05/04/2017 South Today - Oxford

In tonight's programme: The mystery of the body in the woods.

Why a coroner can't conclude how a woman found on fire

Also: ten years since the world saw how they paid respects,

people in Royal Wootton Basset reflect on those repatriation days.

The Power Taylor here the story have a full-size caravan made from Lego

bricks. The family of a woman whose badly

burnt body was found in woodland may Gillian Knock died from smoke

inhalation near the Stately Home of Hughenden manor in

Buckinghamshire last November. But the case is far

from straightforward. At the inquest, a coroner

said he was unable to establish if she planned

to set herself alight. This photo was taken last

November, a few days While she appears to be

happy, today's inquest in Beaconsfield heard

she was going through A statement from her partner

Andy Martin revealed she'd left a note at home saying she couldn't

cope and needed some space. Later on that day, a dog-walker

spotted a fire in land Fire crews were called, they

discovered the 64-year-old's body. A postmortem showed there was soot

in Gillian Knock's airways, which means she was breathing

when the fire started. They also found white

spirit on her clothing, Ms Knock's family and friends said

the hearing gave some answers The inquest couldn't

explain how one of her legs Also potential witnesses

who were seen in the woods that evening have yet to come

forward to police. Police said there were no broken

branches or signs of a person being dragged to suggest Ms Knock

had been taken In his narrative conclusion,

the coroner said the evidence didn't suggest a third party was involved

in Gillian Knock's death. But Crispin Butler said

he couldn't be sure if it was the result of a suicidal act

or an accidental one. A group of squatters in Oxford

are facing eviction from a third The Open House movement has now

set up home in a vacant They've previously occupied

a former car showroom in Iffley and a disused power

station in Osney. Today they've been served

with another court order, forcing It's been a winter of moving

from place to place, but this group of homeless people

in Oxford say at least they haven't Iffley Open House started

up when 23 squatters They then moved to a disused

power station in Osney. Both times they faced court action

to get them to leave. Now they're facing eviction

for a third time, from this building in South Parade in Oxford,

which used to be a restaurant. But campaigners say empty properties

should be put to use. It seems a shame to leave

the building empty when there is an Until we can build on the green

belt, we can extend, until we wait for some of the laws to be

changed or get everybody together to realise that more houses need to be

built, then this is going The group claims that

Iffley Open House has been a success story -

seven homeless people in the group now have jobs,

two have been rehoused. A lot of these people,

when they end up on the street, What you need to do is build them up

and give them a sense of purpose, But should people be

squatting in empty homes? It's unfair to the owner,

if they wreck the place. Why shouldn't somebody stay

in the building when But on the other

hand, if you owned a building and you were unable to use

that building because people were squatting in it, then

I think that's wrong. If the building is not

being used, then yes. Because it technically can

save somebody's life. The group has now two days to leave

this building or risk being arrested We tried to contact the owner here,

but haven't yet received a response. A driver remains in hospital

after a serious crash Two lorries collided just after four

o'clock this morning. A second driver was released

from hospital this afternoon. The road was shut for

most of the day whilst Five days of strike action has been

announced at the BMW plants The industrial action is over

plans to close the final The union UNITE says manufacturing

will be "significantly disrupted" BMW says it has a number of options

on the table to help employees with any changes,

and is open to further talks. An Oxford firm which is developing

technology for driverless cars has given the public the chance to test

the new pods for the first time. Oxbotica has taken a prototype

shuttle to a route near to Five cameras and three

lasers help guide the pod 100 people will be able to try it

out over the next three weeks, and the system could be up

and running within two years. He got to understand how they're

going to be integrated into a smart city environment. But they be able

to help reduce congestion? But they held improve our air quality? Will

allow us to make better use of space? Whether we can see this

technology in areas of Greenwich identified as like this, where maybe

we don't want petrol or diesel cars to run.

A decade after the bodies of servicemen and women killed

overseas were first taken through their town, the people

of Royal Wooton Bassett have been reflecting on that period

and the way they chose to pay their respects.

They lined the streets as the bodies were taken from RAF Lyneham

to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Since 2011, repatriations have been moved to Brize Norton.

