20/02/2017 South Today - Oxford

for Mosul underway, there will have to be some follow-through. So what

comes next? Coming up: Are they looking

for more victims? Police start excavations,

behind this barrier, at the former home of double

murderer Christopher Halliwell. Also, a week after an explosion

at a block of flats in Oxford, 13 households don't have anywhere

permanent to live. Today we had highs of 16 Celsius. By

the end of the week it will turn colder. I will have the details

shortly. Specialist police officers have

begun excavation work at the former home of double murderer

Christopher Halliwell in Swindon. In 2012, he admitted killing

Sian O'Callaghan, then last year, he was convicted of murdering Becky

Godden. After the court case,

Wiltshire police said they were working with other forces

to identify potential Will Glennon sent this

report from Swindon. The whole alleyway is sealed off

behind me behind a row of terraced houses here on broad Street near the

centre of Swindon. Behind the tarpaulin that is blocking the

alleyway you can just about make out a white police crime scene tent and

some vehicles at the back of the gardens. Wiltshire Police have

issued as with the statement tonight. Specialist officers, they

say, are carrying out excavation work within the gardens of two

properties in broad Street as part of an ongoing investigation by the

major crime team. This relates, they say, to intelligence that the force

has received. This is significant because the convicted double

murderer, Christopher Halliwell, is known by the BBC to have lived here

between 1996 and 2000. He lived at number 96 broad St, which is exactly

at the back of where the Kent is placed and the excavation work is

going on. Police have not told us what intelligence they have and no

more details of what it is they are doing what they might be looking

for. Christopher Halliwell was convicted in September last year of

the merger of the young Swindon woman, Becky Edwards. She went

missing in around 2003 and Christopher Halliwell was handed

down a whole life sentence for the murder. That is because he was

already serving a life sentence for the murder of another young Swindon

woman, Sian O'Callaghan. She went missing after a night out in 2011.

She was last seen getting into the back of Christopher Halliwell's

taxi. Her body was later found nearby inward land. There are eight

years between the two murders, 2003-2011. There is significant

speculation that there might be other victims. Christopher Halliwell

has murdered many other women. Wiltshire Police have not officially

linked any other crimes to him, but they have appealed to Christopher

Halliwell to search his conscience and to tell them and nothing else

that he knows. A woman made homeless in last week's

explosion at a block of flats in Oxford says she's been left

with no money and has no idea Human remains were discovered

at the site in Osney Mead on Saturday, but a post mortem

examination was inconclusive. Tenants from 13 properties

on Gibbs Crescent are still waiting to hear where they'll be

housed long term. This is currently home

for Habiba Gudal. Nearly a week on from the explosion

and fire that ripped through her block of flats

on Gibbs Crescent in Oxford, she still has nightmares

about what happened and hasn't been I have no idea what possessions I

have loved. I have no idea where I will be taken, I have no idea what

is next. I am still devastated and I cannot sleep at night. I have five

seconds of the sleep and I wake up. I hear a voice, the explosion, it

makes me scared. She's one of 13 households who've

been told it's not safe Today, the housing association

A2Dominion held a meeting to discuss a more permanent solution,

Oxford West and Abingdon MP Nicola Blackwood says it's been

extremely distressing It is clearly a hugely shocking

incident to happen right in the middle of residential Oxford and for

residents to have their whole lives disrupted in such an abrupt and

unexpected way and I think that we have to give huge praise to our

emergency services for responding in such a quick and comprehensive way.

Three flats were destroyed in the blast, five more look

Investigators discovered human remains on site on Saturday thought

to be those of missing man Guido Schuette who lived

in one of the flats, but more tests will be needed

to identify the remains and cause of death after post mortem

A dozen fire officers have been on site sifting through rubble

and debris but as yet there's been no confirmation about what caused

The fire service says it plans to hand over the site

to the landlord in the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, other local residents have started a fundraising campaign

Habiba and the remaining tenants are still waiting to discover

Three Thames Valley Police officers have appeared before a misconduct

hearing after a road accident in Buckinghamshire in

which two men were killed Relatives and friends of Malcolm Tindall

from Aylesbury and Carl Bird from High Wycombe pressed

The men died when their cars collided on an icy stretch

of the A413 near Great Missenden in 2014.

