In the second part of The Gazette's news review of the year, assistant editor Simon Pluckrose looks at some of the stories that hit the headlines from July to December.

JULY - The news that the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Health Authority plans to remove a breast screening assessment service at Basingstoke hospital outrages staff, patients and residents. The Gazette joins surgeon Anne Stebbing in her battle to stop the vital service being moved to Winchester.

- Hampshire education chief Don Allen receives a petition signed by 1,724 Gazette readers opposing his decision to close Basingstoke's Beech Down Primary School in 2004.

- Basingstoke MP Andrew Hunter is among a number of critics who blast the independent report into the closure of Beechwood Lodge homeless hostel as a "whitewash". The report was compiled after concerns raised earlier in the year over the deaths of four former residents.

- Steven Lochead and his wife Kerry Vincent are jailed for life for the murder of Valerie Tallett. Her mother Sylvia, of Morley Road, Cranbourne, Basingstoke, says she hopes the killers "rot in hell".

- Firefighters battle to save Manor Field Junior School in Brighton Hill when fire breaks out. One-fifth of the building is destroyed.

AUGUST - Lorry driver Steve Eckton sparks a major scare when he unearths 2,000 hand grenades while digging in his Kingsclere garden.

- The borough mourns the loss of three-times former mayor Roger Morris, who died on Wednesday, August 14, after a brave battle against a brain tumour.

- Basingstoke and Deane Mayor Rita Burgess defends the town on Radio 4 after votes by listeners mean it has made it on to a shortlist of 25 for the "Seven Horrors of Britain" awards. Basingstoke did not make it into the final seven.

- Angry scenes erupt at Richard Aldworth Community School in Western Way, Basingstoke, when staff refuse to give out GCSE results to those pupils who failed to return school equipment at the end of term.

- Residents in Tadley are shocked to learn of drugs dens strewn with paraphernalia on their doorstep. A Gazette report reveals two dens, one on Tadley Common and another between Sheridan Crescent and Inhurst Way.

SEPTEMBER - The Gazette hands in nearly 2,300 coupons to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Health Authority bosses, each one filled out by a reader opposed to plans to move the breast screening assessment service to Winchester.

- Thousands of north Hampshire residents travel to London for the Liberty and Livelihood march to protest against the Government's rural policies.

- Police swoop on a breaker's yard in Tadley, where they find hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of stolen cars and car parts.

- Killer David Taylor, formerly of Old Basing, writes a 14-page letter to The Gazette from his cell in Newtown, Connecticut, in the US, to explain why he killed his nanny Milena Pitkova in 1999 - and why he no longer believes it was murder.

- The body of murdered teenager Milly Dowler, who disappeared from her home in Surrey in March, is discovered in woodland near Hartley Wintney. More than 100 officers from Hampshire and Surrey work on the case.

OCTOBER - MP Andrew Hunter announces he is to step down at the next General Election as well as standing as a candidate for the Ulster seat for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in May's elections in Northern Ireland. Political opponents call for the MP to stand down now. He refuses.

- Mr Hunter's wife, Jan, sadly loses her long battle with breast cancer and dies on Sunday, October 13, aged 54.

- The Gazette reveals that a mobile phone mast has been erected inside the sign of a Shell petrol station in Buckskin, Basingstoke, even though mobiles are banned from forecourts.

- A group of Basingstoke Town FC supporters offer to help the club ease its cash problems and urge fans to help pay players' wages.

- October 22 - the day Basingstoke town centre is transformed as the £300million Festival Place development opens its doors to shoppers for the first time.

NOVEMBER - A troubled parade of shops in Kingsmill Road, Cranbourne, Basingstoke, plays classical music in a bid to stop youths from gathering outside and intimidating shoppers.

- The Gazette puts up a £200 cash reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a sniper who has been shooting cats with an air weapon in Pamber Heath. Five cats have been killed in 18 months and several have been injured.

- Victory - The Gazette's front page heralds the news that public pressure has convinced Hampshire and Isle of Wight health chiefs not to move the breast screening assessment service to Winchester.

- The go-ahead is given to build a new, £21million John Hunt of Everest Community School, in Popley, Basingstoke.

- Basingstoke firefighters join colleagues from across the country in a series of strikes over pay. Green Goddesses, manned by Navy personnel, step in to provide firefighting cover.

DECEMBER - Kevin Burkett is jailed for two-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to causing death by careless driving while over the drink-drive limit after a crash in which Christopher Watts, 22, suffered fatal injuries. Christopher's family and The Gazette both criticise the leniency of the sentence.

- Basingstoke embryologist Paul Fielding is convicted of conning couples desperate to have children. A trial heard how he pocketed cash for embryo transplants but left the women's embryos in cold storage when they came to have them transferred. He is also convicted of three counts of assault because some of the women suffered pain during the transfer procedures, to which they only consented in the belief that they might become pregnant.

- Basingstoke psychiatrist Christopher Allison is jailed for eight years after being found guilty of 10 indecent assaults and two rapes involving women patients who had come to him for help.

- Police carry out a major raid after travellers move on to the Peak Copse site in Dummer, just days after Hampshire County Council formally closes it.

- A couple from Basingstoke are found guilty of manslaughter after their baby died from drinking metha-done. Jaquietta Bowyer is sentenced to 44 months in prison and her husband Luke is jailed for 15 months.