A moment of silence, remembrance, respect.

Captured by many cameras and broadcast around the world.

That silence and the first hearses coming up, that never leaves

you and you finish shooting with a sense of numbness

The town carried out 167 services, but they started spontaneously.

The coffins began passing through regularly in 2007,

after nearby RAF Lyneham became the airbase the fallen

from Afghanistan and Iraq were flown into.

During those repatriations, hundreds if not thousands of people would be

Today it's very much business as usual.

The Town Council's decided not to put on any specific events

What makes me proud is that our little town here managed

to put respect back into our Armed Forces and respect

Lee Mackie from Oxfordshire lost her son Jason when he was

killed in an explosion in Afghanistan in 2009.

Although she was too upset to go to his repatriation,

I became very aware that the community there

was like a comfort blanket to these traumatised families.

They gave them the opportunity to recognise the fact

that our nation appreciated the sacrifice they had made.

Repatriations stopped in Royal Wootton Basset in 2011.

They now take place at RAF Brize Norton.

In those four years, 345 fallen servicemen and women

were returned to their families through this town,

It's the fourth most common cancer in the UK,

with more than 40,000 people being diagnosed every year.

Now there are calls to lower the age for

Currently over 60s are tested, but campaigners say testing people

from 50 could save thousands of lives and save the NHS

David Lumb has been to meet a woman in Banbury who's taken the test.

Joy Dansette says each day of living is an absolute treasure to her.

Three years ago she was sent a cancer screening test

When she did, she couldn't believe the results.

I was told they had found a tumour in my bowel so big that if I didn't

have an operation within a week or so I'd be dead.

I had no symptoms apart from extreme tiredness.

Now a charity's launched a campaign to reduce the age that people get

Currently it's 60 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland,

I think the cost of treating advanced bowel cancer,

of which we have seen far too many at the moment, is three or four

times the cost of catching a bowel cancer early,

and therefore the cost benefit of implementing a screening

package at an earlier age has got to be beneficial in the long-term.

Public Health England says it's in the process of rolling out

a different screening programme where people are invited

to a hospital for what's called a bowel scope test.

