Oxfordshire weekly round-up: 13 April - 19 April 2024
- Published
Salvator Rosa's A Rocky Coast, With Soldiers Studying A Plan was painted in the late 1640s
A story about a 17th Century painting that was stolen from a university art gallery and recovered in Romania four years later was among our most read this week in Oxfordshire.
A variety of local issues were featured on the BBC News website, BBC Radio Oxford and South Today.
We have picked five stories to keep you up to date.
New baby and father stranded amid passport delay
Mr Taylor said the situation has left him "mentally exhausted"
A man who had a baby by surrogacy in Cyprus is stranded there because of a delay issuing the child's passport.
Joseph Taylor, from Abingdon, applied for a passport for baby Jonah on 5 February and, until he receives it, is unable to bring his son home.
But on 25 April, his 90-day visa expires, after which he risks being fined, prosecuted or even jailed.
The Home Office said passports would not be issued until "all checks are satisfactorily completed".
Council refuses Russell Brand's pub conversion plan
Mr Brand wanted to create an office and studio space
Russell Brand's plan to convert a village pub into a recording studio and a community space has been refused.
The comedian and actor put forward a proposal to South Oxfordshire District Council to transform The Crown Inn in Pishill, Oxfordshire, in November.
The project would have created an office and studio space for his independent video series.
The council refused it after a number of objections, 53 of which came from neighbours.
Church opens doors to paying holiday guests
Rev Daniel Thompson said it was straight forward to offer overnight stays
A church has opened its doors to paying holiday guests to help raise funds.
St Leonard's in Watlington, Oxfordshire, is the first in the county to take part in the so-called champing scheme.
Guests book online for overnight stays in a number of historical church buildings in England and Wales.
Vicar Rev Daniel Thompson said guests were "just buzzing" after their stay at the Church of England site, which partly dates back to medieval times.
Painting stolen from Oxford recovered in Romania
Jacqueline Thalmann said the recovered painting was found in a good condition
A 17th Century painting that was stolen from an Oxford university art gallery more than four years ago has been recovered in Romania.
Salvator Rosa's A Rocky Coast, with Soldiers Studying a Plan was taken from Christ Church Picture Gallery in 2020.
Two other artworks snatched in the same raid - Sir Anthony van Dyck's A Soldier on Horseback and A Boy Drinking by Annibale Carracci - are still missing.
The three works are thought to be worth a total of £10m.
Video shows 100mph drunk-driver who had child in car
Miley Connors undertook a police vehicle on the hard shoulder of the M40
A drunk-driver has been found guilty of dangerous driving and child neglect after speeding on a motorway hard shoulder at more than 100mph with a young child in the vehicle.
Miley Connors, 37, from Hambrook, West Sussex, received a two-year suspended sentence at Oxford Crown Court and was banned from driving for two years.
Connors was filmed by police on the M40 in Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire in December 2021.
After crashing into the central reservation and abandoning his vehicle, he was located with a young child by a police helicopter and arrested near Worminghall.
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- Published14 April
