ADAM Coaker, 35, of Peppard Road, Emmer Green, was sentenced on Tuesday, December 6, and Graham Aitken, 53, of Southcote Lane, Reading, was sentenced last Thursday (19/1) in connection with these offences. Both men appeared at Oxford Crown Court.
Adam Coaker
The sentencings were in connection with a burglary at a commercial car garage on Lupton Road and a theft from a car in which a registration plate was stolen on Grenville Road, both in Thame, on 17 December 2015.
Both men were located and arrested by Reading Local CID on the morning of the offences. They were later charged on December 18, 2015, and were convicted on November 16, 2016.
Coaker pleaded guilty at the beginning of the trial and Aitken was later found guilty by a jury at the same court.
Coaker was sentenced to 21 months in prison for the burglary offence and four months in prison for the theft from a vehicle, to run concurrently. Aitken was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment, suspended for two years.
Investigating officer PC David Simpkins, formally of South and Vale Local CID, said: “The crimes committed by both men took place just before Christmas, when the victims should have been enjoying the festive period, not having to deal with the repercussions of these offences.
“Hopefully this sentence sends out a message that burglary and theft offences are taken seriously by Thames Valley Police, and our officers will conduct thorough investigations to ensure every effort is made to bring offenders to justice.”
FOLLOWING the withdrawal of a planning application for a care home on parkland at The Elms, off Thame Upper High Street, improved recreation facilities at Elms Park itself next door, have been put on-hold.
View of The main house at The Elms from Elms Park, Thame
In a report to town councillors, the Town Clerk, Graham Hunt, stated: “The Elms Park Improvement project is now on hold until there is more clarity on available funding. A large part of the funds are dependent on a section 106 contribution from the development (Ed. Developer, Rectory Homes) of the adjacent site at The Elms. Planning permission remains for the original application for 37 dwellings.
“The subsequent planning application for Extra Care housing at The Elms has been withdrawn.
“The work by the Open Spaces Working Group on the Elms Improvement Project has now been concluded. There have been various suggestions (and agreements) that the Working Group should now turn its attention to more general litter, dog fouling and bye law issues. An initial meeting to commence that work will be arranged in due course.”
You can read the back-story to the proposed Elms Park development and associated proposals for the public park next door, HERE
The Town Clerk’s report will be discussed tonight (January 24) at Thame Town Council’s Community, Leisure and Recreation committee’s meeting at the town hall, at 6.30pm.
SINGER-Songwriter, Nikki Loy, a popular and regular performer at Thame’s First Thursday Music Club, has talking about her terror at being the victim of a drive-by shooting.
Singer-songwriter, Nikki Loy
Writing on her website, Nikki wrote: “Luna Van Blanc (my van) and I were the victims of a drive by shooting! Sounds mad doesn’t it! Hard to believe but it happened.
“On Friday night (January 20), I pulled over beside Swanbourne Lake in Arundel to make some dinner and put away my laundry. I’d been stopped there for about two hours when I heard a car with a loud exhaust race by, and a BIG bang. I jumped out of my skin, it was so unexpected. Then a sound I remember from the break in last tour – Falling glass. My van was hit. I wondered what the hell happened. Nervously I investigated and discovered my kitchen window, the biggest and most expensive was shattered. Something from the passing car had broken it. As it was too high to be a ricocheted stone I had to presume foul play.
“I won’t lie – that properly scared me! So with heart pounding I jumped in the driver’s seat and started the engine. I spun Luna round to search the spot expecting to find a beer bottle or the like, there’s a pub just down the end of that dead end street. But there was nothing, no sign of any kind of projectile. I didn’t dare get out incase they came back and I wasn’t going to stay, so I drove on… I didn’t stop until I found a safe place near a friend. I was totally unequipped to board up the broken window in the middle of the night – I’d run out of everything. In the end a Jennifer Hamley handbag box and a lot of sellotape did the trick. It was not a fun job. It was -3 degrees out and a big hole in my camper was really the last thing I needed – that, wrecked travel plans for the week, and expensive repairs!
“The van also looked like I’d been burgled. Before I drive I usually go through a ‘tack down’ ritual where I basically put away everything that will move in transit. I was so freaked out and in such a hurry to get out of there that I didn’t tack down. What a mess to clear up! And with glass splinters in my fingers. By 1:30am I just about had everything sorted and managed to settle down and sleep.
