the times | Wednesday October 14 2020 1GM 13
News
The Duchess of Sussex has spoken of
how becoming a mother had made her
more “courageous” because she was so
concerned about the world that her
son, Archie, will inherit.
However, the duchess, who was
speaking at an online conference in the
United States for “most powerful
women”, said that she was also careful to
avoid being controversial because she
did not want to put her family at risk.
Meghan, whose son is a year old, was
but I wouldn’t be able to feel proud of
myself as a mum if I didn’t know that I
wasn’t doing my part to make it a better
place for him.”
Asked about how to deal with social
media in a healthy way, she advisedA mother who blogged about her
family life died with three of her
children when their car collided with a
lorry near Oxford.
Zoe Powell, 29, her daughters
Phoebe, eight, and Amelia, four, and
their brother, Simeon, six, were killed in
the crash on Monday night.
Her husband, Joshua, 30, and their
18-month-old baby were said last night
to be in a critical but stable condition in
hospital.
Police were called at 9.50pm to
reports of the collision between a silver
Subaru and the lorry near a railway
bridge over the A40 west of Oxford.
Mr Powell and his daughter were
taken to John Radcliffe Hospital, Ox-
ford. The lorry driver had minor injuries.
A witness said that the lorry was on
the wrong side of the road and the
family’s people carrier was in the
middle “crumpled like a can”.
David Pratchett, 36, was first on the
accommodation while their home
remained boarded up and smoke-
damaged, according to a neighbour.
After the fire Mrs Powell wrote
on her Instagram account that she and
Mr Powell had been woken by the
smoke alarms and managed to get their
children out of the building.
She wrote: “We are thankful to all be
fine, and God has been so good in so
many ways in this difficult time. WeW
alls and
foundations
next to an
Essex
roundabout that are
believed to be the oldest
surviving fragments of a
church in Britain have
been awarded new
protection (Mark Bridge
writes).
The remains in
Colchester date to about
AD320, not long after
the Edict of Milan, when
Constantine the Great
granted freedom of
worship to Christians.Archaeologists estimate
that it held about 100
worshippers and coins
from that era found in
excavations near by
suggest a flourishing
congregation.
The remains, which
have recently been
repaired, have been
given scheduled
monument status by
Historic England.
The stone structure,
erected just outside the
walls of the Roman city
of Camulodunum and
excavated in the 1970s,was in the form of a
rectangular basilica to
which a semicircular
apse was added at the
eastern end later during
the Roman period.
It stood next to a
burial ground of over
600 bodies aligned east
to west, indicating their
Christian status.
Philip Crummy,director of the
Colchester
Archaeological Trust,
said it was likely that the
church’s first
worshippers had
practised in secret
during earlier periods of
persecution.
It appears that the
church was abandoned
some time in the secondquarter of the 5th
century.
Although Mr Crummy
and other archaeologists
believe a church is the
best fit for the building’s
form, date and location
next to the burial
ground, others believe it
was a mithraeum, or
temple to the eastern
god Mithras. However,Julie Young, deputy
leader of the borough
council, said: “As a
major city with good
connections to the
wider Roman empire, it
is not difficult to
imagine that Colchester
was one of the first
places in Britain where
Christianity was
established.”New protection for
the oldest church
The building probably held a congregation of about 100, many of whom would have met in secret before the Edict of Milan allowed Christian worship
A
Colchester
Lexden
RoadSouthway
Site of
churchPolice
1,000ft stationAbbey
Field© PETER FROSTE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, DACS 2020; COLCHESTER BOROUGH COUNCILArchie’s birth gave me courage to create better world, says Meghan
Valentine Low taking part in a session on “courageous
leadership” as part of Fortune maga-
zine’s Next Gen Summit.
Asked by Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune’s
associate editor, how motherhood had
changed her, she said: “It’s interesting
because my gut is that it makes you
more courageous. It makes you so
concerned for the world they’re going
to inherit, and so the things that you’re
able to tolerate on your own are not the
same; for you go every single day how
can I make this better for him, how can
I make this world better for Archie?
And that is a shared belief between my
husband and I.
“At the same time I am cautious of
putting my family in a position of risk
by certain things, and so I try to be,
rather, very clear with what I say and to
not make it controversial, but instead to
talk about things that seem fairly
straightforward — like exercising your
right to vote.
“I think that is as simple as it comes,
and as necessary as it comes, and to that
point as a parent I can enjoy all the fun
and silliness and games with my son,women not to “engage with things that
are negative” but to be “conscious and
responsible”.
She said: “I have, for my own self-
preservation, not been on social media
for a very long time.
“I made a personal choice to not have
any account so I don’t know what’s out
there and in many ways that’s helpful
for me. I have a lot of concerns for
people that have become obsessed with
it and it is so much a part of our daily
culture for so many people that it’s an
addiction.”The duchess was
speaking at an
online conference
on leadershipA fraudster who once stole a Saudi
sheikh’s Rolls-Royce has been found
guilty of trying to buy grenades from an
undercover FBI officer on the dark web.
Mohammed Humza, 29, from
Watford, did not turn up for his trial at
the Old Bailey. He was found guilty of
charges under the explosive substances
act after paying for two fragment
grenades. He later switched his
attention to Semtex plastic explosives,
claiming that he wanted them “for
breaking safe/vault”.
In March 2017 Humza was jailed for
four years for stealing Sheikh Moham-
med Alibrahim’s £97,000 Rolls-Royce
Phantom Coupé after filling out a
DVLA form claiming he was the owner.
On July 14, 2016 the FBI officer
received a message asking: “What’s the
best price you can do for 2 grenades
with postage to the UK?” Humza nego-
tiated the price to $115 (£89), saying he
would buy two more the next week.
The judge, Mrs Justice McGowan,
delayed sentencing.Duncan Gardham
Mother and three children die
in horrific collision with lorry
scene after he heard the crash from
his houseboat. He said that it was
“horrifying and very saddening”,
adding: “While I was on the phone to
police, the man regained consciousness
and that’s when I started screaming
down the phone ‘get someone here,
now’.”
Mrs Powell, who studied English
literature at university, worked as a
designer and crafter, blogging about
her children and making stationery,
woven art and prints by hand, inspired
by her favourite books.
She also published The Mama Book, a
journal she designed for new mothers
to chronicle their experience and help
them to find a moment to themselves.
The Powells were married when they
were teenagers and they celebrated
their eleventh wedding anniversary last
month.
The deaths came months after the
family lost many of their possessions
in an electrical fire at their house.
They had been living in rentedhave wonderful neighbours, firemen,
family and friends, church family and
there is much to be thankful for.”
Their local church, St Andrew’s, in
Chinnor, Oxfordshire, said that it
would be open for private prayer or for
people to light a candle for the week.
The parish council said that there was
space for people to leave flowers.
Sergeant Dominic Mahon, of the
Serious Collision Investigation Unit
based at Bicester, said that the crash
was an absolute tragedy.
Mr Mahon, the senior investigating
officer, appealed for more witnesses
who may have been driving on the A
before the accident or who had dash-
cam footage to come forward.
He said: “The thoughts of all of us at
Thames Valley police are with the
families at this incredibly difficult time.
Our officers and colleagues from the
other emergency services were dealing
with an extremely upsetting scene, and
I would like to thank them for the work
that they carried out overnight.”Emma Yeomans
Zoe Powell and her husband, Joshua,
were driving on the A40 near OxfordFraudster tried
to buy grenades
online from FBI