New research has pinpointed the top 10 richest men in Oxfordshire.

As revealed in the Oxford Mail this week, the county's wealthiest individual according to the newly published book version of The Sunday Times Rich List is Kidlington tycoon Sir Richard Branson with an estimated fortune of £3,065m, although he has slipped from eighth to 10th in the national rankings.

Next to appear at number 186 is the Blackwell family with £375m. Its fortunes are likely to spiral in the next edition of the book, following the sale of the publishing arm for £572m to John Wiley & Sons.

Former Oxford United owner Firoz Kassam is listed as having a £250m fortune. This figure is unchanged from last year and makes him the 266th richest person in the country.

He is followed at number 361 by Barrie Haigh, who made his £120m from share sales of Innovex, his pharmaceuticals company based in Bracknell.

Mr Haigh now owns Red Kite Farms, an organic dairy estate in the Chilterns between Watlington and Henley. The list's compilers say he is worth £183m.

Dr Jan Hruska and Dr Peter Lammer, founders of Abingdon-based computer security company Sophos, are at numbers 725 and 726 with £90m each.

They are followed by David Carr and Graham Hazell at numbers 908 and 912, both with £72m.

They founded Abingdon-based pensions business Hazell Carr, which has been one of the fastest growing companies in Britain.

Motorsport entrepreneur David Richards is 976th on the list with £68m. The new Aston Martin DBR9 has been built by his Banbury-based company Prodrive and it raced at Le Mans in June 2005.

And controversial pop singer George Michael, who has a house in Goring, squeezes into the Oxfordshire top 10 with £65m and a ranking of 1,017 on the national list.

Topping the national list in the book, published by A&C Black, is steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and his family, who enjoy a fortune of £13,180m, followed by Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, with £10,800m.