THE mysterious ‘Oxford stink’ has returned for a third time, according to city residents.

There were reports of the pong in Headington, Summertown and East Oxford on Friday and Saturday.

Pensioner Jane Cox, of Meaden Hill, said it was “absolutely appalling”.

She said: “It made me feel sick. We thought it was farmers’ muck-spreading but it’s too much for that.

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“It gets into the house even if you keep your windows and doors shut.

“The last time I smelled it I was out with my dog and when I got home my clothes smelt of it.

“It was just a dirty, horrible smell.”

The Penny & Sinclair lettings agency Twitter account said that their staff could smell it in Summertown, while Oxford Twitter user Stuart Crook linked the bad smell to the demolition of the three Didcot A towers, which happened on Sunday, July 27.

He tweeted: “Since the Didcot towers were demolished this smell comes over Oxford every so often #coincidence?”

The smell was first reported on Monday, July 28 and was described as a “a stench of raw sewage”, but its source was never identified.

More than 75 readers contacted the Oxford Mail to say that they had smelt the odour in areas including Old Marston, Headington, Risinghurst, Wood Farm, East Oxford, Cowley, Jericho and Osney.

There was a second wave of reports earlier this month.

 

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