Review of Bristol crime in 2008

The year began in a Greek court room. Bristol father John Hogan was cleared of murdering his son Liam after leaping 50ft off his hotel balcony in Crete on the grounds of diminished mental responsibility.

Mr Hogan remains in Greece but is fighting to be allowed to return to the UK. His ex-wife Natasha has since remarried.

Meanwhile, Avon and Somerset constabulary privatised key sections of its civilian workforce. Computer giant IBM now runs a number of its key departments.

In February, the decayed body of a man was found in a council flat in Bedminster.

Dennis Pring had been dead for almost a decade and his body had laid under an upturned sofa while tenant Alan Derek had continued to live there.

A report into the city council's failings in the case will not be made public before an inquest into the death has been held.

In April, six-year-old Charlie-Bob Townsend died at home in Long Ashton. His father Christopher Townsend set fire to the house before he hanged himself.

In the same month police arrested Andrew Ibrahim, 19, of Westbury-on-Trym, on suspicion of planning to blow up a shopping centre with a suicide vest bomb. His trial is due to start later this year.

A few weeks later, officials appointed a new chief of Bristol police. Assistant Chief Constable John Long said he wants to make Bristol the safest city in the world.

The Hayes Independent Hospital in Pilning has also been under the spotlight this year.

In February, mentally-ill Darren Harkin, who was at Hayes after killing his baby stepbrother, escaped and raped a 14-year-old girl in Chepstow. Four months later, convicted sex attacker Tamer Mahmoud went on the run for 17 hours while on an accompanied visit to St Werburgh's City Farm.

The hospital continues to operate.

In July, Julie Lake, 50, was found guilty of assaulting a youth she believed had vandalised a war memorial in Mangotsfield. The World War II fighter pilot's daughter was given a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered to pay £400 costs.

Barry George was cleared of killing TV presenter Jill Dando, formerly of Weston-super-Mare, after an eight-year battle to clear his name. The question remains: Who did kill the 37-year-old golden girl of television?

In October, Kylee Dibble's killer was jailed. Crack addict Nicky Robinson, 24, was sentenced to life for beating the teenager to death then setting her flat on fire.

However, Detectives have not charged anyone in connection with the death of pensioner Walter Bollen. The 76-year-old was killed last month when he tried to stop someone stealing his car in Horfield.

Just before Christmas, hundreds gathered at the funeral of Charles Small, a pensioner who was knocked down in a hit-and-run near his home in Easton. Police continue to hunt for the driver.