02/03/2017 South Today - Oxford

Ask yourself how you'd feel to lose someone so special.

That's the plea from a man appealing for help

after his mother was killed by a gang in Milton

Six men broke into the home of Hang Yin Leung, pinning her down

The 65-year-old died of her injuries ten days later.

Police are treating her death as murder.

To me, what's been taken cannot be replaced.

So, please, if you have any information on the events that took

place on the 31st of January, please contact Crimestoppers

Today, Keith Leung paid tribute to his mother,

and spoke of the lifelong friend he had lost.

I'll just remember her as somebody that was bubbly and energetic,

as the way that she would want to be remembered.

Mrs Leung's house in Orne Gardens, Milton Keynes, was picked out

by the gang of six men who returned on the 31st of January.

It was on this night they forced their way inside,

Police today were keen to stress that this is no longer a burglary

but a murder investigation and they are appealing

for the public's help to find those responsible.

I'd ask anybody who has travelled between Milton Keynes

and Aylesbury on that evening, Tuesday the 31st of January,

between 6:30pm and 9:30pm, if they've noticed a car driving

erratically, dangerously, with possibly up to six

persons in that vehicle, to please contact the police.

The thieves that targeted Mrs Leung's home took a number

of possessions including a Gold Oyster Rolex

and her long-service police medal from Hong Kong.

Police want to hear from anyone who may have information about these

items and wish to reassure the public that a team of 30

officers are dedicated to catching those responsible.

Oxford Bus Company says it ran 80% of its

services as normal today despite strike action

by hundreds of drivers, a claim disputed by the Unite union.

But tonight both sides are saying they're willing to enter into talks.

Away from the delays and cancellations, there was one

benefit for passengers - a flat fare of ?1.

William Davies joined the morning and evening commuters to find out

8:00am, morning rush hour in Headington.

Fewer buses than normal, longer queues and disgruntled

commuters texting in to say they'll be late.

Most routes run by the Oxford Bus company were running -

although with limited service - but some were cancelled entirely.

I was waiting for the X90, as I usually do in the morning,

but I'm surprised to find out there's a strike and there's

There are two bus companies operating in the city.

Stagecoach drivers are not involved in this dispute,

so although their buses were busier than usual, people were still

11am, Cowley Road, after the rush hour -

Today's strike is over pay and especially pay on bank holidays -

whether or not the 27th of December and the 2nd of January should be

classified as such if the previous days fall on the weekend,

The company says no, the drivers on strike, yes.

It's not all about the money, it's about the strength of feeling

of what he's doing because he's beginning to attack their

Having this action is no good for anybody.

I've been in daily contact with the Unite regional officer this

week, either by e-mail or telephone, and I will do so again today.

I do hope we can enter into meaningful discussions.

1:00pm here in Kidlington and, as you can see, there's no one

waiting at this bus stop, an indication perhaps

that the impact of today's strike hasn't been too severe on people

5:00pm, St Giles' bus stops and buses are full.

Both sides in this dispute blame each other for holding up talks,

but for passengers the real hold up is getting home.

Three Thames Valley Police officers have been disciplined following

A panel decided PC David Stamp, PC Hugh Flanagan and PC Caroline Irwin,

seen here walking at the back, did not warn drivers of the dangers

on the A413 near Great Missenden after a car accident in March 2014.

This led to a further crash in which two people died.

The officers have given official warnings and will

-- have been given official warnings.

An inquest into the deaths of the two drivers

A council chairman in Oxfordshire has been thrown out of the ruling

Conservative group after criticising planners.

Last night, saw residents in Sonning Common protesting over

plans to build one hundred homes - when they'd agreed to just 26.

Paul Harrison from South Oxfordshire District Council said planning

officers were "too keen" to approve housing developments.

A short time ago, our political reporter Bethan Phillips told me

Well, lots of areas in our region have agreed neighbourhood plans.

Sonning Common voted on theirs last year -

deciding on where homes can be built.

One field was supposed to have 26 homes on it.

But then a planning application came forward for 95 homes.

And there was outrage from residents when officers from

South Oxfordshire District Council recommended that for approval,

saying it would provide much-needed affordable homes.

Campaigners went along to the decision meeting last night

to protest and in the end councillors did refuse

But the chairman of South Oxfordshire District Council had

made comments at a previous meeting which have led to him being excluded

He said that planning officers were too keen to push

through applications - and he's standing by his comments.

Certain councillors there did not like me criticising officers

But I'm not prepared, as an individual, to cover up

The leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, John Cotton,

has said the comments were totally unacceptable, they amounted

to personal attacks on officers and that's why he's been excluded

Is this raising even more questions about these neighbourhood plans?

