Review of the year: January sees campaigners' Aquind triumph and inquests into deaths of young women

Debi Poole, 61, from Farlington, took Bedford Builders & Construction Ltd to county court over a £9,000 half-finished job at her home. The retired Tesco worker had asked builder Andrew Bedford, 57 — who runs the company and goes by ‘Lord Andrew Bedford’ — to put in a downstairs toilet and revamp her kitchen. She told The News: ‘It’s just absolutely draining – I’m just so annoyed I’ve been let down.’

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January saw last-minute calls made to reject controversial plans for more than 200 homes at St James' Hospital after a council report was published recommending they be approved. Portsmouth City Council's planning committee were asked to grant permission for the £55m PJ Livesey scheme which was met by 229 letters of opposition including from council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson. In the end the committee deferred the decision, saying it needed more up-to-date traffic details. It has not yet been resolved, and the government will now make the judgement after the developer appealed.

The News featured a blunder from Southern Water that left residents ‘upset’ and fearing they could lose their Mill Lane and Bidbury Lane in Havant homes because a new pipeline was being built – with the company taking 10 days to correct its mistake.

An inquest started into the death of Teegan Barnard who suffered a cardiac arrest after delivering her healthy baby boy, Parker, at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester on September 9, 2019. The 17-year-old pizza chef was starved of oxygen and suffered a severe brain injury. Teegan’s mother, Abbie Hallawell, said: ‘Teegan had a big personality and was full of life.’

Another sad story saw singing stars announce they were hosting nightly karaoke sessions to raise funds for the funeral of Portsmouth man David Doyle who passed away unexpectedly just after his 50th birthday.

Support poured in for critically ill six-month old Hudson Doyle, from Hilsea, who contracted Covid pneumonitis and was on a life-support machine. His parents Mariah and Liam Allen said: ‘We are overwhelmed by the support we are receiving from everyone.’

A rapist who inflicted terror and pain on young girls was served a 30-year sentence during the month. Anthony Plummer, 71, was finally served justice at Portsmouth Crown Court for sexually abusing four girls between 1978 and 2009. ‘There is no doubting you are a dangerous person,’ a judge said.

January highlighted the sad death of ‘wonderful’ two-year-old Zach Keay, of Swanmore, who passed away suddenly. He had Hirschsprung's disease and Down Syndrome. His mum Caroline, said: ‘He has made his family the proudest people on the earth, we had the honour of being his parents and we will ensure his memory and legacy lives on.’

Meanwhile, the family of model Porsche McGregor-Sims, 27, who died from a rare fast-spreading cancer, told an inquest a hospital misdiagnosis robbed them of their loved one.

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January’s coverage revealed the cross-Channel electricity interconnector scheme proposed by Aquind was rejected by the government’s business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng. The proposal united people and political parties across the city. Penny Mordaunt, Portsmouth North MP, said: ‘We did it’ – but the company would later win a judicial review for the decision, the answer on which is still awaited.

Joshua Kempster was sentenced to 10 months detention over the deaths of motorcyclists Andrew Cuthbert, 58, and Gary Groves, 62, following a crash on the B3035 Corhampton Lane near Bishop's Waltham and Corhampton on February 2, 2020.

The News revealed a deceased man who died in a fire as being 27-year-old Romanian national Mihail Catalin Bragau who lived in Gosport. Police and fire investigators were investigating the ‘unexplained’ death after crews attended the blaze in Durham Street, Gosport, at around 2.30am on New Year’s Day.