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Cowley violence linked to drugs

Yet another violent incident took place on Cowley Road this week, leaving a man with severe head injuries. The assault took place outside the Regal nightclub on Sunday night.

Police were called at 2.50am on Sunday 30th January to reports of an altercation and assault near the popular student venue.

The victim, a 32 year-old man, was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital with serious head injuries. Doctors later described his condition as stable.

A police cordon was set up the next morning at the junction of Southfield Road and Cowley Road, by the City Arms pub.

A 31 year-old man has been arrested in connection with the assault and has been released on conditional bail until 14 March.

The news comes less than a month after a mass street brawl on Cowley Road where police arrested five men for public order offences, and a spate of violence last October, when two people were stabbed on the Cowley Road in separate incidents.

Dan Withers, a New College student living on Cowley Road, said, “I’ve never seen anything untoward in Cowley, but it has its fair share of dodgy-looking characters. Though I can’t say it has ever stopped me stumbling home after a night out.

“Generally it’s fine. I’m more worried crossing Cowley Road”.

Oxford Council are currently processing a new regulation that will require venues which have late night licences to pay a levy that will pay for the extra policing needed.

However, the government has just put a restriction on how much the council can charge.

Councillor for St Clement’s Nuala Young told Cherwell that she had been lobbying the local police to change their rota system to have enough police on duty late at night and early in the morning.

She said, “We are concerned that many of the incidents have been connected with drug dealing, as with the young student who was stabbed in the early hours near the Bullingdon Road.

“Students really should steer clear of these dodgy and potentially violent dealers who are homing in on the potential for student clientele in our area.”

She added, “Generally we don’t think that Oxford University students are such crazy drinkers, however female students really need to beware of tanking up with drink before they go out and ending up so drunk that they don’t know what’s happening.”

Thames Valley Police said that they are still appealing for any witnesses of the attack at the weekend to come forward.

In addition to the spate of attacks in the Cowley Road area, the website police.uk, which shows detailed breakdowns of crime levels in specific areas, reveals a high number of violent incidents in other parts of the city.

The website shows ten instances of violent crime in the Magdalen roundabout area in December of last year, while Hythe Bridge Street and New Road record 18 and 17 incidents respectively.

The total number of violent crimes in the inner city for December stands at a high 93. The overall figure for all crime and anti-social behaviour comes in at 606.

However, the new website places Oxford behind many other cities in the crime stakes, with Cambridge tallying at 741 and nearby Reading at 787.

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