The misconduct panel aims to establish if three constables

failed in their duty to warn road users of the risk

Next, the decision that's a major blow to badminton players

hoping to play in the next Olympics in Tokyo.

Badminton England, based in Milton Keynes, has

lost its appeal against the decision by UK Sport to withdraw its funding.

The money has been cut despite the sport hitting its medal

target, with a bronze in the men's doubles.

It was always going to be a decisive naval badminton. Its funding

stripped by UK sport, not convinced its players could win medals at the

next Olympic Games in two Q. Their future resting on the result of the

appeal. It is half past 11 and in that building behind the badminton

England's chief executive, Ian Christie, is taking a phone call

from UK sport. They will find out the result of the appeal. It will

have a massive impact on the future of the sport. It was bad news, the

debris field. You must be terribly frustrated. We are, but we are

incredibly resilient and equally determined and that is a big blow.

We were looking for about 1.2 million a year to get us to Tokyo,

but it is a tough hurdle to overcome, but it is not something

that will deter our ambition to still deliver medals for Great

Britain in four years. UK sport distribute public money in pursuit

of medals. Badminton at ?7.4 million for London. For a real it was

reduced to 5.7 million. That helped them win the first focus. A few

years later it's funding was cut for Tokyo. After Rio we were so buzzed

about this centre. We were feeling the national Badminton Centre, this

is it, we will go onwards and upwards. I feel like it is just

deflating everyone. Unlike 31 other Olympic and Paralympic sports,

badminton or that nothing in the run-up to Tokyo. The number of

players training here of the cup and staff at headquarters in Milton

Keynes have been warned of redundancy. I knew the appeal was

imminent. I did not know it was today. Bad news, unbelievable. It

has big implications for the sport and Milton Keynes. They have had the

Centre for a while, so that might threaten it. Badminton wants more

moments like this would need to pick itself up off the floor and come up

with a plan for Tokyo. Alexis is next with the weather

forecast for the rest of the week. We had fairly mild temperatures to

with a high of 16 Celsius. By the end of the week it will turn colder.

Might at first, turning colder, practice to be had. If the McLeod

and the chance we could have patchy and which could be heavy at times.

Rain overnight and more persistent and heavy for a time during the

early hours of the morning with temperatures falling to around nine

or 10 Celsius. The mild night and demand they tomorrow. Rain at first

will gradually start to ease. We will see some drier, brighter

conditions during the course of tomorrow or the amount of cloud and

still highs of around ten or 11 Celsius. Lower than the values of

the day, but fairly mild for the time of year. The Flavia Pennetta

denied tomorrow and we will see further outbreaks of rain during the

early hours of Wednesday morning. The wind will increase as well. When

will become a blustery on Wednesday with temperatures falling down to

around 10 Celsius. There will be an increasing south and south westerly

wind through wet in the daytime. A mild day but outbreaks of rain are a

possibility. Cloud and bright spells here or there and the breeze will

bring in the showers which could be heavy at times. Be high on Wednesday

will be around 12 Celsius. Brisk wind on Wednesday will stay

overnight into Thursday and Thursday the low pressure start swinging in

from the Atlantic running strong winds and outbreaks of rain with

weather fronts associated with that. The wind will ease through the

course of Friday, still quite breezy on Friday and Friday is the day when

we might see one or two wintry showers. A mixture of sleet and

snow. Turning colder from Thursday onwards. Temperatures on Wednesday

the seventh Celsius. Back to their seasonal average. Looking ahead to

the weekend, frost early on Saturday and there will be rain for a time

during Saturday daytime with showers expected on Sunday. Now, here is

As you have just seen, after a day in which some of you have been

shedding the layers, you will be putting them back on for the rest of

this week. Big changes ahead, all down to where the air has been

coming from. Today, it originated in the Caribbean, hence the name

tropical maritime air. Temperatures peaked at 18 degrees. But later this