30/05/2014 BBC Oxford News

Good evening. That's all from us.

Nearly a third of people given prison sentences in

the Thames Valley aren't actually jailed, according to new research.

Figures obtained by the BBC from the Ministry of Justice show

more than 1,000 people were given suspended sentences in 2012.

Ten years earlier, the figure was around 40.

Lee Mackie lost her son Jason when he was serving in Afghanistan.

She used some of the money from his life insurance to invest

Her neighbour was convicted of fraud but he never went to jail.

What annoyed me was that the judge said that wasn't in his

nature and therefore that is the reason he got a suspended sentence.

Him getting a suspended sentence was probably what I expected.

Hundreds of victims of crime, like Lee, never see the perpetrators

In 2002, only 43 suspended sentences were given out in the Thames Valley

By 2012, this had increased to more than 1,200.

In the Thames Valley, a third of people given a prison sentence

Compared to the rest of the country, the Thames Valley ranks eighth

for the most suspended sentences given out to criminals.

Some say avoiding jail means avoiding punishment.

Bob Turney was given a suspended sentence after stealing

My offending was led because of my addictions.

I was stealing to get alcohol and drugs.

Until I started addressing that issue, there was no stopping me.

So, you put me on a suspended sentence, I just

And, of course, a couple of months later, I'm before the

court, I'm now doing my suspended sentence plus another sentence.

So why are judges opting to let criminals walk free?

Some experts say it's because the prisons are too full.

Ideally judges would look at the offence and how serious it is in the

background of the offender and sentence them on that. Instead it is

a constant pressure on them from politicians to take into account the

fact that there aren't that many prison places available.

The Ministry of Justice says it's re`examining the sentencing process,

but goes on to say that each decision made is down to

Swindon's Police and Crime Commissioner is

in hospital after being taken seriously ill this morning.

Angus MacPherson is the PCC for Wiltshire and Swindon and was

It is thought he may have suffered a heart attack.

A man's pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a pregnant teenager

The girl, who was 17 at the time, was attacked in a house

26`year`old Mustafa Ahmed changed his plea to guilty at

Sinead Carroll was in court and told me what happened today.

Mustafa Ahmed spoke through an interpreter at

Oxford Crown Court today to change his plea to a guilty one.

That means he admitted sexually assaulting a teenager on the

The bulk of the evidence came from 27`year`old Bilal Ahmed.

He is from Maidenhead and he is charged with sexually

He took the stand today to protest his innocence.

He appealed directly to the jury a number of times, saying,

He accused the teenager of making it all up.

He said Mustafa Ahmed must have sexually assaulted the teenager when

The prosecution say that DNA evidence found on Bilal

and the victim suggest that the sexual assault did take place.

He says this was a false allegation, the victim wasn't his type,

and the idea that he sexually assaulted her was a joke.

What about the third man involved in the trial?

He is 26, from Oxford, and he is accused

The prosecution say he threatened to shoot the girl

He will begin giving evidence next week.

Oxfordshire's Fire and Rescue Service has praised a neighbour

for calling 999 after hearing a smoke alarm in the house next door.

Fire crews rescued a man, who was unhurt.

Fire officials are warning people against cooking

Chiltern Railways has achieved its best ever punctuality figures.

Figures from Network Rail reveal nearly

98% of its services arrive at their destination within around five

The rail operator says it's the best result since

Take a series of classic paintings, add a modern artist ` and

Svetlana Petrova has incorporated images of her pet in various

Her work's already been a massive hit on the internet.

Tom Turrell has been to see it on display in Abingdon.

This exhibition near Abingdon features part of a collection

from a Russian artist with one familiar theme.

Her work featuring her cat Zarathustra has already gone viral,

viewed by tens of millions of people online.

Firstly, it is cute your city. People like to see something

unusual. This is of course unusual. People like to investigate something

and see something, and these paintings help people to investigate

history. `` art history. These may look like paintings,

but actually they've been made Two pictures morphed into one

and printed onto canvass. It is extraordinary and beautifully

executed. These are beautifully done cats. One can imagine somebody

buying these paintings, yes. It is interesting and it will give you a

lot to talk about over the dinner table.

Some feel they contain a political message, others believe

What certainly seems true is the artist wants them to make you smile.

Hopefully the weather will also give you something to smile about.

Sarah Farmer is coming up with the weekend weather forecast,

and tomorrow's looking brighter than today.

Quite a quiet night ahead of us. Our fair amount of cloud, but staying

largely dry. A couple of breaks in the cloud at times and we could see

some patchy mist. For the most part, generally cloudy and dry. That is

how we start Saturday. Cloudy for many, but we will see some decent

sunny intervals. There are one to show us to be had but I suspect most

of us will dodge those. Temperatures up to 17 Celsius in the sunshine.

Sunday looking to be a day of cloudy skies with a few breaks here and

there. Just one or two showers at times. Let's take a look at the

national weather forecast. showers into the early part of next

week. Enjoy the weekend, if you can. Now the national outlook.

Hello, lots of outdoor plans ahead. By and large, we are in pretty good

shape. A quick look back at spring. It was the third warmest on record

but the dullest May in Northern Ireland on record. It has been dull

across many parts of the UK in actual fact. Scotland had some

sunshine and parts of East Anglia and the south-east as well. Under

the cloud tonight temperatures will stay well up. But under the clear

skies will get down close to