A MAN from Wales, accused of rape and sexual assault on two 16 year-old girls in Thame, has been found not guilty by a jury at Oxford Crown Court.
Arram Price, aged 19, from Rover Way in Cardiff, was charged following an incident in Cuttlebrook Nature Reserve, Thame, on May 10, 2008, when allegedly, one 16-year-old girl was sexually assaulted and her 16-year-old friend was raped.
THE father of Joe Robinson, the Thame teenager left with serious injuries after a fatal crash caused by drink driving, has welcomed the driver’s 28-month jail sentence.
The crash, on April 7, 2009, killed Grace Hadman, 17, a student at St Edward’s School, Oxford, and left Joe in a chemically induced coma for three weeks. Two other passengers in the car were injured, though less seriously than Joe.
After the guilty verdict of causing death by careless driving, on Gabriella Edmonson at Oxford Crown Court last Friday, (09/10/09), Kevin Robinson made the following statement:
“The sentence handed down today is by some measure appropriate to the enormous damage, hurt and distress caused by the actions of Ms Edmondson on the night of April 7.
“Her actions, and her actions alone, led to the death of a young girl and severe and almost catastrophic injuries to our son Joe.
“Whilst he has made what may appear to be an astounding recovery, the extent of his injuries is both long-term and permanent in their nature.
“How does one explain to a vibrant teenager he can no longer participate in all the things he enjoys?
“How can he rationalise being unable to pursue his previous chosen path as he had planned?
“In a society quick to bemoan the values and behaviour of the irresponsible – and in particular the young – no matter their background and education and yet swift to excuse and decry the application of punishment, today?s sentence sends a clear message to a broad spectrum of today?s youth that irresponsible and reckless behaviour will carry the full force of the law and imprisonment is and should be expected, rather than be seen as an unlikely consequence.
“We are grateful to all those far and wide, nationally and internationally, who have supported us over the past months, in particular we express our heartfelt gratitude to the doctors and nurses at the John Radcliffe Hospital who have been tireless in their efforts to restore Joe to a degree of good health.”
Joe Robinson played rugby for Chinnor RFC and cricket for Thame Town, and though now out of hospital, he faces a long period of rehabilitation following injuries sustained to his head and back in the crash.
A YOUNG driver who was 50% over the drink-driving limit when she crashed, killing her friend and injuring a gifted young Thame sportsman, has been jailed for 28 months.
Today (9/10/09), Gabriella Edmondson, aged 18, from Beacon Hill in Penn, High Wycombe, was also disqualified from driving for four years after pleading guilty to causing death by careless driving while over the prescribed limit of alcohol.
Her friend, Grace Hadman, also aged 17, was killed in the accident, and 18 year-old Joe Robinson, from Thame, was seriously injured, and left with brain injuries that, in the words of his mother, meant that a..”funny, articulate, clever and superb sportsman has been damaged forever.”
The fatal collision happened on the A34 in Oxford on April 07/09, after a night out went tragically wrong because Miss Edmondson decided to drive her friends home, despite knowing that she had been drinking.
Judge Patrick Eccles QC, said that he accepted that Miss Edmondson was: “…heartbroken, racked with guilt and a decent, moral young woman.” But added that the suffering of others and his public duty to consider that a life had been taken because of combination of alcohol and negligence, left him no alternative but to administer a custodial sentence.
“I can only hope,” added the judge, “that if your sentence stops one young person from picking up their car keys after a party, it is worth it.”
Miss Edmondson will serve half her sentence in custody and the other half in the community.
In a statement Sgt Nick Perks, leading the investigation, said: “On behalf of Thames Valley Police, I would first like to offer our sincere condolences and sympathies to both the families of Grace Hadman and Joe Robinson. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.
“This tragedy has robbed a young woman of her life, a family of their loved one and the life of another young man will be changed forever.
“As this tragic case shows, driving needs your full attention and drinking alcohol and then driving can have potentially horrific consequences.
“If you drink and then drive home you are not just putting your own life in danger, you are jeopardising the lives of other road users.
“A girl was needlessly killed, a young man was seriously injured and now another young woman is serving a prison sentence.
“It is not difficult to avoid drink driving – take a taxi, stay at a hotel or friend?s house or just don?t drink.
“Our message is clear, drinking and driving can kill. Please don?t do it.”
