Former Cople man shot dead in Venezuela

Thomas Ossel, 28, who grew up in Northill Road, was killed during an armed robbery on Margarita Island on Monday.

Thomas – who attended Alban Middle School (now Alban Academy) and Sandy Upper School – and his brother Jack, 21, were in their bedroom at the Posada Casa Rosa hotel when an armed gang burst in.

One of the gang, said to comprise two women and three men pointed a gun at Thomas and when he tried to resist he was shot in the jaw.

Jack was also wounded and was treated in a hospital nearby.

Thomas, a firefighter in the London Fire Brigade who had recently moved to Bedford, was preparing to return home from a three-week trip around the world when the robbery in the state of Nueva Esparta happened.

His father Ben has flown to Venezuela to meet Jack.

Speaking from the home Jack shares with Ben and his mother Annabel, family friend Jacqueline Baxter talked about the family’s shock and despair at hearing the news.

She said: “I had just arrived at work on Tuesday morning when Annabel called me.

“She told me Thomas had been killed. She sounded very controlled but I think the shock was just setting in.”

Jacqueline, who lives in Willington Road, Cople, said Thomas was a keen and experienced traveller.

She added: “He was very brave, a real adventurer and he had travelled all over the world.

“He had managed to get three weeks off work for the trip, and it’s unbelievable that it should end like this.”

For the full story see the Biggleswade Chronicle of Friday, July 22.