03/03/2017 South Today - Oxford

A man from Oxford - who was on his mobile phone

when he caused the death of a driver on the A34 - has been sentenced

to three years and eight months in prison.

crashed through the central reservation of the road

in June, killing 28 year old Gavin Roberts from Swindon.

The judge at Reading Crown Court dubbed it a "wholly avoidable

accident which led to a wholly avoidable death"

When Lewis Stratford walked into court this morning,

he knew he wouldn't be coming out...

This final warning a stark reminder that this crime can cost you much

more than six points and a ?200 fine.

Stratford was speeding to Portsmouth to visit his girlfriend.

He believed she was cheating on him and made a number of emotional phone

During one of calls, his car crashed through the central reservation

hitting a blue BMW being driven by 28-year-old Gavin Roberts.

Both driver's were rushed to hospital.

In court today, Judge Stephen John told Stratford "This was a wholly

avoidable accident which caused a wholly avoidable death.

Gavin's mother Rose was not in court today but she'd did send a very

In it, she said "Lewis, I want you to know that you

I know that you did not mean to cause Gavin's death.

Lewis, do not let this destroy and consume you.

Instead, on Gavin's memory by learning from this and becoming

she met with him before sentencing to raise awareness of the dangers of

Every time I say sorry, I think it's a bit cheap.

I think I'm going to work on forgiving him.

I'm never going to forget what he did, and so, over

I don't hate him as much as I probably have

Meg works as a teacher at Royal Wooton Bassett Academy

She hopes to stop the next generation making the same mistake.

Being a teacher, a lot of my students have seen the

documentary, and a lot of my students have been aware of what

We teach in schools a lot about drink-driving,

and we teach them about alcoholism and the impact that can have behind

But we forget that actually, the physical act of using your

mobile phone behind the wheel can have as

Lewis Stratford was sentenced to three years and 10 months

in prison, and a driving ban of almost five years.

Police in the Thames Valley say they've issued fines to more

than 130 motorists - using their phones

undertaking a series of high profile checks this week -

including this one in Abingdon - following a change in the law

Drivers caught on the phone not handsfree now face a 200 pound

People under 21 will lose their license altogether

A thorough search of a house lived in by Swindon murderer

Christopher Halliwell has come to an end - with no

Specialist police officers started work in the garden and garage,

and an adjacent garage, on Broad Street in

Police say it was after intelligence they'd received -

but say no items of significant interest have been found.

The scheme to electrify the Great Western Railway has been

The Public Accounts Committee say it's a "stark example of how not

The work is already up to 3 years behind schedule and more

There's also concern that several sections -

including the line to Oxford - will never be finished.

It promised faster, more reliable services, better stations and

But the Great Western Mainline upgrade has

been beset by serious failings, according to

It said significant flaws raised concerns about the ability of

the Department for Transport and Network Rail

The estimated cost rose by ?1.2 billion in one year.

Now it is unclear if the revised targets of 2.8

billion and a completion date of December 2018 are realistic.

In November, the Government announced

between Oxford and Didcot Parkway will be deferred indefinitely.

I think passengers between Oxford and Didcot

The plan now is it has been deferred for a decision at least until 2019,

but realistically not likely to be delivered even that early.

And then it will potentially be competing for

other emerging rail projects at the same time.

We have asked the department for clarity about what

The Great Western Railway denied passengers here are

What we've had to do was look at ways of delivering the

customer benefits, the improved services, longer carriages, faster

services, without relying in some places on that electrification.

Ultimately that means the customer still gets what it was going to get,

despite the challenges of electrification.

The Public Accounts Committee has made a series

It says the Department for Transport and Network

Rail should reassess the case for electrification section

by section and fund schemes only where worthwhile

could not be achieved otherwise at lower cost.

The committee added Network Rail needed to produce

realistic cost estimates and have robust and detailed plans.

In a statement, Network Rail said they

and the Department of Transport had learned lessons from the poor early

planning of this project and that today they do not take forward major

projects until they are properly scoped, properly planned and they

have a robust estimate of what the cost will be.

Beneficial or not, rail users in Oxfordshire now have

an indefinite wait to see if their stretch of track

The weather for the weekend is next starting with the regional

Yesterday felt like spring, today it was all change. Changeable is how

things continue as we go through the weekend. Tonight, we are cloudy with

rain, clearing this patch now. Through the early hours, things are

dry and overnight lows at six Celsius. Tomorrow morning, cloudy, a

lot of that crowd is kept for most of the day. Bright spells as the day

goes on, 10 degrees, a scattering of showers as we go through the

afternoon. Looking ahead to the next few days, Sunday is very wet and on

Monday, a cloudy picture and a bit cooler.

Tuesday, the same story. Next, the national weather.

Good evening, mixed fortunes this weekend. Today we saw a fair share

of rain. This is the view one of our weather watchers in Doncaster. Not

particularly inspiring. This