Carl Beatson Asiedu murder trial under way

On 1st August 2009, Carl Beaton Asiedu and Peter Lama were stabbed in Goding Street, Vauxhall outside the night club, Life, after their group, Kid n' Play had performed at the venue.  Peter Lama recovered from his stab wounds, but tragically Carl Asiedu did not.  I reported the incident several years ago here and here and mentioned back in March 2010 that an Independent journalist had gone behind the scenes to examine the way police work on murder cases.  I also noted that one man accused of stabbing Carl had fled to Nigeria.  This week, nearly two years later, two men are appearing in court, one charged with Carl Beaton Asiedu's murder and the other with Peter Lama's stabbing.  I've been receiving a number of blog queries about the progress of the case. 

Junior Ademujimi-Falade, 20, is accused of the murder of Carl and has been on trial at the Old Bailey this week.  He denies murder.  Unfortunately, a second man accused of murder, Jeffery Okafor, fled to Nigeria using his brother's name and passport and has effectively disappeared.  Back in July 2010, various members of Jeffery's family were accused of aiding his escape... more info from the Croydon Guardian on the matter.

Abu Mansaray, 20, is accused of stabbing Peter Lama and has also been on trial at the Old Bailey this week.  He has denied stabbing Mr Lama.

See the BBC article on the stabbing too.

Lansdowne Way Stabbing (July 2010)

I've just spotted a BBC Tweet which suggests there's been a stabbing on Lansdowne Way, Kennington.  Geographically, Lansdowne Way should be classified as Stockwell (or the boundaries of Oval) since it's a bit further south in Lambeth.  The 18 year old male in question has life threatening injuries.  There's a BBC Press Release here.

This has got to stop.  I really really hope that the man in question recovers.

I assume Stockwell News will report further as news becomes available.  Sadly, it appears that there was a stabbing just last year (June 2009) in Lansdowne Way June too.

North London vs South London knife crime. Not all young people in South London are bad Boris.

I was just leaving work yesterday when the Tweets started to come in thick and fast.  Boris was in Vauxhall with a tonne of policefolk.  Of course, I assumed that they were just publicly clamping down on fare-dodging on the the 436 (known as the "free bus"), or maybe doing their border control thing, stopping the South Londoners going North.  But actually, Boris was busy worrying about half-term and the wild youth of Lambeth.

Perhaps I'm wrong in my assertion that Boris has no love for South London.  After all, he wouldn't visit if he didn't consider us once in a while.  One might assume that he'd need to visit Vauxhall to think about, you know, town centre planning, or a regeneration consultation or to look at the tall buildings he opposes and talk about sensible architectural policy and social housing.  Wrong.  Boris just visits dirty, bad, scary South London to test out his new knife arches.   These are knife arches that  have not been proven to reduce deaths through knife crime, or indeed been shown to improve community/youth relations.  Indeed, if you were a part of the majority of young people (the ones that don't carry knives and work/study hard), would you feel like a welcome member of society, when you were forced by police to walk through a knife arch?  Something tells me that many youths are not going to be as happy about it as the pretty-boy model used for the illustration.  And why should they be?

In the same way that Mr Onionbag protested when his patch in Oval was used to film the Bill, on the basis  that we already have a high police presence, I wish to question why Vauxhall was chosen for the BoJo knife arch demonstration.  Does the Vauxhall area need further adverse publicity?  I decided to conduct a little analysis on the 2006 and 2007 figures for knife crime, to try to determine whether it's worse in South London than in North, to see whether we really needed swarms of police testing knife arches in Vauxhall today.  The results are quite surprising.

Knife crime incidents that resulted in death (2006)
North London - (18 boroughs with some incident) and 49 total deaths = 2.72 deaths per borough.
South London - (10 boroughs with some incident) and 27 total deaths = 2.7 deaths per borough

Knife crime incidents that resulted in death (2007)
North London - (16 boroughs with some incident) and 46 total deaths = 2.875 deaths per borough
South London - (09 boroughs with some incident) and 26 total deaths = 2.89 deaths per borough

These figures are so close and seem to demonstrate that the knife crime deaths are very evenly balanced across the capital year-on-year.  If you were to add into the mix the number of boroughs where no knife crime took place (which I've not done), I believe that South London would show a lower ratio of knife crime deaths than North London in both years, but only by a small amount.

