Crime & Safety
Fire at riverside paper mill fire caused £20,000 of damage
With such combustible material inside, the fire in the mill in the village near Oxford spread rapidly and destroyed the whole building and everything inside.
The blaze occurred in 1872 when, as we have reported in previous fires at Didcot railway station in 1886 and East Hagbourne in 1659, firefighting equipment was still in its infancy – horse-drawn water pumps.
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As soon as the mill fire was discovered at 9.20am on a Sunday, “messengers were despatched on horseback to Oxford and Abingdon for the fire engines”, according to Jackson’s Oxford Journal.
The Oxford-bound messenger arrived at 9.50 and within seven minutes, one horse-drawn engine, with four officers and eight men, set off. A second engine belonging to the brigade, with eight men, and the fire engine from Morrell’s brewery followed.
The Abingdon fire engine arrived nearly an hour after the Oxford crews – its firemen were at church when the call came.
The newspaper report continued: “By the time the engines had arrived even from Oxford, the whole building was a mass of flames. The fire spread with great rapidity and 40 minutes after it was first discovered, a great portion of the roof fell in.
“Seeing, therefore, that it was useless to attempt to save any part of the mill or its contents, the fire brigades directed their attention to the adjoining property and saved from destruction the well-known public house facing the river and a small building where machinery was stored.
“When the woodwork in the interior of the mill gave way, a great portion of the machinery fell with a tremendous crash and when the roofs fell, volumes of flames rose to a very great height.
“Within four hours, nothing was left of the mill and its contents but the bare walls and the machinery, which was greatly damaged.
“The crews of the engines worked admirably together during the day. The large masses of paper, pulp etc remained smouldering for a day or two after the fire, which is supposed to have been caused by spontaneous combustion.”
Sadly, one of the Oxford firemen, Mr R Gillman, suffered a serious leg injury.
The newspaper explained: “It appears to be a common practice for the men, when going uphill, to jump off the engine, while in motion, to relieve the horses.
“When they got to Rose Hill, Mr Gillman, in jumping off, was knocked down, the hitch wheel passing over his legs just below the knee, and the hose reel went over his thigh. No bones were broken, but his legs were so greatly injured it will be some time before he recovers.”
The cost of the fire was put at more than £20,000. The day before, new machinery costing more than £4,000 had arrived at the mill.
The pictures show the mill before its closure in 1982 and machine worker Ken Hastings checking one of the drying rollers in 1974.
My thanks to historian and former fire officer John Lowe for researching the story.
Daniel Kaveh, 24, Justin Hughes, 25 and Kailan Chadbone, 20, were each sentenced to years in jail at Oxford Crown Court on Friday, May 29 for supplying and dealing drugs on the streets of Oxford.
Kaveh, of Lambourn Road in Oxford, and Hughes, of Woodperry Road, played ‘significant’ roles in an ‘open line’ class A drugs operation in Blackbird Leys between November 2024 and last November, the court heard.
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Kaveh was previously in court in 2021 after pulling out a ‘Rambo’ knife in a stabbing incident in Lambourn Road in Rose Hill in November 2020 which resulted in a 12 month jail sentence suspended for two years.
Between them, they supplied around 4.6kg of crack cocaine and heroin to the drugs line.
Police raids on Hughes’ home also found 232g powder cocaine and 2.338kg of cannabis, for which he was sentenced for possession with intent to supply, along with a quantity of cash, drugs paraphernalia and weapons.
Raids on Kaveh’s property found similar equipment and drugs like heroin and diamorphine, with a total street value of more than £100,000.
It was established the two dealers worked for Emman Riasat, who ran his own drug line in Oxford and wholesale supplied drugs to the line operating out of Blackbird Leys.
Hughes received a jail sentence of six years and nine months for two counts of class A drug supply and two counts of possession, while Kaveh was jailed for seven years and six months for two counts of class A drug supply.
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Also working for Riasat was Chadbone, of Bernwood Road, who worked lower down in the operation as a drugs runner.
He pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of crack cocaine and diamorphine between August 1 and November 19, 2025, committed while he was serving a suspended sentence for affray.
Chadbone received a total of 45 months in jail for two counts of drug supply and the breach of a previous suspended sentence.
‘Sundays in the Park’ took place in Garth Park on May 31, thanks to a collaboration between Bicester Town Council and Bicester Live.
Visitors enjoyed performances from Ukesnaile, Bicester Concert Band, and Malish, offering a variety of covers from pop to garage.
Food was provided by Garth Park Kitchen, with options like British bockwurst, halloumi buns, and wood-fired cheeseburgers, while others brought their own picnics to enjoy in the sunshine.
The council’s events team said: “We can’t wait to welcome you all for an afternoon of live music, great food, and community fun in the beautiful surroundings of Garth Park.”
The next ‘Sundays in the Park’ event will be held on June 14, featuring Hook Norton Brass Band and local soloists, starting at 12.30pm.
In a Facebook post on ‘Raise the Colours: Oxfordshire’, the principal leader of the group asked campaigners to join the demonstration for ‘justice for Henry Nowak’.
The protest follows days of demonstration outside the police station following the murder of University of Southampton student Henry Nowak.
Protesters hurled bins, chairs and bricks at police as hundreds gathered outside the station.
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Activist Tommy Robinson and former actor Laurence Fox were among those who spoke to the crowd.
Speaking to the crowd Robinson said: “I heard someone say this wasn’t about race, this is about race.
“A white boy who done nothing was handcuffed, a murderer in possession of a knife who stabbed someone five times isn’t.”
Demonstrators were heard chanting “Henry, Henry” as large group moved across town and threw object at police in riot gear.
The controversy surrounding the murder of Mr Nowak centres on the initial police response after the 18-year-old student was stabbed in Southampton in December 2025.
A trial heard that officers arriving at the scene were allegedly misled by the killer, Vickrum Digwa, 23, who claimed he had been the victim of a racist assault.
Police initially placed Mr Nowak in handcuffs.
In camera footage Nowak can be heard telling officers that he had been stabbed, with an officer on the scene replying “don’t think you have mate”.
Hampshire police’s Deputy Chief Constable Robert France said that within three minutes of interacting with Nowak they were starting to perform CPR.
He added that: “This is a complete tragedy and I am sorry that they couldn’t save Henry that night and I’m sorry that Henry was handcuffed and arrested as he lost consciousness.”
In a statement to the press outside Southampton Crown Court after Digwa was sentenced, Mark Nowak, Henry’s father, said: “We are calling on the Government to treat knife crime as the national emergency that it is.
“Henry did not die with dignity. He did not die with the care he deserved. He lost consciousness before anyone believed him.”
A group of Oxford ‘patriots’ are due to protest in Oxford this week as well.
Aiden Noble, organiser of the protests, is calling on the public to stand in ‘justice for Henry Nowak’ on Friday, June 5.
The group will gather at 6pm outside Carfax Tower to ‘demand answers, accountability, and justice for Henry Nowak’.
The protests join other demonstrations in Southampton, Birmingham, Nottingham, Blackpool, Liverpool, London, and Gloucester.
Vickrum Digwa was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 21 years served on Monday for the murder of 18-year-old Mr Nowak in Southampton.
PM accuses Farage of exploiting Nowak case to sow ‘division’ and denies ‘two-tier policing’ claim
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