19/05/2014 BBC Oxford News

that fans will hope is just half as good as the old one. That is all

from us. There is

from us. Good evening. A teacher from Swindon

has been told he could be jailed for encouraging four teenage pupils to

have sex with him. Alexander Thomas, who's 30, befriended the girls on

Facebook before asking them to send him images of themselves in their

underwear. Police say he abused his position of trust. Katharine Da

Costa reports. Alexander Thomas, seen here with his

father, had a promising career as a PE and business studies teacher at a

secondary school in Wiltshire. But the court heard how the 30`year`old

used the social media networking site Facebook to target four teenage

girls aged 16 and 17. Thomas would gain their confidence and trust

before asking them to send pictures of themselves in their underwear.

The prosecution said one of the girls sent him five photographs of

herself, including one topless image. Two of the girls claimed they

met up with Thomas outside of school and that he touched them indecently.

Today, a jury of seven women and five men found Thomas guilty of five

counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity whilst in a

position of trust, but cleared him of two counts of sexual activity.

Thomas pleaded guilty to possessing an indecent image of a child earlier

in the trial. Outside court, the investigating officer said Thomas

abused his position of trust for his own sexual gratification. He

targeted his victims and encourage them to engage in sexual activity

and gained their trust. He has refused to take any responsibility

for his actions and has forced his victims to give evidence in court. I

would urge anyone who has been the victim of any sexual offence to

contact will ship lease immediately. We have officers who are specially

trained to help those who have been abused. The judge said these were

serious offences and warned Thomas that he could face a jail term when

he's sentenced next month. A woman's body has been found in

woodland in Buckinghamshire. It's believed to be missing police

officer, Louise Gibson, who hasn't been seen since last Thursday. The

body was discovered in Little Kingshill, but hasn't been formally

identified. Thames Valley Police say the death is being treated as

unexplained. New figures show that more than half

the homes in Oxford are rented out, rather than owned by the people that

live in them. The report by the Office of National Statistics also

shows private landlords own a quarter of homes in the city, the

highest number in the last 20 years. The average property price in Oxford

is around ?250,000. A trial scheme in Berkshire, where

patients carry out their own medical tests at home, has halved hospital

admission rates for heart failure. Patients record their readings

online and they're checked by a team of nurses. The Government hopes

so`called ?telemedicine? will help save the NHS millions of pounds in

the future. Here's our health correspondent, David Fenton.

Marcus Cox has heart failure. His heart pumps only half the blood it

should so everyday checks how it is doing at home. I get up in the

morning and you are measured and monitored. If anything is wrong,

that is a medical practitioner at the other end looking at the

results. In this case it is shallow and who is 12 miles away in Reading.

Heart failure admissions are one of the highest causes of admission to

hospital within the NHS. Obviously, if we can reduce the amount of times

the patient goes in it's better for them to be at home with their

family. Telemedicine is changing the way patients in Burke Berkshire are

being cared for. These are hard beats, 100,000 of them, and that

this from one person for one day. The girls and I can receive a

recording in the morning and if it's really urgent we can analyse it in a

day and it gets taken straight back through the Internet to the GP. It

costs ?2300 for every emergency admission to hospital so keeping

these patients at home makes financial sense for the NHS and the

technology is improving all the time. For Marcus, it means peace of

mind and a chance to enjoy the sunshine in his garden not from

hospital bed. When it comes to elections, Swindon

is seen a barometer for national results. And it's in that context

that candidates have been canvassing in the town, knowing that Thursday's

vote could be seen to have wider significance. Paul Barltrop reports.

Navigate your way around Swindon 's Magic roundabout and it's reckoned

the road to Downing Street lies open. The past 30 years whichever

party has got MPs elected here as also got their man as Prime Minister

Sylvie 's local elections are crucial. Labour turned out in force

in one of their target seats. It puts all Labour councillors and

activists on alert to turn out. In the town centre local Conservatives

survey a regeneration project. We have had a majority of just one for

the last few years and we have survived strong challengers from the

Labour Party. We will be working very hard to keep this council

Conservative. In the council chamber the only other party of four Liberal

Democrats. What we have now potentially is a balanced council

and we will want to hold control. If we had four, five or six councillors

elected, we would have a say in which way this council is operating.

If you have the sway and the power you can make sure you can get what

people want. Swindon 's results will be watched this year and next.

And you can find details of all of the candidates standing in

Thursday's elections on the BBC website.

Sarah Farmer is on the way with the regional weather forecast. We're

back tomorrow morning in BBC Breakfast with the first bulletin

just after 6:25am. Good night. Good evening. We start the night on

a quiet note and things will get more lively as we move through the

overnight period. There are some thunderstorms on the way. Heavy

bursts of rain are arriving from the South. Some torrential downpours

through the night. Overnight lows around 15 degrees. We start the

morning with a damp feel. It will ease for a time before showers will

arrive, once again heavy in nature. Some brighter skies to end the day

and a little bit of sunshine and temperatures up to 19 degrees.

Looking ahead, it stays unsettled for the coming days.

the day. Hi if 21 Celsius tomorrow. And on the outlook, and settled

conditions to come. Here's Nina Ridge.

Good evening. Our hotspot today was Heathrow in London at 26 Celsius.