Consequently, I went back to the number crunching and analysed the figures for the number of people suffering serious injury as a result of being stabbed, in the hope that I'd yield a significant difference between North and South London.   These are slightly better figures since all boroughs had at least one incident each year, so all boroughs are taken into account in these results.

Incidents that resulted in serious injury due to stabbing (2006)
North London - (19 total boroughs) and 233 injuries = 12.2 injuries per borough.
South London - (13 total boroughs) and 151 injuries = 11.61 injuries per borough.

Incidents that resulted in serious injury due to stabbing (2007)
North London - (19 total boroughs) and 215 injuries = 11.21 injuries per borough.
South London - (13 total boroughs) and 139 injuries = 10.69 injuries per borough

These figures clearly show that South London is somewhat safer to lurk about in, although the southern most boroughs in South London do take up some of the slack, with Richmond etc. being extra-safe.

It seems that all of the figures are still too high.  One death is one too many.  But I'm not convinced about the effectiveness of knife arches for resolving what are essentially deep-rooted social issues concerning schooling, parenting and policing.  Personally, I think the 100 London table-tennis tables idea, gimmicky though it is, will do more to encourage neighbours to talk to one another than knife arches.  Once upon a time, Londoners used to say that careless talk might cost lives.  Today, perhaps it is a failure to talk that costs lives.

In the meantime, next time you want to do a knife arch demonstration, would it be ok to do it north of the River, where there is proportionately more knife crime across the boroughs, please Boris?

Carl Beatson Asiedu - Goding Street murder

I didn't update the entry on the Goding Street murder in Vauxhall on 1st August since London-SE1 covered the story far more comprehensively than I would due to the fact that the car transporting the victim to hospital was stopped in Baylis Road by police on the way.

However, the murdered man was named as rapper Carl Beatson Asiedu and whilst several arrests have been made, the police are still appealing for more information. A special email address has been set up for enquiries. It is: carlsappeal@met.police.uk and metropolitan police would like anybody that isn't comfortable calling them to consider emailing them information about the stabbing. If you do have more details about what happened, you can always set up a free anonymous Hotmail or Gmail account and email police without them knowing your details.

Somebody must know something, and it's incredibly frustrating that so many cases don't appear to be satisfactorily resolved. There are a fair few people up and around in Vauxhall at 5am, given the vibrant scene in the area. Somebody must have been near or outside Life and noticed something at that time in the morning.

I still wonder whether justice might be done for Ashley Kemete's relatives, (he was shot in Kennington late last year). I remember a few people were arrested and bailed, but have heard nothing since.

Another stabbing: Tooley Street

There's been another stabbing at Tooley Street in SE1. This is of two men, one in his thirties and one in his teens, but fortunately, it is thought that neither of their lives are at risk. London-SE1 reports the rest.

Good grief. I thought that this was the season for goodwill and cheer.

Is Kennington / this area safe?

I cannot quite recall how many times I've been asked "is Kennington safe?" or "is this area safe?" or received looks of incredulity for owning up to the fact that I choose to live in SE11, but I can safely say that if I had £1 for every time I was asked, I think I'd be able to live quite happily on the proceeds.

The problem is that I don't have a good answer to the question. I've hosted numerous international students over the years, and I have several answers to this question:

1. None of London is safe in the sense that it's a large city with dark corners containing a huge number of strangers.

2. London might be safer in certain parts than some cities because of the fact that some parts are very busy.

3. The areas that I feel safe in are actually areas that have less money. Whilst Kensington or Chelsea might "feel" safer, I'm inclined to think that the risk of being mugged is higher because one actually stands a chance of finding somebody with some money on them in those areas! However, there are also locations within certain areas that I perceive to have deep pockets of poverty, and which I would consequently feel vulnerable walking at night.


This is the advice that I give to international students for living/traveling in London:

1. If you do not know the city well (particularly if you are a woman), try to travel as much as possible with somebody else until you know the area better. If you get lost, ask an older woman for help with directions.

2. Once you know an area, walk confidently and determinedly at a steady pace to wherever you're going. Do not catch peoples' eyes or stare at people, but also do not look as though you're afraid. You have as much right to be out as anybody else to be out and about during the day or night.