“The next morning when I inspected the damage properly, I noticed the hole in the glass was perfectly round… And the insulation mat was also pierced. My CSI mind told me this was a bullet hole. So I searched through all the broken glass until I found a pellet. A horrible moment of realisation – I had been intentionally targeted. Someone in the car that passed me had wound down the window, taken aim and fired at my van on purpose!!!!! No accidental damage – It was willful intent! I was absolutely furious! That person had no idea what was the other side of that window or who they were harming. I could been a burly bloke or a pair of dainty old ladies on a retirement trip?! And they were very lucky I wasn’t standing by my cooker with the blind up or they would have hit me too!
The gun pellet that smashed Nikki Loy’s van window
“Before you ask, yes, I did report it to the police but disappointingly they closed the case immediately because I couldn’t give them any leads! Folks, I can’t leave it at that because… when I posted about my experience on the internet I found out other people had experienced similar incidents on the same road!
“I understand why the Police closed the case. I saw nothing; they have nothing to go on but I feel it is important for the whole community local to Arundel to whom tourism is so important, to know that some people are driving around at night blindly shooting into vehicles! Okay it’s only an air gun… but it’s a lot of damage, and a lot of hassle and money to fix and more importantly – It’s only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured. “As you know I love visiting Arundel; it’s a beautiful town but I am now scared to go back there until these people have been stopped. If you are local. I’m sure Sussex police would love to hear from anyone who knows anything about these incidents.
“Anyway, I am safe; I am warm’. Once again I have learned from my own poor choices that made me vulnerable… And I am telling the media because I want those little ******s stopped!
“Just gotta recover my brave before I go off on tour with Sam Bailey!”
THE Headteacher of a Thame school has expressed his frustration and alarm over the Government’s education funding cuts and its lack of transparency.
David Wybron
David Wybron, who is Headteacher at Lord Williams’s School has said in a statement today that he is not alone in expressing his frustration and alarm over funding cuts.
“The proposed new ‘fair funding’ formula takes money away from schools like Lord Williams’s and preserves higher funding for schools in traditionally higher funded authorities, he stated. “For example, students in high funded areas will still be funded at circa £6,000 per head whereas for students in Thame it will be around £4,000 and this is before deprivation factors draw down more funding but not for Lord Williams’s. “We cannot just keep absorbing cuts without there being an impact on the service we provide. We were hopeful that the government’s commitment to fair funding for schools in 2018 would lead to a significant increase in our funding. Not only has the introduction been delayed until 2019, but we have a proposed reduction in our funding from 2019. How can that be?”
Mr Wybron’s statement goes on to say that Oxfordshire schools are in the lowest funded 40 authorities and that the government has decided to put extra resources into the lowest 10 authorities. “The government has also decided that higher funded authorities can lose no more than 3% of funding,” he explained. “The situation is particularly worrying because we are already feeling the effects of reduced funding. The government persists in saying that the Schools’ Budget has not been cut but the Schools’ Budget does not include Sixth Form funding and a range of support staff grants. Also, because of an increase in student numbers nationally, the amount to be distributed is less.
“Lord Williams’s is an outstanding school and our vision is to be outstanding in everything we do, including the quality of resources for all students. We budget carefully and spend diminishing funding wisely. We have absorbed a reduction in Sixth Form funding of circa £250,000 over the last four years and education support grants have been reduced significantly over this period. The government encouraged and continues to encourage schools to set up as academies with money moving directly into schools from local authorities in order to provide the services the local authority used to provide. The government plans to remove that funding completely by 2017/18.”
On-going effects of cuts
“Having anticipated a significant increase in funding for 2018/19 because of the much anticipated new funding formula, we are now having to plan for significant budget cuts over the next four years. We are also facing increased staffing costs with increasing national insurance and pension contributions. The school’s finances are in a good position but our reserves will not cover such a rate of reduction of funding by 2018/19.
“The National Audit Committee estimates that schools will face real terms cuts of around 8% over the next three years, which for this school amounts to around £800,000. The recent announcement from the prime minister on mental health issues for schools is particularly puzzling given that this school, along with many others, has been dealing with this challenge for the last 10 years. Funding to support students and their families with an increasing range of mental health issues has been reduced hugely. There is currently a 20 week waiting time for an appointment with CAMHS (Children and Adult Mental Health Service) and support services for some of our most vulnerable students, for example students with autism, have been removed.