Well, there is huge pressure for councils

to get homes built to deal with the housing crisis.

And I think this case may well make other areas nervous about how

robust their neighbourhood plans are - albeit councillors did

It does also feed in to wider concerns about

The charity Shelter says it's producing high-value,

poor-quality homes, rather than much-needed starter houses.

A tribunal has ruled Oxford City Council is able

to charge leaseholders for renovation work to the tower

Residents who own their flats are disputing bills of up to ?50,000

for work to five buildings in Blackbird Leys,

But they say they were under no illusion that the charges

A three-day hearing to determine how much they have to pay

Pupils at a school near Reading have been getting to know

their new classmates - a herd of goats.

They're not the first students to get hands on experience -

the Warriner school in Bloxham runs a farm.

But there was no denying the excitement in Earley.

Joe Campbell has been finding out more.

Most schools would be content with a couple of gerbils,

maybe a hamster or a rabbit, but not here.

When I heard that there are goats in our school,

I thought it was just, like, a joke because you don't

Even though there are a bit smelly, they are really fun to take care of.

The goats first arrived here back in September.

Since then, they've become very much at home.

The youngsters have learned how to do take care of the goats.

And looking after these new kids has been something

I've learned a lot, I've made some mistakes and it's

All the children know which one's the naughty one,

But it now looks like the goats are here to stay.

I'm back with headlines at 8:00pm and another bulletin at 10:30pm.

Sally Taylor and the team are next with the rest

of today's news stories - including Oxford United

heading off to Wembley after a thrilling win last night.

After today's glorious sunshine, there's a scent of spring in the air

but sadly, that's going to be washed away with the arrival of rain.

Hampshire and Sussex Police have both been judged to "require

improvement" in a report by Her Majesty's

The forces have been told they need to raise standards on keeping people

It says it's "unacceptable" that two-thirds of Hampshire's

investigations into domestic abuse don't progress, because the victim

Sussex was found to be "inconsistent" in the quality

Portsmouth has been named as one of 11 locations that has submitted

a bid to become the UK City of Culture for 2021.

The city is of course most well known for its rich naval heritage.

And how can it beat off competition from the likes

Edward Sault is live at Gunwharf Quays.

Ed, this isn't the first time Portsmouth has thrown

Portsmouth and Southampton joined forces in the past to become UK

cities of culture the 2017 but unfortunately, it was not meant to

be and they did not make the short list, Hull and Leicester battled it

out instead. Portsmouth have regrouped and they want to go it

alone in 2021 and they are pretty convinced they can make a go of it.

Do you think you can win it this time?

If you're not in it, you can't win it anyway, can you?

So our view is that we feel we have such a lot to offer in this city.

We have got huge areas of deprivation.

To be able to regenerate those areas would be just wonderful.

And of course, this would help immensely.

Of course, this is something that brings in millions of pounds

?3 million alone is guaranteed by the Heritage Lottery fund.

So what's Portsmouth got that its competitors don't?

I've been asking people in the city today.

I think they've got a great football club.

And you can tell by the fan base what it's all about, really.

Massive naval history, military history, beautiful Guildhall,

I can't put it in words. I just love it!

Some came for the America's Cup, of course, and some come

for Victoria's festival, so we're beginning to get more

of a reputation and I think to build on those things,

to bring people into Portsmouth and see what we can offer

to the nation, well, to the world, it would be a really

Well, Hull is the current title holder.

At the beginning of this year, they had a huge fireworks display

to celebrate the start of their year as City of Culture.

Hull's had over ?1 billion of investment as a result.

But what has Portsmouth got to do to win? They had this piece of advice

from Hull earlier. What I would say to Portsmouth

and what we learned, an awful lot of the world's history

was made a new waterfront an awful lot of the world's history

was made on your waterfront and your communities were shaped

by what happened on the waterfront. And it's about celebrating that

and really projecting just what Portsmouth did and what Hull

has done for the world. And I'm sure that Portsmouth

will want a piece of Hull's success. 11 cities vying for the prize which

will be narrowed down to two. Portsmouth will be keeping their

fingers crossed that they finally make the short list. Back to you.

Ed, thank you and good luck to Portsmouth.

It was the place where she wrote or revised all of her novels.

Jane Austen lived in a red brick house in Chawton

in Hampshire for eight years, until shortly before

For her fans, the house - now a museum - has always offered

a glimpse into the kind of life she led.

But now, as the bicentenary of her death is marked,

the interior has been recreated to make it even more authentic.

James Ingham is live at the house now.

