Oxford News
Afghan man jailed for violent sexual offences in Wantage
Najeebullah Arab, of Mayfield Avenue in Grove, was sentenced for five counts of sexual offences committed against two women and a 14-year-old girl in Wantage, at Oxford Crown Court on Friday, June 19.
During the court’s sentencing remarks, Arab was disruptive to the court, began openly weeping and wailing, attempted to throw chairs and throw himself against the wall, and forced the judge to order him to be physically restrained and taken back down to the custody cells.
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The 40-year-old, who lived in Grove with his wife, mother and four children, committed the first offence on May 14, 2024.
He watched a 14-year-old girl who was waiting at a bus stop in the middle of the day until she was alone, when he approached her and began asking her questions.
This “quickly developed into a series of unsolicited and explicitly sexualised comments about her appearance”, including saying “you have a very nice body,” “you are very, very sexy” and “I love you”.
Despite the girl telling him she was 14, he asked her personal questions, including where she lived, and repeatedly pestered her to give her a phone number until she felt ‘sufficiently frightened’ to provide one ‘to make the encounter come to an end’.
She provided the man with her mother’s phone number, and in the following days he sent the number a series of sexual messages believing it was the young girl, asking her to delete the messages ‘so her parents would not see them’.
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While on court bail for this offence, Arab committed two violent sexual offences against other women, within the same week.
On January 21, he targeted a young woman walking alone at night, near her home in Grove.
He first watched her then approached under the pretext of asking for directions, before attacking her with his hands on her shoulders and neck and repeatedly trying to kiss her.
The woman shouted at him and was able to run away, immediately reporting the incident to the police.
“Unfortunately,” Judge Emma Nott KC said, “he could not be traced or apprehended before he kidnapped and raped his next victim within less than a week of this failed attempt.”
On January 27, Arab approached a 19-year-old woman walking alone at night along a dark and largely empty road, starting by talking to her, but immediately escalating the situation.
He grabbed her, tried to kiss her and sexually assaulted her, and when she tried to resist, he grabbed her by the arm and took her away from the road.
Trying to avoid violence, she complied, but he then dragged her into a field where he “subjected her to a sustained sexual assault, culminating in rape”.
She was restrained and pinned to the ground by the offender’s full body weight, overpowering her. He then fled the scene on a bike, the court heard.
Judge Nott said: “This was a grave, degrading and deeply traumatising offence.”
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The two victims of Arab’s physical attacks attended the court in person to give their victim personal statement. Neither woman can be named for legal reasons.
The victim of the sexual assault addressed the court from the stand. She said: “I have had intrusive thoughts about how bad this could have been, had I not escaped you.
“After I learned about the young woman you raped, I have thought about her every day and cannot imagine how she must feel.
“I was terrified that you would inflict more hell on others or on myself again.
“You ruined my sense of safety in a place I called home and I have had to live with reminders of you every day.”
The victim that Arab went on to sexually assault, kidnap and rape just days later spoke to the court from behind a screen.
In a moving statement, she said: “Why, why did you touch me?
“Is living wrong, is just wearing clothes wrong, is being a woman invitation to touch her and grope her, does being a woman mean I can never just exist?
“Does being a woman mean to be touched as if you are nothing, as if you are a piece of dust?”
Judge Nott praised their courage, resilience and endurance to go through the legal system to see Arab prosecuted, describing them as ‘heroines’ rather than victims.
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The court heard how the Afghan national had worked for the British government’s Ministry of Defence as a mechanic in Afghanistan for 20 years before he was captured by the Taliban and tortured.
He and his family were brought to the UK by the government for their own safety.
Judge Emma Nott KC said his background provided no excuse for the serious offences he committed against the women and girl and said he showed ‘opportunistic and predatory behaviour escalating overtime, worsened by entrenched attitudes towards women and girls concerning entitlement, boundaries and consent’.
Arab was sentenced to nine years and seven months respectively for rape and kidnapping, 12 months to run consecutively to that for two counts of sexual assault, and a further five months to run consecutively for sexual communication with a child.
The total sentence of 10 years and 11 months was extended by the judge on licence for a further six years as Arab was considered a ‘dangerous offender’.
He received a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to last 20 years and restraining orders for each victim for life.
On Wednesday, September 2, it was the Concours judging and private viewings to dominate the agenda for the day.
Twelve Concours classes were held across almost a century of motoring, including The Golden Age of Motoring, 100 Years of Carrrozzeria Touring, La Dolce Vita, 60 Years of the Lamborghini Miura and Passione Ferrari.
Two new classes also made their debut for 2026, Rare Breeds of the Digital Age and Hypercar Heaven, which recognise the growing importance of contemporary performance cars within the international collector market.
Judging will take place across Wednesday and Thursday, with the show field bringing together a 70-strong collection of classics, supercars and hypercars from around the world.