“The previous government administration spoke about ‘The Big Society’ stepping in to help with support services. Oxfordshire County Council decided that the needs of our vulnerable children and their families could be best served from a hub in Didcot! The present government has explicitly stated that there will not be any extra funding to address shortfalls in the service. Schools will continue to be the front line in terms of support and will be asked to do what is almost impossible.”
Lack of transparency
Mr Wybron made the following appeal to the Government:
* Present an accurate picture of school funding to the public
* Recognise the difficulties schools face in terms of the educational and social demands
placed upon them and increase funding
* Change policy and not divert extra funding to set up new grammar schools
He concluded: “Support from our parent body will be vital as we respond to theses challenges. We are not afraid of hard work but the challenges are great. Requesting politicians to be honest about the situation would at least be a step in the right direction but I am not holding my breath!”
THE trustees of the charity behind the Thame Food Bank have thanked all those who went to special screenings of the film, I Daniel Blake, for raising almost £600 towards the Food Bank.
In a letter to Thame Cinema 4 All who showed the film, John Hulett, spokesperson for Sharing Life Trust, wrote: “A message to all those who attended the two screenings of Ken Loach’s film ‘I Daniel Blake’ last Sunday, January 15, at the Thame Cinema For All.
“I am sure that all who have seen this film will agree that it was a worthy winner of the Palme D’or at the Cannes Film festival earlier last year. This superbly acted drama highlighted the frustrations and hopelessness that vulnerable people in our society can experience through no fault of their own and how ‘the system’ seems to be stacked against them. The situations portrayed in the film are very close to many that we hear from the people we support through our Foodbank.
“A big ‘thank you’ to Thame Cinema For All for inviting us to have a collection at both screenings. The astonishing total of £592.59 was collected. Thank you to all who attended for your great generosity. This money will all be used to support the work of the Foodbank and the people who we help through it.”
Click on the image to find out more about Sharing Life Trust’s work in Thame and South Oxfordshire.
LATEST UPDATE: Oxfordshire County Council has agreed to waive rent payments for the current centre’s building, for the whole of the first year.
THE news of the rescue of Thame’s Red Kite Childrens centre has just today been announced by the local charity, Sharing Life Trust, which has been leading a working group to try and save the Centre from planned closure by Oxfordshire County Council at the end of March, 2017.
Image courtesy of Action for Children
A delighted John Hulett, Sharing Life Trust spokesman, told Thame.net: “We’re Going Ahead! Just before Christmas the decision was taken that, with the promises we had received for funding, we could afford to plan for running the centre for one year. It is still our plan and hope to continue for at least three years but there is much work to do to secure the centre’s future.”
What next?
An application will be submitted to the Charity Commission within the next few days for the Centre to become a charity and it will be known as the ‘Red Kite Family Centre’. Its core purpose will be exactly the same as at present – providing support for pre-school children and their parents in Thame and Chinnor.
“We have started the process of creating a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO),” explained John. “The charity has four trustees: Mary Stiles, Sarah Roberts, Rosie Pearce and myself.”
Mary is a town councillor and has championed the centre’s work and chaired its advisory board for many years. Sarah has been a parent user and has 10 year’s experience as a manager in the NHS. Rosie is a nutritionist who has been a long standing volunteer at the centre and John, a retired headteacher, formerly of Barley Hill School in Thame. He is also a trustee of Sharing Life Trust which has been leading the campaign to keep the centre running.
“Our aim is for the current Centre’s programme to continue, with some new activities arranged in response to survey feedback from parents,” continued John. “Health Visitors and the other health professionals will continue to use the centre in Thame and Chinnor for their sessions. The position over future staffing arrangements is currently being decided and we will give an update on this within the next few weeks.”
Funding update
Of the approximately £70,000 needed to run the centre in its first year, about £45,000 has so far been promised and the Trust is waiting to hear the result of an application for further grants. The centre has also been one of the Thame Mayor’s chosen charities for this year and all concerned are grateful for all the generous support given by the local community.
“Many have registered an interest using our website link” said John, and we will be writing to them all shortly.
“We are delighted that the centre’s future is looking much brighter for the growing numbers of families with babies and young children in Thame and Chinnor. We still need to raise a lot more funds.”
Anyone who would like to help with a one-off donation or regular gift, is invited to go to the Sharing Life Trust website www.sharinglifetrust.org and press the link button for the Red Kite Family Centre.