3. Traveling through well-lit and well-populated areas is much safer than traveling through dark side streets. I know it may be noisier, but choose to live on a main road in a property with double glazing, rather than opting for a quiet cul-de-sac in which the lighting is poor, and where people will not pass regularly.

4. Do not carry your camera/wallet/purse on display or get them out more than necessary. Keep valuables in a bag which has a zip. My top tip is to keep your oyster card separate from your wallet so that each time you go on public transport, you don't have to get your money out!

In answer to the question, "is Kennington safe?", I can only point to the Metropolitan Crime Maps here: and ask you to start burrowing into Lambeth at ward or sub ward level. Unfortunately, the maps don't appear to have been updated since October 2008, but it does give some idea of crime in the area. Most of Kennington appears to have average levels of crime for London. If you want to be really safe, you could move to Wimbledon, Richmond or Twickenham, but you'll then live in the suburbs. I'd much rather walk home alone from Kennington tube than have to catch a late night overground train back to Twickenham.

Oh, and I don't think the shooting/knifing headlines are useful to judge how safe an area is because knife crime/gun crime does appear to be particularly targeted upon those involved in drugs/turf wars.

Peckham Boys Gang - arrests

This is London have just published an article publicising the fact that there have been arrests of suspected members of the Peckham Boys gang.

Some of the arrests have been made in the SE11 area in Kennington. Others are furthur afield. The arrests are mostly for crimes such as violent robberies on pubs and bookmakers using knives and other implements.

I often wonder what happens if one is suspected of this sort of very serious crime, but actually has not done anything. Who pays to have the reinforced door that the police have smashed down in Kennington replaced? How does your reputation (or your family's reputation) survive?

Anyhow, they've arrested seven men. I'll update furthur as I hear more.

March against knife crime from Kennington

Photos taken in Hyde Park:





I didn't manage to take any photos of the Peace March against knife crime in Kennington Park because it was quite a lot smaller than I expected (only about 1000 people left from Kennington Park) and consequently departed on time! I only reached SE11 at about 11.30, when it was so quiet that I wondered whether they'd cancelled it!

As a result, I decided to go and take some photos of it in Hyde Park as I wanted to support the effort. Something a little odd has happened with the camera exposure so the sky appears pink. It wasn't pink, it was actually a very bright day at about 16:00.

I went to the rally, not because I thought it would prevent furthur knife crime, but because I wanted to demonstrate solidarity as a Londoner with the families of knife crime victims, and also to show that I'd like to be part of any discussion about a solution. I was hoping that I'd hear some sensible ideas about how society might come together and work at strategies for preventing crime (strengthening families, working with schools etc.). Unfortunately, I found quite a lot of the rally's rhetoric to be about "bringing back National Service". It simply doesn't make sense to me to say that "knife crime is wrong" and yet to be seen to be legitimising war through the promotion of National Service. Also, I disliked the way that Gordon Brown, who made an eloquent pre-recorded speech against knife was pretty much "booed" by the crowd. It's not so much the booing I objected to, but the failure to listen to what he was actually saying before booing him! There was a coherent message against knife crime, but I didn't feel that there was any coherent ideas about how the whole community should pull together to stop it!

Peace March leaving from Kennington Park, SE11

According to an article in Southwark news, there is to be a peace march against knife crime, organised (in part) by The Damilola Taylor Trust later this month. The march is to be called "The Peoples' March", which is a fitting tribute to Kennington Park's history of organised revolution and ferment.

The report also notes that two individuals, Sharon Singh and Gemma Allway organised support for the march through Facebook. I think it's fantastic when networking technology allows for friends to organise strangers to march together for peace. I googled the two of them and found that The Mirror has a photo of them alongside their description of themselves as "two ordinary Londoners who can't bear to see any more dead children on the news".

The march will congregate in Kennington Park on 20th September at 10am, depart at 11am and will culminate with a rally in Hyde Park at 2pm. It is specifically organised as a peace march, and not a protest march.

I will go. I might even make a "Lurking about SE11 for peace" banner, but I'm only little and it's a lot to get on one banner!!

