis.

They could be heavy rain tonight, and strengthening south`westerly

winds. Temperatures slightly milder than last night tonight, with a low

of 4`5 Celsius. The rain will clear swiftly tomorrow morning. The wind

will turn to a westerly direction, drawing in a few showers, perhaps

thundery showers, with Hale for the afternoon. More clout in `` cloud

and less in the way of sunshine. Turning unsettled through the week.

More rain for Friday and Saturday. day on Friday, wet snow around and a

breeze blowing as well. Tricky into the weekend. And now we have the

national forecast. Good evening. We know it has been a

wet winter but it has also been mild and across England and Wales,

lacking in snow. The last day of