IT was devastating that three lives were lost in three separate incidents in a 10-hour period over the weekend.

The loss of anyone’s life is a tragedy but at this time of year you feel extra sympathy for the suffering the families of the two motorists who crashed off the road and of the gentleman killed by the fire in Grandpont.

It will count for little in these early days but hopefully those families will eventually find some small crumb of comfort by the sympathy shown by the Oxfordshire community online yesterday because there was a real sense of shock and horror at each death.