From the South London Press:
A woman has been knifed to death in South London's fifth murder in five days. Dee Willis, 28, from Peckham, died after suffering a single stab wound to the upper body. Cops were called to Bellenden Road, Peckham at 11.10pm yesterday (Tuesday) after reports of someone being attacked in the street. Paramedics were called and the victim was rushed to Kings College Hospital for treatment but she was pronounced dead just after midnight. A murder inquiry has been launched and Bellenden Road remained cordoned off this morning while forensic investigators examine the scene. Detectives are keeping an open mind over the motive. It is the latest in a string of murders across South London.
On Monday night Tunisian national Hamouda Bessad, 34, was stabbed in the chest several times near the L.A.N exchange and internet cafe on Old Kent Road.
On Sunday, firefighters discovered the remains of two men during a flat-fire in Sterling Gardens, New Cross. Cops believe the men were killed before the blaze started.
The day before that, the body of John Howell, 24, was found on the Milford Towers estate, Catford. Eugene Sinclair, 31, of Milford Towers has been charged with his murder.
I've given up reading the South London Press and make sure that The Mercury and Newsshopper go in the recycle bin before anyone else in my family opens them to read tales of bloodshed, misery and fear. Living ordinary, everyday life, though, these events seem quite alien.
ReplyDeleteAren't the Sterling Gardens murders bizarre? It seems too intense to be a robbery gone wrong (the official explanation). Or am I being a paranoid conspiracy theorist?
I usually think that "I can remember when... (...things were better etc) " type of memories are entirely false, but I distinctly remember a couple of occasions a few years back now, friends who were staying, laughed at the dull nature of the South London Press and its heartwarming stories. That has changed hasn't it?
ReplyDelete@bob - I think screening out some of this stuff is an urban survival skill, and yes I hid the fact that the student murders were in New Cross from my daughter, as she was already freaked out by a burglary in our road last week. But I also think we need to acknowledge these horrors, if nothing else out of respect for the victims, rather than just go on about our wonderful metropolitan South East London lifestyles as if nothing had happened.
ReplyDelete@spincat - as someone who trawls through old copies of the South London Press on microfilm I can assure you that there has never been a peaceful golden age in this part of the world (at least since it was populated by humans). I am always struck by the tame stories in local papers out of London ('man cheats at bingo' etc.) - I don't know where your friends were who thought the stories in the SLP weren't gruesome enough - I can only assume they were Hackney Gazette readers! But yes I agree this does seem to be a particularly bad time.
ReplyDeletei dislike golden age beliefs. Was feeling very depressed about the news and I like what you said about acknowledging the horrors - I feel like that. Was wondering what other people thought: is this just a coincidence of horrible events or is something really changing?
ReplyDeleteThe other day I heard someone say on the radio that people didn't litter the streets 30 years ago - "30 years ago" seems to be a bit like "an area the size of Wales" in journalist speak. 30 years ago... the 1970s. I think false comparisons with the past are dangerous.
( .. quite a lot of friends have laughed at SLP - i always get it so people always pick it up at home: one was from Belfast; one was a journalist and they tend to laugh at other papers; one lived in North London; one was my brother when my niece was doing its Pet idol competition.)
"is this just a coincidence of horrible events or is something really changing? "
ReplyDeletethis is the triumph of the individual over society, thatcher's got what she wanted and while the music's still playing everyone will continue dancing