In February, a pensioner wielding an axe chased two would-be burglars from his home in Watford after one fell through his garage roof.

“I picked it up and started waving it about. I had to get on top of the situation quickly so I went for this bloke,” said householder John Heathcote. “I wasn’t going to hit him but I was putting the fear of Christ into him. He backed right off and was putting his hands up.”

“Get in there and change it. Politics is life,” was former pupil Liz Kendall MP’s message to the pupils of Watford Grammar School for Girls. They Abbots Langley born politician, who now represents Leicester West, added: “It’s schools, it’s hospitals, it is whatever you want it to be. “If politicians aren’t talking about what you want them to, get in there and change it yourself. Make sure politicians talk about what you want.”

A survivor of the Tunisia terror attack came face to face with the gunman who shot her and her husband before he calmly walked away, showing no emotion, an inquest heard. Gina Van Dort - who lives in Watford - described seeing Seifeddine Rezgui, who opened fire at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Sousse on June 26 2015, walking towards where she and her husband had tried to hide. Christopher Dyer was killed in the attack in which 30 Britons were murdered.

And the dire state of facilities at Watford General Hospital was revealed in a damning report compiled by the NHS trust which runs it. It pointed to a number of serious incidents occurring in the year prior, including the closure of operating theatres due to ventilation failures, frequent sewage leaks into clinical areas, and the loss of beds because of water leaks after heavy rainfall.