06/04/2017 South Today - Oxford

Coming up, the fight against firearms -

three gun crimes every week in the Thames Valley,

and claims that children as young as ten are getting hold

Also, given ketamine to treat depression -

why doctors in Oxford want the drug prescribed more widely in the NHS.

And the dog that changed his life - how Joel's raised ?30,000

for the charity that brought them together.

Thames Valley Police has to deal with at least three crimes

A BBC investigation has revealed that between January and October

last year "firearms" were involved in 158 crimes.

A former criminal who set up a charity to help young people

get away from gangs, claims children as young as ten

The latest weekly haul of guns seized by, or surrendered to,

Around 2,000 weapons come to this armoury each year but,

despite all of them being destroyed, police have still had to deal

with more than 1,000 gun crimes since 2011.

This investigation took into account all crimes

in which a gun was present, regardless of whether

The most commonly used weapons were this, a rifle, a shot gun,

however the biggest problem for Thames Valley Police

are the moment are these, BB guns or replicas which,

as you can see, look a lot like the real thing.

Certainly in recent times we have had some good successes

when targeting serious and organised criminality and we have managed

to seize not only automatic weapons but also ammunition for those

So to take those off the streets is saving lives.

In the year ending March 2016 there were almost 8,400 firearm

This figure is significantly lower than knife crimes,

which saw 20,000 more incidents for same period.

Gun crime makes up a small proportion of overall crime,

So how does Thames Valley compare nationally?

It is way below the national average.

I think it was about four gun crimes per 100,000 population.

That is the scale we are talking about in Thames Valley compared

There may be pockets in Thames Valley where

And it's these pockets causing concern.

In 2007 charity Gangsline was launched to discuss

The man behind it is former gang member Sheldon Thomas.

You've got to understand where we are talking

about the Thames Valley, everywhere has a gangs problem,

and we have to stop using geography as trying to,

well, they've got the problem there, we haven't got the problem.

I was not able to hold a gun until I was about,

These guys can get guns now at ten, 11, 12.

That is the reason why I say that it is worse now

than it was when I was around about 20 years ago.

In a response to serious and organised crime

Thames Valley Police have now launched Stronghold,

a scheme encouraging residents to take ownership of their local

An inquest has opened into the death of a five-year-old boy found dead

Police launched a murder investigation after the body

of Tyler Warmington was found at Bromsgrove Cottages.

A 40-year-old woman was questioned on suspicion of murder

The inquest is due to resume in July.

?10 million is being invested in a new cancer therapy centre

80% of the funding for the centre has now been found.

It'll have 24 beds - and will bring together

all the different cancer services under one roof.

The hospital has already received ?2 million from the charity Macmillan.

It says the contribution hasn't come from council tax.

Doctors say the drug ketamine could to be used

more widely in the NHS, to treat depression.

A six-year study in Oxford found it helped patients with moderate

or severe depression who hadn't responded to other treatments.

This is the best she has felt in seven years.

Depression and anorexia took their toll but taking part

in this NHS drug trial has stopped her from feeling

as if she is drowning in her own thoughts.

I can take my kids to their friends' birthday parties, go on the odd play

date every now and then, actually be present in my kids'

lives, which is the most important thing to me.

Helen is among the first patients to have this experimental treatment.

Doctors can prescribe ketamine as a licensed drug.

All the patients in this trial had moderate or severe depression

and other treatment had failed but 42 of the 101 patients felt much

We need to use it in a controlled environment. We think we will get

more experience the more it is used with exactly how we can help people

if nothing else has worked. The doctors in Oxford hope

other hospitals will take up their approach and contribute

to a central register so side-effects can be monitored,

but the Royal College of Psychiatrists is urging

caution, saying there are still significant gaps

in our knowledge about ketamine. We still do not know what the most

effective dose will be, what the most effective dose regime

will be, and we do not know what the long-term potential harms

of using ketamine are, so I think we have to do

more studies before Patients in Oxford receive the drug

through a drip in carefully The doctors here believe thousands

more people could benefit from this treatment but they warned ketamine

should only be taken under Bicester Library's been

celebrating its first year in its new home with a visit

from children's The new library's attracted 3000

members since it opened last April. As well as providing more space

for books and public computers, the library hosts regular children's

activities - a local history group You know, there are so many things

going on that the library has had to be very proactive in attracting

people and doing modern It is not a case of

libraries being shh, quiet. They are noisy exciting

places and that is how they should be and that is how

they will attract people. A young boy has raised more

than ?30,000 for an Oxfordshire charity, after a story about him

and his support dog Caddie went 13-year-old Joel Sayer has

autism and says his world changed when Caddie,

who was trained by Dogs for Good, Lucy Bickerton has

been to meet them. Their friendship captured the hearts

of the nation after they reached the final of the Friends for Life

competition at Crufts this year. He's more than a friend,

he's a guardian angel for me. After people saw their inspirational

story, Joel set about raising money to give another child a friend

for life, like he has in Caddie. He's now raised enough to sponsor

another dog through training. At that time before we got Caddie,

we had the diagnosis, we had Joel as he was,

but there was nobody listening To think that someone else in that

situation is going to get the light at the end of the tunnel like we had

with Caddie is fantastic. Caddie came into Joel's life

through the charity Dogs They train dogs to support people

with physical disabilities, learning difficulties,

and conditions such For some of the children

the social interaction, particularly children with autism,

is quite difficult and yet dogs don't judge us

in the same way as humans do. So building a relationship

with a dog is a much more neutral focus for the child

and through building that relationship with the dog they learn

other social skills they can take Dogs can really give children

the opportunity for children And as their friendship continues

to grow so does Joel's confidence. Alexis is next with the weather

forecast for tonight It has been a lovely day

today, with a high of 16 And you will be glad to hear

tomorrow will be very similar, perhaps a little more cloud overhead

during the afternoon. Chilly with clear skies

overnight tonight. And underneath the skies

with the light winds and temperatures in the countryside

could fall as low as These are temperatures

in towns and cities. A lovely sunny start

to the day tomorrow. Through the day there will be cloud

coming and going here and there, but all and all it will feel

pleasantly warm, especially Temperatures reaching the high

of 15, maybe up to 16 Celsius. As we head towards the weekend

temperatures will continue to climb. Over the weekend it is going to be

a lovely day on Saturday, we could see a high of 17,

maybe 18 Celsius across the region. High pressure starts to pull the way

towards the near continent. With the high-pressure pulling away,

we draw in the warmer air from France, right the way down

from Spain as well. Lovely sunny conditions

through Saturday and also It will feel very settled

over the next few days, but the change comes

about in the first part of next week As we look ahead to the rest

of the week into the weekend and into next week as well,

a lovely sunny day tomorrow. Through the afternoon there will be

highs of 16 Celsius. Warmer still on Saturday

with a high of 18 Celsius, With lots of sunshine over

the weekend, it will feel pleasant. to rise into the weekend. We'll see

22 Celsius on Sunday. Hello. There was some warm sunshine

around today, but it's set to get even warmer this weekend. 18 Celsius

in London this afternoon. This was the scene in Chiswick, much quieter

than it was on Sunday for the boat race. Under the cloud for example

here in Cumbria, temperatures struggled to make double figures.

Through the night we're going to hang onto a lot of cloud across

north-west England, North Wales, Northern Ireland and western

Scotland, where there will