HE ARRIVED in Blackbird Leys for the first time on the same night the estate was left reeling when police launched a murder hunt.

And Sergeant Neil Applegarth, who took the helm of the estate's neighbourhood policing team on Thursday, June 1, has wasted no time getting to work.

The 47-year-old, who has served in Thames Valley Police for 17 years, said in the aftermath he is leading a 'single-priority' team focused on keeping people safe.

He said: "For me the estate has been defined so far by the murder investigation. It has been a very busy couple of weeks.

"My focus has been to let the major crime team get on with the investigation, and try and deliver as normal a neighbourhood policing team as we can."

Five people have been charged with murder, and three more arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, since the death of Chris Lemonius in Jourdain Road.

Sgt Applegarth said: "In most neighbourhoods, the priority for police is finding out what priorities are and working towards them.

"I arrived with absolute clarity. There are people dying. That is my priority, and how we can get the public to tell us what they know."

His latest role follows 18 months as a response team inspector, which itself followed 18 months as a neighbourhood sergeant for East Oxford.

Growing up he had wanted to be a firefighter, but on failing to reach the sight standard he qualified as a boat builder and drove a mobile workshop.

It was a fateful night on the A303 at Stonehenge, when he came across a serious accident involving a motorcyclist, that he decided to enter policing, aged 30.

He said: "I attended to a casualty for about an hour with emergency services. The policeman who came said to me 'mate, you could do my job'. Those words changed my life."

The Blackbird Leys NPT is comprised of three PCs and seven police community support officers (PCSOs).

When not deployed elsewhere in Oxford South East they operate from the old police office in Blackbird Leys Road.

Sgt Applegarth said: "We are a serious team. We aren't here 24/7, but I'm based here and this is my office.

"Having been away from neighbourhood policing for 18 months, I'm shocked by how much the team does that even other cops in Oxford don't know about: that low-level, old-fashioned, bobby-on-the-beat activity helping people deal with problems. They're an incredibly mixed set of characters but they work amazingly. I'm really pleased."

In the coming months, Sgt Applegarth said he hoped to boost TVP's visibility on the estate and give the office a new lease of life.

He said: "In terms of disrupting gang activity, the main thing you can do is get the knowledge that's out there in the community. You can only do that through building trust.

"It's remarkable; I get stopped a lot here and I've been flagged down as I pass through the estate, which is really nice.

"People are wanting to give us information but it frustrates me that they haven't felt able to unburden themselves of that until they accidentally bump into a cop."

He added: "I loved what I was doing as a senior manager. But it was quite an isolated world. Meeting all these interesting people and making things happen and touching lives is great; that's what it's all about."