CHRIS Heath burst into tears as she held the seat of her late husband for the first time since his death.

Mrs Heath said: “I hadn't thought about it the last few weeks, I have been so busy and all of a sudden I have thought ‘I have done it and he doesn't know’.”

Her husband-of-39-years Eric Heath had represented Bloxham and Bodicote between 1998 and 2010, before he stepped down due to ill health.

His wife took over for the Conservatives and won in 2010 and again yesterday with 998 votes to second-placeed Paul Tucker, of UKIP.

Oxford Mail:

  • Eric Heath

Mr Heath died from complications from diabetes in 2011, aged 77.

Grandmother-of-two Mrs Heath said: “I have tried to do it the way he did it. He wanted to give something back to the village.

“I can hear him, some of the things I do and say, I think ‘Eric would have said that’.”

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