DISRUPTION in the delivery of mail in Thame and the rest of Oxfordshire, is expected for tomorrow, as postal worker members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at the Swindon sorting office go on strike.
Postal services nationally will be effected following a “Yes” vote in a national ballot for strike action.
Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said today: “”Royal Mail has never really been engaged in modernisation. They’ve been running down the business, running down services and cutting costs and it’s that business plan that postal workers have overwhelmingly rejected today.
“There’s still an opportunity to reach an agreement before any national strike action takes place.
“We need a national agreement which secures a fair deal on modernisation and reward for the efforts of postal workers in transforming the business. We want reassurances on job security, covering both redundancies and full-time part-time ratios.
“Crucial to an agreement is fair workloads with agreed standards of measurement. Constantly disciplining postal workers will not improve efficiencies but will drive an ever bigger wedge between workers and what they are told is modernisation.
“We’ve seen cuts and increased workloads and now we need an agreed roll-out of real modernisation. Aligning the interests of customers, employees and the company as a whole is a pre-requisite for the successful modernisation of Royal Mail.
“The Government must act now to resolve the pensions deficit which is crippling the Royal Mail’s finances and chances to modernise effectively.”
On its website, Royal Mail seeks to explain its side of the argument with the postal workers. It states:
“In response to the real challenges facing Royal Mail, we have been making changes within our business in a calm, measured and structured way, inviting collaborative dialogue with our unions and employees. We recognise that change impacts on our employees and can be difficult. However, change is essential, driven by the commercial reality of the very difficult business environment being experienced by UK industry.”
Last week Royal Mail?s Managing Director, Mark Higson, said: “In the first week of October, Royal Mail will have successfully completed the major efficiency changes planned for 2009, both nationally and in London. As always the company will be focusing on delivering excellent customer service in the vitally important run-up to Christmas, when letter numbers reach their seasonal peak. Royal Mail calls on the CWU to abandon its unjustified strikes and to help the business deliver the service our customers deserve.”
LAST Sunday (02/20/09, )Thame Girl Guides and their families helped to launch Oxfordshire Girl Guides Big Walk, one of the many activities happening over the coming year to help celebrate the Centenary of Guiding.
The complete walk of 234 miles follows along the county boundary and up through the centre of the county via the Thames Path and the Oxford Canal. It then passes through all Guiding Divisions in Oxfordshire.
The path is set out in the book, Seven Shires Way, written by Elaine Steane who also joined the launch, along with Carol Dunne, Oxfordshire County Commissioner, and Valarie Pritchard who is the County Walking advisor.
The girls marked the start of the event by completing a short work to the county boundry in Thame and Elaine Steane cut the starter ribbon.
Over the coming months Guides, Brownies and Rainbows will be completing sections of the walk and will be able to recieve a special centenary badge to mark this.
THIS is a Ringmaster message. On Tuesday 6th October, at 13:30hrs, a Distraction Burglary occurred at a property in Chestnut Avenue, Thame. Offenders called at the property and stated they needed to gain entry to run some water through as they were fitting a washing machine next door. One offender entered the property and cash was stolen.
A Description was given of two white male offenders:
Male one was in his early 20’s, 5’5″ tall, slim build, short black hair, wearing a sweater, blue jeans and white gloves. He had a strong tan.
Male two was in his early 20’s, 5’5″ tall, slightly plump in build, wearing an orange jumper with white spots. URN 868 06/10/09.
There was another report of an attempted Distraction Burglary in Kings Road, Thame.
Please be extra vigilant and keep an extra look out for any elderly, vulnerable neighbours. Remind them NOT to allow anyone into their homes unexpected.
If you have any information relating to this message, please call the police on 08458 505 505 and quote the relevant URN number. Or call 999 for an immediate response.
AN anonymous donor has offered thousands of pounds to pay for medical cover taken away recently from Thame’s community hospital.
News of the local benefactor was given at the League of Friends of Thame Hospital’s AGM last Wednesday, September 30, 2009, by the League’s Chair, Sarah Taylor.
FEAR FOR PATIENTS
In what appears to be a cost cutting exercise, 30 hours per week of medical cover at the hospital by local GPs has been cut to four hours a week provided under a new contract, by a private company. However, local doctors and other stakeholders involved with the hospital fear for the safety and wellbeing of patients if medical cover is cut, and have won a review of the decision by the Buckingham PCT to make such as major change without public consultation.