Some of the cars include Aa Maserati 8C 3000, Alfa Romeo Sprint Berlinetta, a one-off Maserati 3500GT Spyder Prototipo by Vignale, a very early Porsche 356 Split Window Coupé, Aston Martin DB3S, Lamborghini Miura P400S, Bizzarrini 5300GT, Ferrari 250 GT Series 1 Cabriolet, Bugatti EB110 Prototype, Aston Martin Valiant Prototype and the extraordinary Bugatti Bolide, one of just 40 produced worldwide.
Helen Pike has decided to step down as Master of Magdalen College School at the end of the 2026/27 academic year, the school in east Oxford announced in March.
MCS is one of the top performing schools in the country, ranking in the top 20 independent secondary schools in The Sunday Times Parent Power Schools Guide 2026.
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The new academic year will start next week, with Ms Pike preparing for one more year in charge before she hands over to her successor, who will take over in September 2027.
The first female Master at MCS, Ms Pike guided the board of governors to one of the most significant decisions in the school’s history, to become fully co-educational from 2027.
While there has been a co-educational sixth form at the school for 15 years, the school last month announced it will become fully co-educational over the coming decade.
Ms Pike said earlier: “I love MCS, and it is a perennial privilege to lead this remarkable school.
“Being Master of MCS is a brilliant job, and I am declaring my intention early in order to give MCS the very best opportunity to find the right Master for September 2027. I shall continue to do all in my power to further the fortunes of this wonderful school until then.
“I look forward to a new phase in my own professional life, one that builds on all that I have enjoyed and achieved in my career during the past 30 years.
“Having encouraged many cohorts of pupils to take sensible risks and to do something creative and different when the time feels right, I am doing just that.”
During Ms Pike’s tenure, MCS has been recognised as a Top 20 Independent School and South East School of the Year by the Sunday Times and won Independent School of the Year for Social Mobility.
Thanking her in his letter to the school community, chair of governors, Bob Price, said earlier this year: “Helen is an outstanding leader and will go with our sincere gratitude and warm thanks for her exceptional headship.
“She will leave the school in excellent shape for her successor.”
Recruitment for a replacement for Ms Pike is now under way.
Last month, Ms Pike congratulated pupils on their “outstanding success” in this year’s A-Level exams, after more than a quarter of pupils (43) achieved three A*s or more and 25 secured all A*s.
In total, 39 pupils from the 2026 cohort are heading to Oxbridge, while 22 have secured places to study medicine.
As part of the school’s expansion plans, MCS is preparing to build a new Science, Library and Partnerships building.
A spokeswoman said the new building will offer an exciting opportunity to reimagine the senior school site as staff look ahead to full co-education.
She added earlier: “With a vision to create a sector-leading science building in the centre of Oxford, the development will enable us to support an ambitious and forward-looking science curriculum, expanding to the emerging and rapidly advancing areas of robotics, AI and Big Data.”
Holding banners which read ‘For f**k’s sake, just stop oil’, the demonstrators took to the road in Parliament Square at noon today (Wednesday, September 2).
This was as Andy Burnham faced his first Prime Minister’s Questions, and many of the protestors glued themselves to the road.
The group demanded that the UK government stop approving all further oil and gas developments, and sign a Fossil Fuel Treaty to stop oil and gas extraction.
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Just Stop Oil say that the police are expected to arrest all those blocking the road, and that one lane has been left free of glued-on action takers to permit access for emergency vehicles.
Andy Burnham is due to make a decision on whether to allow more drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea.
Reverend James Crote, a Baptist Minister and grandfather from Chesterton near Bicester, said: “Today is my grandson’s first birthday. I have to take action for the sake of his future.
The 69-year-old added: “The government has been dilly-dallying about whether to say yes or no to the Rosebank oil field but, if we want a future for our children, there is no choice – it has to say ‘no’.
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“I am here as a Christian Minister because the Church has to speak out and demand that the government stops approving further oil and gas developments now. It’s time for us all to say ‘For God’s sake, Just Stop Oil’.”
Data from the Met Office indicates that 2026 was the hottest summer in UK recorded history, beating 2025, which was the previous hottest summer on record.
2026 was also one of the driest summers on record, delivering record-low food harvests.
Climbing temperatures have triggered wildfires across the country, and national fire chiefs said the wildfire risk facing the UK is “like nothing we have seen before”.
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Taking action, grandmother Victoria Ann Lynch-Staunton from Leamington Spa, said: “What is happening is beyond a tragedy.”
The 71-year-old added: “I beg everyone to join Just Stop Oil or governments will continue to prioritise endless growth and corporate profit over billions of lives – yours and your children.
“Wake up and smell the coffin. It is the responsibility of all of us to act now!”
A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said today: “We are all Just Stop Oil.
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“Every single person who fears deadly wildfires, devastating droughts, and spiralling food shortages is Just Stop Oil.
“The first duty of government is to keep the public safe – but by greenlighting oil and gas drilling, they endanger our survival while corporates and billionaires laugh their way to the bank.
“Every one of us feels alone and powerless in the face of this insanity, but we know there is massive political and public support for our demand.
“So we’re inviting everyone to join us at an online call on 3rd October 2026 – because it’s when we work together that we are powerful and win.”
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