A proposal to abolish all six councils in Oxfordshire and create one new ‘unitary’ council for Oxfordshire has been published by Oxfordshire County Council.
John Cotton, the current Leader of South Oxfordshire District Council
Oxfordshire County Council has stated that two independent studies, by Grant Thornton and PwC, it commissioned, and the district councils themselves, estimate that amalgamating related services would save £100m over the first five years – money that could be spent on improving public services and keeping council tax down.
The statement published today goes on to say: “Central government is changing the way councils are funded, and councils will soon have to pay for services mainly from council tax and business rates. Unless local government is reorganised, Oxfordshire councils will not be able to pay for vital public services for local communities and vulnerable people as the population increases and gets older.”
Oxfordshire currently has a two-tier local government – a county council plus five district and city councils.
Back in September, 2016, SODC’s official response to a suggestion then of a single unitary authority was that three authorities would be their preferred model (See LINK ) but today, the Leader of SODC, John Cotton tweeted: “I’ve long believed that unitary councils are better placed to deliver services than current arrangements.
“However, we must be certain that proposals for something new actually amount to change rather than just creating an excuse to kick difficult decisions into the long grass. Also, it’s important that the analysis of current problems is accurate; we need to know what’s broken before setting out to fix it.”
THAME Town Council is to increase its part of the council tax for the coming year (the precept) by up to 1.99%, which will provide it with just under £12,000 extra to meet its budget, and cost each household on average an extra 16p per week.
This amounts to an average total contribution of £2.80 to Thame Town Council. To put TTC’s contribution into context, around an average of £30 per household per week is paid to Oxfordshire County Council, the police and South Oxfordshire District Council.
In a statement today, the council said: “In preparing its budget for 2017-18, Thame Town Council has again looked hard at where it can make savings (both in terms of cuts and further efficiences) while at the same time providing the projects, functions and services that the community of Thame expect to be delivered.
Two new Thame projects are to be given funds, £5,000 of seed money to a new community led, music festival and £5,000 towards flood prevention measures for the Cuttle Brook.
The Town Council has also decided to step in to fill gaps where Government austerity measures have led to direct cuts being made by Oxfordshire County Council. £10,000 each is allocated to the Red Kite Children’s Centre and the Thame and District Day Centre. £5,000 is allocated to help find a potential new ‘around town’ bus service. “This is in effect a partial devolution of services as part of the localism initiative,” explained the council.
The Town council’s Budget statement can be read in full HERE and if you would like to comment, the Town Clerk, Graham Hunt, has said that he would be pleased to talk through the current budget with anyone who has an interest, or has any comments or suggestions as to whether the proposed average £2.80 per household per week (based on a Band D house) is a reasonable amount, or where the council should spend more, or less, or the same, to help it set the right budget for the community of Thame in the future.
COMPLAINTS about Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) outside Co-op and Costa in the High Street, Thame, are being tackled by local Community Police officers.
After receiving numerous complaints, the police now say that they have put in place a Section 35 notice. This is a notice to leave the area for up to 48 hours, given to anyone seen causing ASB. Failure to comply with the notice is an arrestable offence.
In its latest monthly report on Neighbourhood Policing in the area, the team states that a meeting was arranged with Costa management to discuss the issues and put measures in place to tackle the anti-social behaviour.
Parking blocking emergency service vehicles
The same report, which can be read in full HERE, states: “There have been reports of vehicles parking close to junctions and parking on each side of the road making it difficult or impossible for emergency vehicles to get through.
“We appreciate that every household has limited parking and more than one vehicle. Please park considerately and be mindful of other drivers’ visibility and access when parking your vehicle. An operation will be running shortly with the Fire Service looking at access routes, and could possibly mean offending vehicles could receive a Fixed Penalty Notice for £30 should the Emergency vehicle not be able to gain access through.”
Have Your Say Meetings
You can go along and speak to your local PCSOs about any local concerns or issues on:
THAMES Valley Police is appealing for witnesses following numerous shed breaks at the Thame & District Allotment site in Kingsey Road, Thame.
Since the start of the new year, unknown offenders gained access to the allotments and broken into sheds, vandalised and spread petrol across the site.
If you have seen any suspicious looking people or vehicles in the area or have any information relating to this message please call the Police via the 24 hour non-emergency telephone number 101.
Alternatively, if you have information but wish to remain anonymous, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online by visiting www.crimestoppers-uk.org. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.
