Colchester Gazette's review of 2021 from July to December

July

TRAGEDY stuck when five year-old Freddie Farrow was fatally injured when he sustained a serious head injury when he was struck by a mirror at Colchester town centre’s Fenwick store.

Alongside store staff and medics, Essex Police officers immediately administered first aid to him.

He was airlifted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, in a critical condition but died a week later.

Freddie’s mum Natasha Ingham later paid tribute to him, saying: “He will never leave us. He will be with us every single day throughout all our lives - until we see him again.”

Health and safety investigations continue.

• FOOTBALL fever took hold of north Essex as England competed in the Euros – although the excitement proved a little too much for some.

Police responded to 30 incidents linked to the final of the Euro 2020 across Essex.

The force said the majority of these were “minor in nature” and “thankfully none of the victims were seriously injured”.

Essex Police had more than 80 officers supporting local policing teams overnight and into the early hours of the morning as England took on Italy at Wembley.

• PRINCE Charles paid a visit to Colchester Garrison.

The Prince of Wales visited Merville Barracks in his role as Colonel in Chief of the Parachute Regiment.

Princes Charles on a visit to Merville Baracks

Personnel from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd battalions of the Parachute Regiment were presented with new colours - ceremonial military flags - which will replace those previously presented to the battalions at Aldershot in 1998.

August

COLCHESTER’S 16 Air Assault Brigade was sent to Afghanistan to work on the frontline evacuation mission.

About 600 troops were deployed after the country’s second-largest city, Kandahar, fell to the Taliban.

Colchester troops were stationed in Kabul and assisted with the evacuation of 16,000 people who had the right to settle in other countries by the end of the month.

• SECURITY was put in place to protect a piece of artwork which could be by the famous artist Banksy.

The spray painting appeared on the pill box by the Stone Pier next to Harwich’s Beacon Hill Fort.

Tendring Council immediately put security in place after previously allowing a valuable Banksy artwork to be painted over some years before in Clacton.

Read more >> Art lovers flock to see if 'Banksy' work is the real deal

• POP superstar Olly Murs put on a sensational show for thousands of revellers during a long-awaited homecoming gig in Castle Park in Colchester.

Olly, who hails from Witham, belted out all of his biggest hits in front of a crowd of about 10,000.

Olly Murs performs in Castle Park. Picture: Steve Brading

• CLACTON swimmer Ellie Challis claimed a silver medal on her Paralympic debut.

The 17-year-old finished second in the S3 women’s 50m backstroke final. Ellie has trained since she was aged eight

September

AN investigation was launched after reports clubbers were spiked while on a night out in Colchester.

The police’s investigation came after horrified mum Emma Benjamin spoke to the Gazette about how she believed her daughter Shania was spiked.

The following day Emma was contacted by police officers who told her two other girls had been hospitalised with similar symptoms.

Social media reports suggest there there have been hundreds of drink spikings in Colchester alone, while police say they know of 93 in just over 18 months.

• TWO men who launched a vicious knife attack on an aspiring rapper and young father after smashing down his front door were convicted of murder.

Alinjavwa Siwale, 22, was stabbed and died in the kitchen of his Colchester home while his younger brother Suwi frantically cried out for help.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard Phoenix Lee, 20, and Sheldon McKay, 25, carried out the attack but claimed they had acted in self defence.

The jury returned majority verdicts on charges of murder and causing grievous bodily harm.

Lee will serve a minimum of 24 years in prison and McKay a minimum of 23 years, before they can be considered for parole.

Read more >> The three murder trials which shocked Colchester in 2021

• FIRSTSITE won the coveted Art Fund Museum of the Year award, scooping the £100,000 prize money.

Throughout the pandemic, Firstsite launched Art is Where the Home Is - a series of free activity packs featuring more than 50 artists - which was downloaded by 92,000 households.

October

THE nation was left in shock after Sir David Amess, MP for Southend West, was fatally stabbed at his constituency surgery in Leigh.

The Tory MP, 69, was stabbed several times by a man who ran into the Belfairs Methodist Church, in Eastwood Road North.

Ali Harbi Ali, 25, was charged with murder and preparing acts of terrorism and was remanded into custody.

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary and Witham MP, said she was “devastated”

at the death of Sir David.

Other MPs across Essex paid their tributes to the long-standing MP and father of five.

• A KILLER who strangled his uncle and stole firearms in a “brutal” burglary was sentenced to life imprisonment and will serve a minimum of 30 years behind bars.

Leighton Snook, 28, strangled and beat 83-year-old Donald Ralph at the victim’s Aldham home in December last year.

He enlisted the help of 17-year-old Tyler Love.

Snook had hatched a plan to steal firearms from his relative Mr Ralph, hoping to sell them on to clear a debt he claimed he had accrued with drug dealers.

Love’s role in the burglary was to “act as a lookout, provide backup for the violence if necessary, or to reinforce any threat of violence by showing a knife if needs be”.

Snook was convicted of murder and burglary after a trial, while Love was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.

Love, of Darien Way, Braunstone, Leicester, was sentenced to eight years in prison.

November

STARS of Eastenders were spotted filming in St Osyth.

Cast and crew were seen filming the soap opera on the beach near the Sailor Boy, in Beach Road, Seawick.

Jessie Wallace, who plays Kat Slater, and Letitia Dean, who plays Sharon Watts, were both spotted in the village along with Steve McFadden, who plays Phil Mitchell.

Eastenders stars filming in St Osyth

It’s not the first time the stars of the small screen have swapped Albert Square for the Tendring coast.

Pam St Clement, who played Pat Butcher, made two visits - first when looking for errant husband Frank in 1994. She then returned to film Christmas episodes of the BBC show in October 2011.

• COLCHESTER United were successful in defeating AFC Sudbury 4-0 in the FA Cup.

Live BBC TV cameras captured the action at AFC Sudbury’s home ground.

•  STAFF at Essex University voted in favour of taking industrial action over pay and pension.

Lecturers and professional services staff had been balloted on whether to strike, or take industrial action short of a strike, such as a marking boycott.

Both ballots saw staff vote strongly in favour of action, with Essex being one of 58 universities in the UK set to be affected as staff go on strike over one or both of the disputes.

The strikes are largely down to disagreements over pensions and pay, but university staff say they are also fighting casualisation, heavy workloads and inequality as part of their industrial action. They are opposing Universities UK (UUK), the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), and the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA).

• COLCHESTER’S iconic Mercury Theatre celebrating receiving £125,000.

The grant is from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The venue was described as putting theatre “at the very heart of the cultural life for the community”.

Executive director Steve Mannix said: “Quite simply, without this support our doors and those of similar regional theatres and cultural venues across the UK would just not be open.”

December

SHAMED Met Police officers Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis were jailed after taking pictures of murdered sisters for a “cheap thrill”.

PC Lewis, from Colchester, and PC Jaffer, from east London, were assigned to guard the scene after Bibaa Henry, 46, and Nicole Smallman, 27, were found dead in bushes in Fryent Country Park, Wembley.

Instead, the officers moved from their posts to take photographs of the bodies, which were then shared with colleagues on WhatsApp.

The pair were jailed for two years and nine months.

• A PASSENGER train struck a car on the railway line at Frating.

Crews were called to a level crossing after reports a passenger train had hit a car.

Incident Commander Dave Bond said: “We believe the car ended up on the level crossing after skidding on some ice.”

THE parents of missing student Charley Gadd, 20, issued a desperate plea for help to find their son.

Police divers have been combing a canal following the disappearance of the Essex University student.

Charley, from Colchester, hasn’t been seen since the early hours of December 11, after he left the Warehouse Project, in Manchester.