It is quite something to be standing in the very room where one

of our most cherished authors penned her great works,

This is the table where Jane Austin were dashed down to and right after

breakfast every day, novels like Pride And Prejudice. The house has

been a museum since the 1940s but is still revealing its secrets. Tiny

fragments of Regency wallpaper founded out of the way corners in

the house have allowed curators to reinterpret the interior and these

little fragments tell a fascinating tale about the life of the Austin

family. -- Jane Austen's family. Specialist decorators and restorers

have been working hard to refurbish Jane Austen's home,

paying close attention to detail. This wallpaper has been recreated

by architectural historians, based on what was left

of the original, but it There was a motif in this one

which they could not make sense of. And after some puzzling,

they realised that there was a manufacturing fault

in this paper. This meant it was probably

a second, and cheaper. Wallpaper was an expensive

and heavily-taxed luxury There was a missing detail,

which meant the paper There's a central motif that looks

a bit like a little spider. That was meant to

have a rosebud there. The person who was hanging the paper

didn't have that to go on. If it had been there,

he would have understood immediately To commemororate the bicentenary,

the museum also has These are two of the treasures,

a gold and turquoise ring, and this. The three-volume first edition

of Pride And Prejudice, And she described her first bound

copy as "my own darling child". Pictures have been hung on the walls

this afternoon and overseeing all that is the curator, Mary, who joins

me again now. Tell me a bit more about your plans to celebrate the

bison centenary. It is a very important year for the Jane Austin

community and the museum. We are delighted with the way the houses

looking after two months of redecorating. But we have got plans

to do much more in the future. After we have raised the money. This year,

we have launched Jane's Fund, a big public appeal for the funds that

will allow us to undertake vital repairs, and we will then roll out

the redecoration through the house. It is such an old house, I imagine

there's a lot of structural work to do as well as decoration. It is,

there's a lot of work in different areas of the house and it is a grade

one listed building so it needs to be done very carefully. Thank you

for joining us. The house reopens after two months tomorrow at

10:30am. I'm sure everyone here is ready for an influx of guests keen

to see some of the changes that have been made.

And Chawton is just one of the locations in the south

which will be celebrating Jane Austen's life and work

I'm sure you know all the others. And it has a nice tea room.

I've been there, very recently. You know all the best

tearooms. And where they serve the best cake.

Tony is here with the sport. In a moment, we will meet our 85 Rod

cricketer, Jean. I'm looking forward to that. A great character who

embodies what community sport is all about. But first, Wembley last

weekend and more coming. Oxford United have booked

another trip to Wembley. They'll play Coventry on April 2nd

in the Checkatrade Trophy. The competition was controversial

this season as for the first time, Premier League and Championship

sides could field Under-23 teams. It led to some farcical moments

in the early rounds but ultimately two lower league clubs

are in the final as The sweet sound of the final

whistles. Oxford United are still in the hunt for promotion from League

1, but they already have a date at Wembley in their diaries. They came

through a tricky semifinal at Luton, a scrambled effort from Phil Edwards

and a deflected shot from Marvin Johnson put the visitors firmly on

course for a second successive trip to the National Stadium. I must

admit, it's different to last year, it is a fantastic feeling to get

there. Last year was more, probably getting there than actually

thinking, what we were going to do once we were there. This year, we've

got the opportunity to play another showcase final. Now we want to go

ahead and win it. It was a nervous night as the Hatters refused to roll

over. Isaac Vassell reduced the deficit and then former Oxford

striker Danny Hylton equalised with just eight minutes to go. The tie

looked set for penalties but United's Magic Johnson still had

something left in the box of tricks. I had nothing in my mind other than

try to hit the target and I caught it well. Getting to Wembley,

arguably the most famous football stadium in the world, what does it

mean? It's massive, I've not played there before so it would be good for

me but obviously, quite a few of the boys went there last year and it

ended in disappointment so they have a second chance to correct it. Last

year's finals are an exodus of over 30,000 fans from Oxfordshire. The

match against Barnsley ended in defeat. This year's game against

Coventry on the 2nd of April second chance at national silverware. Ross

Eden, South Today. Now it's time to meet the country's

oldest blind cricketer. Jean Sparrowhawk from Dorset didn't

intend to start playing cricket in her retirement,

but she soon found it was more interesting them some of the more

mundane parts of life. Training hard with

the Dorset Dolphins. It's not what 85-year-old

Jean Sparrowhawk envisaged I have a great retirement

because I don't do any of the things I ought to do like ironing

or dusting or any of those things. Jean is the oldest visually impaired

cricketer in the country. She tried archery after losing her

sight and the retired headteacher is now a fixture

on the cricket field. But I had no intention of ever

playing proper cricket. I thought their cricket

was the sort that I would play with my grandchildren

or my children, you know, on the beach or in

the local park, not, Dolphins play in the Southwest

Development League. Every player must have

at least 50% impairment so there are various

keys to success. Did you see us playing,

and if you think it is an aggressive sport at times with the way we shout

but again, a lot of They all have loud voices so that

if I'm fielding, Sam particularly, I often field near him,

he shouts in a loud So I know it is coming

in my direction. On the global stage,

England's team recently lofted On the global stage,

England's team recently lost a World Cup semifinal

against Pakistan but here in Dorset, proof that the sport brings a lot

more than just competition I would say, if anyone suggests that

you have a go, have a go at it! Quite right, too, have a go if

anyone asks you and she's a great example for all of us at 85 years

old. Great to meet her. Staying with cricket now.

