thrown through our letterbox. In a journey round the kitchen it kindled fire in
several places including the childrens art materials, causing a devastating
fire which would probably have killed us and our two children, then aged four
and seven, had we not been alerted by a smoke alarm and helped by vigilant
neighbours. You may have seen the lurid picture of our burned-out kitchen on TV
or in the papers
(http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/search/1827397.Two_charged_with_arson/)
but this doesnt convey the full damage - nine months in
temporary accommodation, huge disruption in lives and work, the loss of all the
childrens toys, clothes and pictures from birth onward, photos, furniture.
Since have offices at home, our work was set back for months and we lost
thousands
of books and papers. Hardest in some ways has been coping with our childrens
difficulty in understanding why they were subjected to this attack when they
didnt seem to have done anything to provoke it the idea that this was a
completely random act of destruction, for no more than a moments fun, is in
some ways more frightening than deliberate malice.
The trial is now behind us all, but as the anniversary
approaches, might we ask members of the forum for help in making sure that this
firework season in Headington is free of such incidents? England seems to be
going through a social change in which as Halloween displaces November the
Fifth, the licence for naughtiness given to little children is taken up by
teenagers who are newly armed with fireworks: a toxic mix. It is very sad that
a holiday meant to give pleasure to children has come to the point where we
need police to make our children feel safe, but for this Halloween we have
gratefully accepted the offer of an officer on patrol near our house in Ramsay
Road and the recreation ground behind it. Whether the law on access to these
potentially lethal weapons should be changed is beyond the scope of this forum,
but public alertness to the enforcement of existing laws will help. Here is the
law: except on on Bonfire Night, Diwali, New Year, and Chinese New Year it is
illegal to set off fireworks after
11pm. It is illegal for those under 18 to buy fireworks or carry them in
public. We should note that the firework that destroyed our house had,
according to testimonial at the trial, been sold by the local Lidl store to a
seventeen-year-old, again illegally they were being carried around in their
Lidl bag. Unwanted advertising we would have thought, and we have written to
Lidl to ask how they will avoid such illegal sales this year but have received
no reply.
We hope that anyone who is in a position to see that laws
are enforced will do so. Amidst the immensely generous support we received from
the local community after the fire, and gave our thanks for in a post on the
Headington website, we did also find a disturbing minority who said that the
incident was just a prank that went wrong, that boys would be boys. We
understand
that a group dynamic such as Halloween licenses can egg people on to do things
that they wouldnt dream of in normal circumstances. All the more reason to
emphasize that no prank involving lighted fireworks could go right: fireworks
can kill.
David Norbrook and Sharon Achinstein