Lambeth Council does something

There is a piece in the Guardian today (topped off with a lovely picture of lots of knives) that suggest Lambeth Council are launching an initiative. I realise that this, in itself, might be shocking to some people. However, having been a resident of an north London council who will not be mentioned, I will at least defend Lambeth on the matter of recycling. Apparently, since I last lived in Lambeth (2006), they've even brought in tetrapack recycling. *squee* How exciting! But since I'm nearly as much a recycling geek as I am a public transport geek, I shall save all of the posts about recycling goodness, and the possibility/likelihood of obtaining orange bags etc. until the move has taken place.

What's interesting from the three wheeled pleb's point of view is that Lambeth Council's initiative is about knife crime, which has some bearing on the SE11 area.

I have grave doubts that any council initiative can "solve" knife crime. I suspect that public money being spent in a certain manner might well go to solve the issue, but it's likely (although not guaranteed) that the money will be put to short term fixes rather than long term solutions. It seems to me obvious that the key to tackling crime is to tackle poverty. Whilst it is not clear that it is only those who live in poverty who commit crime, it seems that there is significant correlation. I was persuaded some years ago that one solution to the poverty/crime dynamic is to spend significantly on early years projects. If one engages with women on a single income at the stage when they are first pregnant, and teaches them about healthy eating / alcohol/drug consumption risk during pregnancy, then their child is significantly less likely (due to early intervention from development agencies) to engage in a life of crime. It must be stressed that such early intervention means that they and their children are given access to services and education that mean they're not left to fend for themselves. It's been quite a while sine I've looked at any of this, but Google for the "Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development" for a source about these ideas.

So... how long is the initiative?

The Guardian says:

the five-year strategy is the first "long-term comprehensive" initiative of its kind to be set up in England

It depends what they do over the five years as to how effective it is. I'm not convinced that a 5 year strategy is long enough to tackle the causes of crime. There's too much risk that fundign can be obtained for helpful services which will then fold in 5 years time.

So... where are Lambeth Council spending their money?

The Guardian says:

a series of initiatives that include increased investment in youth services run by and for local people, a specialist outreach team for hard-to-reach youngsters, parenting classes, and a network of police officers in primary schools.

I like the sound of the parenting classes, but I'd prefer it to say "ante-natal classes" since I think that the earlier the intervention, the better. I'm also a massive fan of Camilla Batmanghelidj's charity, Kids Company. It's a self-referring charity for children in South east London, and I believe they do some great work, offering mentoring, skills, and a safe place to hang about. I hope that they'll be on the receiving end of some of the cash (rather than somebody wasting money setting up new Lambeth bodies) to do the same thing. I'm a bit sceptical about the police officers in primary schools, but we'll see. I believe I also once read a BBC article on some research which suggests that teenagers who attend /unstructured/ youth clubs are more exposed to becoming involved with criminal activities. So let's hope that we have fewer youth clubs with very structured activities, rather than more youth clubs that effectively offer little more than a pool table.

Also, I figure that since most of Lambeth's initiative will have occurred too late to offer hope to those people in the 16-19 bracket, we won't have seen the end of the knife crime / stabbings for a while yet. So... The Lambeth Council initiative (if effective) will not really kick in for another 5 years (at least) especially if targeted at younger children, and things could get worse in the meantime. That means (and here I'm being rather pessimistic) that just as the initiative starts working, the public won't have seen the effects, and the whole initiative will be pulled just as it has begun to work (if it does) on the grounds that the public will claim that knife crime has risen, and that the scheme is a waste of public money.

I hope they prove me wrong.

My strategy (and personal goals):

1. Know your nearest neighbours (at least 2 households) well enough to offer them a cup of tea.
2. Know 15 people in your postcode (preferably outside if you're on a boundary) that are also on good enough terms with their nearest neighbours to be able to offer them a cup of tea.
3. Become involved in one youth initiative in your area (youth club, Guides, Scouts, parenting classes, Sunday school, mosque group, school reading scheme).

I figure that if everybody followed all three steps that we could virtually prevent all knife crime in the Borough of Lambeth... Even if we only followed the top 2 steps, we'd have created such a web of people that a great many social ills coudl be solved.

Maybe I should start a "have a cup of tea" campaign. The drawback? I don't drink tea :)

SW8 - Guildford Road death - furthur information

Furthur to the post made last night, it now appears that furthur information (from amongst other sources) ThisisLondon and Wimbledon Guardian has been released on the 18 year old male, stabbed in Guildford Street last night.

