Looking back at Sussex's biggest stories of 2025

A variety of stories across Sussex have made headlines in 2025, from hidden letters to self-confessed "rubbish" pet drawings and 19th century guns.

The year has seen a number of issues hitting the headlines and affecting people across the county, including one man who said his life was "blown apart" by a DNA testing kit.

Here is a selection of the stories which have delighted readers and started conversations across the county.

In 2019, Steve Thomson from Selsey in West Sussex scooped the £105m EuroMillions jackpot, and said he "knew exactly where I wanted to help after I won".

In November this year, Mr Thomson finally opened a new permanent building for Chichester-based charity Together Our Community, funded from his big lottery win.

Mr Thomson found the near derelict building in the middle of Chichester, and now it has a sensory room, open plan classroom and training kitchen to help young adults with disabilities.

He said: "A few friends have sons and daughters with autism and other learning difficulties, and there was nowhere in the area for them to congregate safely, learn skills and make friends."

Finding your ancestry through DNA testing can be a fun Christmas present for a loved one, but for one man it was a test which "completely upended" everything he thought he knew about his family.

John, from East Sussex, took a test after the death of his dad in 2022, but the results showed that he was not his biological father and was, in fact, the son of a family friend.

The 60-year-old later said warnings should be issued about the tests which could lead to people having "their whole lives and mental health blown apart".

John said TV programmes and genealogy companies "drive this theory that every outcome is good, that you'll find war heroes... or a suffragette, but lots of people don't."

The drawings of Phil Heckels, or Hercule Van Wolfwinkle as he is also known, may well be "rubbish", as he says, but they have raised more then £400,000 for charity.

Mr Heckels, who has been drawing since 2020, has now had a second book of his works published in April, and has won awards for his fundraising having taken part in a 24-hour "drawathon".

While his trademark wonky legs and crooked eyes have proved really popular with pet owners, Mr Heckels said his work started when he drew his own dog and put it on Facebook as a joke.

He said: "The continued support will never cease to amaze me."

Annie Oakley may have inspired a musical with her sharp shooting, but her famous rifle skills were not enough to see one of her guns fly off the auction block in November.

The gun, a late 19th Century shotgun, had all the hallmarks of Oakley's ownership, from the inscription with her initials to the words "Never Miss" visible while looking through the sight.

The auction saw offers of up to £19,000 come in when it went up for sale in Battle, but this came under the minimum asking price and it has since returned to a private collector.

Oakley the stage name Rifle Queen, which was also engraved on the gun, for her role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in the 1880s, and inspired Annie Get Your Gun.

After finding a 32-year-old letter from the previous owners of their Hove flat while cleaning her kitchen, Aimee Oliver took to social media.

And it took less than 24 hours to find the former owner, Andy Neal, whose then wife wrote the letter in 1993.

Ms Oliver said she and Mr Neal plan to meet, and the tattoo artist was even planning a design for Mr Neal in tribute to his late father.

She said: "It's really cool to see how it's been changed and updated."

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