Whether the campaign is successful or not,

Joy hopes her story will make people think twice before ignoring the home

A Berkshire woman is calling for cinema chains to do more

Linda Dean from Reading says that many cinemas only show a few

She also has to wait weeks for new releases to be screened

and sometimes finds that films that were advertised as having

11 million people in the UK have some form of hearing loss, that's

I'd like to be relaxed about my social life, and go spontaneously

where I want to go, when I feel comfortable without having to think

that I have to watch it on that day and that time. There are lots of

barriers, there's no point in me having a choice. I do feel like I am

discriminated against. An awarding-winning Oxford author

has been inspiring students Kiran Millwood Hargrave won

the Waterstone's Children's Book Prize last month for her debut

novel, The Girl of Ink and Stars. The governor kicked his spurs

into his horse's side and I heard the unmistakable crack of his whip

on the flank of his stallion. Those pale objects

will not seeds at all. Extracts from The Girl

of Ink and Stars. But award-winning novelist

Kiran Millwood Hargrave's didn't Living in Oxford has just made me

so much more ambitious. You walk around

and you see all these places that are so important

to culture and literature, and it is really the perfect place to have

ended up, because we did end up It's just a beautiful place to walk

around and get inspiration from. 11 and 12-year-olds

at Wheatly Park School took part Studies even showed

that people who read regularly just do better

in life across the board. Not only are they more

emotionally healthy, they also tend to have higher paying jobs,

have better outcomes across life. If reading really is

the magic bullet it seems to be, then of course

we are going to do everything we can, and school is I think

a really important part of that. A good story is like

an adventure where they have Scary but funny

stories, like comedy. I can't go to sleep

after reading one of them. I just have to keep on reading it

until I fall asleep. Kiran's got a busier year planned,

her second novel is out now, And she's getting married

in Oxford later this month. The shops may be full

of Easter eggs, but we can It floats, and it's moored

on the Grand Union Canal. Its a work of art

called the Exbury Egg, It's on display there as part

of the celebrations to mark the 50th I'll have the headlines at eight

and a full bulletin at 10.30pm. Now more of today's

stories with Sally Taylor. I'm at the National motor Museum for

the wonderful world record breaker. Join me for that later and your fall

forecast to. -- fool forecast. Members of the RMT union have said

that their strike will go ahead on Saturday after "no specific

proposals" were put forward It'll be the 32nd day of action

over the introduction of driver-only operated trains

and changes to the role Earlier this week members of Aslef,

the drivers' union, rejected for a second time a proposed deal

to end their dispute With just six games to go

in the season, Brighton once again sit top of the Championship table,

until Newcastle play Perhaps more crucially, with the top

two going up automatically, the Seagulls are ten points clear

of third, a position now occupied by Reading, who cemented their own

play-off credentials. If the question was can

they cope with the pressure, Glenn Murray had the answer just

two minutes in. With pre-match nerves dismissed,

a routine win was on the cards. Tomer Hemed doubled the lead

soon after the break, Uwe Hunemeier's deflected shot made

sure, a record breaking 25th Che Adam's scored a consolation

late on for Birmingham, but Brighton's charge shows no

sign of stopping. The fight we got the illegal,

normally one that motivates others, and we took our moments

Yann Kermogant was central to Bournemouth's promotion

Two headed goals here over Blackburn Rovers helped make

it three wins in a row for Jaap Stam's side.

true Who are hitting form just at the right time.

Goal of the game was Elliott Bennett's sweet volley

But Garath McCleary's shot soon dampened that.

MK Dons also beat Charlton 2-0 in League One.

Onto tonight's action, and in the Premier League

Southampton host Crystal Palace, but will once again be without

injured striker Manolo Gabbiadini, and Sofiane Boufal is also a doubt

While Bournemouth face a tough trip to Anfield,

from where Kris Temple sent us this match preview.

that gathers still only seven points so they are no means safe, and they

come to a Liverpool side still with second at least. Of course, that

humdinger of a game down at the vitality stadium earlier in the

stadium -- season. The cherries are fresh from me when, and the draw

with Manchester United. They have proved in recent weeks they have

what it takes to compete away at the big sides as well. Something at

Anfield tonight would be a huge boost from them ahead of their visit

to Chelsea on Saturday. Thanks, Kris, BBC Radio Solent

the place to go for full match commentary of both Southampton

and Bournemouth games this evening. In League One, Oxford will look

to stay in the play-off race Striker Conor McAleny is back

in the squad after missing Sunday's The County Championship cricket

season gets underway on Friday. As part of our season previews,

it's time to head to Sussex, where they have their eyes

on improving on last seasons 4th With new chief executive

Rob Andrew at the helm, there's a steely

determination about Sussex. We can compete on all fronts. We

want promotion this year. We want to get the quarterfinal.

Experience was the ingredient required of summer signings.

They arrived in the form of South African's Vernon Philander,

Stiaan Van Zyl and David Wiese While Laurie Evans from Warwickshire

It was important to us to add some senior players but also some

batters, and someone who can ball. The pre-season has gone well and I

think we just want to get going, really.

Club Stalwart Michael Yardy has taken over as batting coach.

While someone just starting to make a name for himself is young

Having toured well with England U19s this winter,

I just want to play as much cricket I can for Sussex. I want to get on

the park and hopefully we can get some silverware.

Throw in pace bowlers Tymal Mills and Chris Jordan who return

Sussex have built an exciting squad capable

Now, here's a sneaky way of getting children

to improve their maths and English skills.

A tournament's being held in West Sussex this evening

where youngsters compete in a version of the sport

that's geared-up to help with their academic results.

For this afternoon only, this is the version of the Crucible. This is the

first snooker tournament they have had year. 50 children and for local

schools taking part. The trophies are here, ready to go. A quarter and

the semifinals are going on. Here's a flavour of today's action.

I just love playing people and the game and just the concentration,

because some people think it's boring but actually think it's great

fun because it gives you something to do every now and again.

Habitually fun. It's something different. It is something we're not

used to seeing in skills. We see Ed on television and four children the

stage, they think, I would like to go go at.

My first night is on table one. They are raiding the rating to go. Yes.

