Girl strangled in Oxford woods: Jamie Busson is jailed


A teenager lured a young girl into Blackbird Leys woodland before strangling her and leaving her alone and unconscious in a revenge-fuelled attack.
When a group of cyclists happened upon the victim, who had been throttled for two minutes, she was ‘rolling about in the mud and screaming’.
Remorseless and ‘dangerous’ Jamie Busson went on to tell a social worker after the crime that he would ‘do it again’ and he had no regrets.
The 18-year-old of Elder Way, Oxford, had already admitted one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and pleaded guilty on Thursday to another count of false imprisonment.
Outlining the case at his sentencing at Oxford Crown Court, prosecutor William Eaglestone said that the violence took place on August 5 last year.
Busson and his victim had arranged to meet via Snapchat and the pair went to Spindleberry Woods in Blackbird Leys.
After finding a secluded spot in the park he ‘paused and sat down as if he was going to light a cigarette’ before suddenly pinning her to the floor.
Busson then throttled the girl, an attack which the court heard was motivated by him wanting to ‘get her back’ for an alleged slight.
He continued to strangle her for up to two minutes before leaving her in the secluded woodlands unconscious.
Prosecutors said the girl was discovered by a group of young cyclists at about 1.45pm that day.
He said she was rolling about in the mud, screaming and ranting incoherently.
Continuing to scream and cry when police were called, she was then taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital.
She later said she couldn’t remember exactly what had happened and told police: “He grabbed me around my throat in a choke hold from behind me,” before saying she ‘didn’t know’ if she had passed out or not.
When Busson was arrested for the attack, initially on suspicion of a sexual assault, which was later dropped, he told police: “It’s not a sexual assault, I only strangled her.”
Prosecutors also read out a disturbing account from Busson’s social worker.
In that account Busson said he ‘didn’t care about the girl he assaulted’ because he believed she had insulted one of his family members.
Busson claimed he ‘took it upon himself to get her back’ because of the slight and said that his victim ‘deserved it.’
He went on to say that ‘he would do the same thing again if he had to and he didn’t regret it one single bit.’
He added: “All I did was strangle her until she was not moving anymore, I didn’t want to kill her.”
It was also revealed at Thursday’s sentencing hearing that Busson has previous convictions for similar offences.
In 2017 he took a 15-year-old to secluded woodland in Abingdon before sexually assaulting her.
The same year he assaulted another teenager by repeatedly striking her with a ‘piece of rotten wood with a nail in it’.
During that assault he struck his victim 16 times.
Sentencing, Judge Nigel Daly said: “The injuries suffered [to the victim] were serious in the context of the offence.
“You strangled a girl into unconsciousness and continued to suffocate her. She was very vulnerable and it was a sustained assault.
“There was some degree of pre-meditation, you intended to commit a serious offence, you deliberately targeted this vulnerable, young girl.
“You showed absolutely no remorse and no regret.
“You said that after she had passed out you continued to strangle her for about two minutes, probation officers describe it as a calculated, pre-meditated act.”
Busson was jailed for a total of four-and-a-half years and he was made subject to an extended period of post-release licence for five years.
He must also pay a statutory victim surcharge.