Parish Council hold meeting in public to hear local views and receive investigation update from Hampshire Police.
Residents of Otterbourne and Brambridge near Winchester gathered this evening (Weds 23 Jan 2008) in the wake of a recent murder in the area.
Otterbourne Parish Council hosted a meeting, held in Otterbourne Village Hall and attended by more than 150 people, to give local people a chance to hear an update from the police on their ongoing enquiry.
Also present were representatives of The Langley Trust, who run a nearby residential property for ex-offenders known as Elderfield House. Four residents of Elderfield were questioned by police last week in connection with the murder; three have since been released with no charge while one has been bailed and left the area.
Local ward councillor and leader of Winchester City Council, Cllr George Beckett, was present along with parish councillors and Hampshire Probation staff. It was excellently chaired by Parish Council Chairman, Cllr Dick Oldham.
Prospective Winchester MP, Steve Brine, attended and spoke at the meeting; “People are obviously worried after such a horrendous crime was committed in their community and it was important they had a chance this evening to hear from the police officers in charge of this case. They were excellent and gave us all a very clear briefing on the latest developments as far as they could.
“Residents in Otterbourne are understandably nervous about Elderfield House, regardless of any link to this crime, and the meeting was always going to be a bit of an examination in public for The Langley Trust.
“There is clearly an ongoing police investigation here, but the safety of local people must remain the central issue. If any Elderfield residents are found to be responsible for this horrific murder, it will break any bond of trust that remains with the local people and put us in a situation where the risks of this facility to the wider community outweigh its benefit. There are of-course no further suggestions at this time that this will prove to be the case but we learnt tonight that police are not yet able to 100% rule it out.
“The general point is that Elderfield remains in this community because of the goodwill of local residents, if that goes its’ continued presence would be extremely difficult as Langley representatives admitted to the meeting.
"It was quite clear from the exchanges that Otterbourne residents do not feel the facility is part of their community at the moment and I hope the Elderfield team left the meeting with a very clear sense that they need to significantly sharpen up their community ties and the information given to local people about their work and their residents if they wish to be in the area for the long-term.”