Are you feeling confident? Yes. I am feeling good about it. I feel like I

can get to the semifinals. It all looks great fun, doesn't it? But

there is a next -- and educational side to it as well. Stephen runs the

after school snooker club. Tell others about functional snooker.

That is based on helping the children with their education and it

helps them with their mathematics and the literature, dear social

skills. For example, we have numbered balls here, we have some

traction, addition and we have teams and all the Red Bulls are numbered

one to ten. And it just helps them. You have had some great results with

children who aren't so great with their numeracy, haven't you? We have

had amazing results, especially with people who don't learn very well

traditionally or people with disabilities moral learning

disabilities and they really take to it, especially, as I say, the

different way of learning commented that structured classroom

environment. Just briefly, it is very popular in Asia, but not so

much year after its 1980s heyday. Are you trying to spot future

talents as well? We certainly are. I'm sure we've seen some future

world champion to you. We're working very hard to draw the game. We have

this programme and the functional snooker programme and we are working

on snooker skills. I have to stop you there. Although this is the

first tournament, there are already plans to make it an annual event.

Now, not all road users are fans of the humble caravan but a very

special one has just gone on show at the National Motor

Yes, what makes this full size caravan unusual is that it's

made out of Lego bricks, lots of them.

It also has working lights, and running water.

The world-record breaking construction took 12 model-makers

from Hampshire over 1,000 hours to build, and they've incorporated

Sarah Farmer's been to take a look and she's there for us now.

Hello. Have a look at this for a world record breaker. 215,000, 158

books have gone into this build of a life-sized replica caravan. It has

all the comforts as well. A cup of tea, toast, freshly cut flowers,

Leeds, running water and the works. Dan Connolly is from the team behind

this project. Tellers a little bit about why you decided to do this.

Apart from everybody loves Lego, the idea was to support freedom of

leisure vehicles and the old days you can go on. The concept of

caravanning has evolved over the years. The idea behind it was to

challenge ourselves. We had 12 difficult -- dedicated experts, over

a thousand man-hours to build this replica. The detail is absolutely

fascinating. Thank you for joining us. Well, it is here at the National

motor Museum through the holidays and the summer holidays and it is

like the summer stay here in the South.

Ken Rayner captured this beautiful image at Chisbury

near Hungerford And it was a lovely sunny day at Sturminster Newton,

-- And it was a lovely sunny day at Sturminster Newton,

thanks to Colin Lennox-Gordon for this picture.

Let's re-join Sarah farmer at Beaulieu for the midweek forecast.

And, Sarah, it's been a perfect Spring Day today.

We had beautiful blue skies and we'll get going with a look at the

satellite picture. Not too much cloud but generally, all of us

seeing some pretty sunny spells. I must say we have a few more of those

to come in the next few days. Through the course of this evening,

we will start to see the cloud building and thickening in the

overnight PDA, so gradually the -- covered in our region. Temperatures

to seven Celsius. The temperatures can drop the a touch but steering

clear of the menace when we saw last night. Until tomorrow morning, we

get off to a bright start to the day. We will see temperatures of

around eight Celsius as people are getting up, but it looks like we'll

have some sunny spells. More cloud in the picture than have had through

the course of today. Tomorrow afternoon, temperatures up to 12

Celsius but we could see those temperatures nudging up to the

Celsius. Can make you want again tonight, but

there will be cloud. Temperatures reflect that, with the cloud, seven

or eight Celsius, and they will fall lower if we had the brakes on the

cloud. Looking ahead to the remainder of this week, dizzy

promising few days ahead, so for Friday, yes, it will be cloudy at

pains but who will start to see some blue skies and a sunny spells

through much of the day. We start to get a change in that wind direction.

It looks as if we will have some warm conditions to take is into the

weekend, possibly topping 20 Celsius. That in mind, I will see a

black and blue Rover sport. We'll hear the final legal ruling

on the case of the Isle of Wight dad who was prosecuted

for taking his daughter out We'll have the man himself,

here on the red sofa CHILD: This is

a major scientific breakthrough. Hello. It's All Round to

Mrs Brown's, where my guests will be Steve Backshall, and music

from the beautiful Pixie Lott.