The man's name was Frederick Moody (and he was known as Freddy). He had studied for a short time at Kingston University, and was due to start work as an apprentice in the Construction Industry.

There are various "eye-witness" and "the neighbour said" results floating around the web, but I figure it will all be in the papers soon enough...

My prayers and thoughts are with the friends and family of Freddy, and with the friends and family of the 16 year old currently in custody. This sort of crime can only be described as scandalous in our society. It is a scandal that such a young life should be held in such low regard that it might be taken in this way. It is also a scandal that somebody did not become involved in the life of perpetrator(s) a little earlier in order to prevent them considering knives an option.

I want people to talk about the courage that young people require, not so much to kill, but to refuse to kill. It takes courage to live, to study, to get a job, especially in some areas of South London. It's a responsibility placed squarely on the shoulders of the entirety of London to ensure that all young people have the opportunity to grow in communities of virtue that promote the courage to protect, and not the courage to kill.

Edit: An online memorial site has been put up for tributes to Freddy Moody.

SW8 - Guildford Road stabbing

The BBC reported about an hour ago, and the Guardian a little bit later that a man (probably in late teens) was fatally stabbed in Guildford Road (SW8) at around 19:00 this evening. The reports say South West London, but most readers will be aware that that's only down the road in the area that falls between Vauxhall and Stockwell.

The Guardian report also notes that it will be the 21st teenage stabbing if the guy turns out to be under eighteen.

Another one. One too many. Somebody's somebody.

We can talk about knife crime as much as we like, but it doesn't seem to solve anything. Peace isn't easy to come by.

I have a friend who lives in Guildford Road. I hope she's ok.

How "buying agents" clearly have no idea who has the best parties...

One of the interesting things about the Kennington News blog is that the author of it clearly uses some sort of online news gathering software which just picks out the word "Kennington", whatever the article might be about. This is useful in that the blog includes everything from articles vaguely relating to Kennington (it just so happens that the last block of "blue" aeroplane toilet ice landed through the roof of a couple in Kennington) to those that are highly relevant (advertisements of church fetes, local plays etc.). It also means that any bias against negative news is entirely bypassed as everything that hits the word is covered.

This article on How buying agents found my dream home in London caught my eye today. I am, in one sense rather glad that Kennington - SE11 - will not become occupied in the immediate future by those who do not want to live in a mixed society - rich, middle-income and poor; black, brown and white; Buddhist, Muslim and Christian; gay, bi and straight, all next door to one another. In another sense, I am, quite frankly shocked that somebody would consider the threat of being mugged (on the word of one person) as a reason not to move to the area! As an aside, it is probably the fact that I have spent so much time trudging around all of the back streets around here that I refuse to be afraid (or maybe I really am just foolish) of moving to SE11. I mean who, in their right mind, goes to a local police station and asks how safe an area is? Most police stations only see the worst of an area. I always remember with admiration a friend of mine who said, "everyone told me not to send my children to that school because they would learn nothing, but nobody seemed to think of the fact that the other children at the school might benefit from having my children there".

I think Kennington is a particularly fascinating area because it is one of those places that it is impossible to gentrify. Whilst there will always exist large Georgian and Victorian properties worth millions, those houses and flats will always (I hope) sit alongside 1920s and post-WW2 local authority housing. Long may this coninue, because I think that such social mixing is vital for any area. I do not think that this country is one in which the poor will be less poor, anytime soon (whilst many people say that they want this, it's not clear to me that many people have enacted a viable corporate politic that might make it concrete). But neither do I consider that those who are wealthy should be allowed to cocoon themselves off in boring little safehavens where they might never be accosted by somebody that smells bad. Why is it assumed that people should want (if they are rich) or should be forced (if they are poor) to live in places where everybody else there is like them?

Anyhow, there's no doubt that Regent's Canal beats the SE11 gas cylinders... But perhaps it's me, or maybe not; I think that Kennington, Oval, Vauxhall, Stockwell, Elephant, Brixton and their surrounds still possess something that pulls the kind of people who choose (or are forced) to stick two fingers up in the face of the risk of "crime" and say, "to hell with north London, where is everybody else?"