The Times Series takes a look back at the year that was in 2013 with a review of the year’s biggest headlines…

January

The new year arrived with a bang in Edgware when bank workers tackled two gun-wielding robbers as they fled a smash-and-grab raid at Vinson Jeweller’s, in Station Road.

The Halifax workers chased down and caught the thieves, and managed to hold them down until police arrived.

Meanwhile, a domestic dispute between neighbours got out of hand when a couple were asked to pay almost £37,000 in legal fees over the disagreement. The legal dispute is still ongoing.

Those hoping to get fit for their New Year’s resolution were dealt a blow when Fitness First in North Finchley High Road was unexpectedly shut down and trashed.

Two teenage boys were attacked and stabbed by a gang in Watling Park, Burnt Oak, in an incident that shocked the local community.

A number of people are due to appear in court in the new year, facing charges including attempted murder.

There was fury over the state of offices at Barnet Hospital after the NHS trust changed its cleaning contract, while the owners of Barnet Market announced it planned to sell the site on which it trades twice a week.

A £40,000 burglary at an industrial yard at Fold Farm in the north of the borough left the self-employed business owner fearing for his future.

And Saracens rugby club won in their first match at the all new Allianz Park, converted from the former Copthall Athletics Stadium.

The Metropolitan Police held its first public meeting over its proposed, and later confirmed, closure of three of the borough’s police stations.

Meanwhile, an elderly couple were found dead in a house fire in North Finchley during the middle of the night.

An inquest is being held into the deaths of Argyrios and Chloe Siokos, which police say they suspect was a murder suicide.