(Put ‘hospital’ in the search box to the right of the main news page to see all previous reports on this subject)
AN elderley lady saw off two distraction burglars, who tried to dupe her into letting them into her home.
At around 3.30pm yesterday (05/10/09) at a property in Brookside Close, Tiddington, near Thame, two men knocked at the door of an 88-year-old woman, claiming to be from the water board. The men said there had been an explosion in the village and they needed to come in and turn her water off.
When the woman challenged them and asked for identification, the men were unable to provide any, so the woman told them to go away and they left without any challenge.
A second incident took place in Spring Lane, Watlington, later in the afternoon, at about 5pm. The 78-year-old woman who lived at the property saw a man in her back garden who claimed to be looking for his missing dog.
When the woman went back into her house, she discovered another man in her living room rummaging through her desk. She told him to leave and went and opened the front door, but the man ran out of the back door and he and the other man jumped over the garden fence and ran off.
The woman later discovered that
THAME and abingdon teenagers, working with a group of older people, have made a stunning film that challenges negative ideas about young people.
The Youth of Today ? seeing the person behind the image, premiered on Friday (October 02, 2009)) at the Cornerstone Centre in Didcot.
The idea that most young people are hoody wearing, drug taking, knife carrying yobs, was challenged and, by the end of the film, shown to be a gross over-simplification and generalisation that is simply not fair.
One of the highlights of the film is a laser quest-type skirmish between teenagers and pensioners, and by the end of the film, it is clear that both age groups have formed real friendships and discovered a greater understanding about each other’s lives.
The original idea for the film came from Southern members of the UK Youth Parliament who felt the media focused too much on negative stories about young people rather than highlighting their achievements.
In the film, an older member of the production team interviews Dr Tanya Byron of TV’s Tiny Tearaways fame, about the way young people are portrayed in the press, and Tom from Thame, a pupil at Lord Williams’s school, is shown in the film interviewing ThameNews.Net reporter, Sonja Francis, and asking some very pertinent questions about her views on the portrayal of young people in the press.
She agreed that the national press especially, did often tend to only pick up on the more dramatic stories involving violence, drugs and anti-social behaviour, but added that with regard to local news media, it was up to the young people themselves to push good news about their achievements and work in the community, by sending out well-written and interesting press releases and if possible, good pictures – a sure fire way to get the attention of a news editor looking to make a great page layout for that week’s newspaper.
The film was made with the support of South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse District Councils. The team were taught basic film making skills so they could script, direct, shoot and edit their film in their own way and the intention is that it will be shown at neighbourhood action group meetings, to help older people understand that young people are not an immediate threat. It will also be made available to other groups and organisations across the two districts.
Ann Ducker, Leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “I am so pleased we are able to support this project along with the Vale of the White Horse District Council. It?s great to see these young people making a stand against the negative image that young people are often portrayed in.
“We hope community groups throughout the districts will use this film to kick start discussion about working with communities to tackle the issue that leads to negative publicity.”
Cllr Tony de Vere, Leader of the Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “The overwhelming majority of young people in our communities work hard at school and contribute an enormous amount to society because they care. But you very rarely hear about all the good things they are doing.
“Because of this, some people may be intimidated by young people unnecessarily. This film is a great step towards getting a understanding between the different generations and helping us all to be proud of the young people on whom our future depends.”
Linval Shepherd, aged 22, production team member from the Foyer in Abingdon said: “We wanted to show that young people do good things in the community. The media are always more interested in bad stories like knife crime and never seem to want to feature the good things teenagers are doing.
“Tonight is the first time I?ve seen the film and I really hope its message will spread. We want to prove the media wrong.”
The Thame team involved in the film’s production were:
Dan Timberlake
Jack Williamson
Emma Pearce
Gemma Read
Zach Read
Tom Hindley
Mary Stiles
Photo: Headteacher of Lord Williams’s school, Thame, Mary Stiles, a member of the Thame NAG group, who featured in the film, Thame Town Cllr Owen Davies and young people from Thame involved in the production.
CONTROVERSIAL changes to GP cover at Thame and other local community hospitals, should stay in place while a review is carried out, a health boss has insisted.
See full story from the Bucks Free Press – LINK
Comment from Thame GPs tomorrow.