Sussex Cricket have reported a small profit in their latest

A decline in match income was offset by a strong commercial

The club's profit for the year was ?1000 but represents

an improvement after posting a loss of ?139,000 in the year to 2015.

Chairman Jim May says the club is in good shape.

You may remember we featured the junior golfers from Romsey

in Hampshire, who were off to represent England

in the home nations tournament being staged in the Algarve.

Well, the seven-strong team finished runners-up,

winning through the knockout stages only to fall just short

against another English club, Beadlow Manor from Bedfordshire.

The final was halved but they lost on holes won in the match.

Rather frustrating for them, a tough way to lose, not even a play-off!

No, but how well do they do! And a great early golfing performance.

Hundreds of pupils in Basingstoke are hoping to get into

the Guinness Book of World Records by getting hit in the

The Costello School hopes to create "The Longest Pie Train" to raise

Determined to get it right, the students pied each other

in slapstick Mexican-wave style today, as a rehearsal ahead

More than 250 people are needed to break the record.

When you get hit, it is just like the adrenaline just wants you to do

it to someone else. Watching everyone else go, and then me, I was

like "Seriously, do I have to do this?" It's not bad, went in my face

and was disgusting. It's not like gone off ice cream.

And don't forget, if you're doing something funny

for money for Comic Relief, let us know ahead of

And the obvious link would be cream pies, now, wouldn't it? I was going

to start at present and then move down. I have to do the weather with

custard pie? And get paid lots of money for it. I tell you what, they

wanted 250 people to break the record and they have 249, Alexis.

Great minds think alike! Let's get onto the weather. That is far more

important. Lovely day today and sadly it is all

over because we're going to see some rain. These were the blue skies over

Gosport in lunchtime. John Booth but took this picture of a daffodil in

the sunshine at head end. And Martin took this of the sand dunes at West

wittering. Stand-by, Alexis, here come the pies!

Not yet. Lovely blue sky overhead today but tonight we are looking at

the arrival of rain. Clear skies initially so the first part of the

night, temperatures at their lowest, and they will start to rise by Dawn.

The cloud and rain will arrive and it could be heavy at times in the

early hours of the morning. There will be a wet rush-hour drive to

work. Temperatures falling to a mild five, to seven Celsius. Quite a

soggy start to tomorrow. The rain slowly but surely moving northwards.

The wind will pick up with the rainfall and it will clear eastern

part of the region in the afternoon but through parts of Dorset and

Wiltshire, still the likelihood we will see rain during the afternoon,

mainly light and patchy with the odd moderate burst and the front still

lingering through part of Oxfordshire and gusty shared through

the latter part of tomorrow afternoon. Highs of 9-11. A wet end

to the day for many other rain showers will continue during the

early hours of the morning on Saturday. But drying out by Dawn on

Saturday so dry start to the weekend. Lowes tomorrow night of

7-8. The breeze coming in from the south, drawing in milder air from

the near continent. A cloudy day on Saturday in general. There will be

the odd shower and low pressure starts to slowly pull away. That may

bring one or two scattered showers but for the bulk of the day it

should be mainly dry and we will see some bright or sunny spells,

possibly more clout than sunshine and there will be some rain.

Saturday night in the early hours of Sunday morning. Saturday is probably

the best day of the weekend. Taking a look ahead to the rest of the week

and into next, Friday, tomorrow, rain at times which could be heavy

for the rush-hour drive to work. The winds will pick up with the

rainfall. Saturday mainly cloudy with some bright spell through the

day, the risk of the odd isolated shower. Quite soggy on Sunday with

rain at times which could be heavy and places. And the chance also some

thunderstorms tomorrow night. Sally? That is it from us, more again at

eight o'clock and then 10:30pm and we are at tomorrow morning. --

tomorrow evening. Join us if you can at 6:30pm. Good night.

WHISTLING: Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II

the gap between the richest and everyone else

And while the funding for our schools and hospitals is being cut,

many of the largest companies and wealthiest individuals

And the tax dodgers are getting away with it