Oxford and Oxfordshire news, sport and information updated throughout the day

John Havens

From the archive, first published Thursday 7th Aug 2003.

Former SAS soldier and expedition leader John Havens, who made it possible for hundreds of disabled people to go trekking in the Himalayas, has died aged 50.

Mr Havens, of Wheatley, near Oxford, was a pupil at Margaret Road Secondary School, in Headington, now Headington Middle School.

He joined the Army as a teenager and served in Northern Ireland with the 16th/5th Lancers before leaving to become a Hell's Angel.

Mr Havens worked as a window cleaner and gardener, and ran a number of small businesses. He tried his hand as an insurance salesman and briefly managed a restaurant, Boaters, in Wheatley.

He later became involved in charitable work and joined Drive for Youth, an organisation specialising in taking disadvantaged young people on trips to India.

Twelve years ago, he set up OxVenture, a group that has since taken about 800 disabled and mixed ability people to Nepal for white-water rafting, elephant-riding and tiger-trekking expeditions.

He retained his military connections as a member of the Territorial Army's 21 SAS Regiment and served in Bosnia in the mid-1990s.

His active lifestyle was cut short two years ago when he contracted a brain tumour.

Life-long friend Terri Tustian, of Wood Farm, Oxford, said he would be missed by all who knew him.

She said: "He was such a bright spark. Everyone who met him loved him. He was like everybody's brother."

He leaves his partner Melanie Malcolm, who nursed him at her home in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell during his illness, and a daughter, Phoebe, eight, who lives in Leighton Buzzard.

The funeral was held at St Mary's Church, Wheatley, on August 1.

Archive Home