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Conrad Welch

Age: 63

Sex: male

Date: 19 Jun 2021

Place: Ship Street, Oxford

Conrad Welch died eight days after he was hit on the head and knocked to the ground in Ship Street, Oxford on 11 June 2021 following a row in an S3 bus.

He had been out drinking and celebrating his birthday at the time.

Four men were initially arrested on suspicion of murder but the main suspect, who was the only one to have action taken against by the police, later died in a car crash on the M25 in May 2023 and the case collapsed.

Conrad Welch died from a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in the lungs, resulting from a rupture of disks in his spine.

He was said to have got into a disagreement with two other men on the S3 bus. He had got on the bus at a stop in Woodstock Road, Woodstock, earlier around 10.30pm on 11 June 2021 and got into an argument with two men. They then continued arguing after they got off the bus in Magdalen Street at around 10.45pm after which Conrad Welch was assaulted and knocked down with a single punch in Ship Street.

After being knocked down unconcsous he was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital where he died on 19 June 2021. Althiugh he was taken to the hospital in an unconscious condition, he did regain conscoiusness at some point before his death.

At his inquest in December 2023, the Coronor said:

Conrad Welch had been out drinking and celebrating his birthday in Oxford on the evening on 11 June 2021. He was intoxicated with alcohol and had been involved in verbal confrontation with a group of four young men. He was walking close to this group in Ship Street at approximately 22:50 hours when one of the group struck him with a single blow with his hand to the head, resulting in Conrad Welch falling unconscious and striking his head on the ground. He was taken by ambulance to John Radcliffe Hospital. He sustained a spinal cord injury but declined surgery. He was treated but subsequently died due to pulmonary thromboembolism, likely due to immobility caused by the spinal injury.

A consultant forensic pathologist told the inquest that there was good evidence of a causal link between the alleged incident that occurred on that evening and his subsequent death.

The four men arrested had been:

  1. 18-year-old man from west Oxfordshire.
  2. 21-year-old man from west Oxfordshire.
  3. 21-year-old man from west Oxfordshire.
  4. 20-year-old man from Cherwell.

The 18-year-old, who had been the only man still under investigation however later became involved in a car crash on the M2 on 22 May 2023 and died four days later on 26 May.


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