London, being a big city, has always had crime and violence. It’s always had gangsters of one form or another and the crimes like running protection rackets that characterise them. London has always had armed robbers ranging from those who carried out organised ‘over the pavement’ jobs to low level scroats robbing people on public transport. However the epidemic of violent and murderous street crime is a relatively new phenomenon.
In my lifetime and in my experience of London there’s always been the occasional violent headcase but under Sadiq Khan, the Greater London Mayor who is also the Police and Crime Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police, violent street crime has got worse. Parents cannot let their children out of the house without fear that they might not come back and might end up being stabbed or shot, too often by assailants who are other children and young people of the same or similar age to their victims.
It’s notable that since Sadiq Khan came into office in 2016, violent crime has exploded. Crimes like stabbings which were, when I was growing up,’event’ crimes because they were so rare, are now all too commonplace. Although Sadiq Khan likes to eschew blame for the rise in violent crime, his administration is responsible for policies that have made the Met Police’s job harder when it comes to tackling street crime. The diversion of officers into non-essential tasks in police entities that are in reality little more than political public relations units and a Mayoral policy that was hostile to stop and search are to name but two factors in the increase in street crime in London.
Although Khan has rolled back to a certain extent on stop and search, the damage has already been done. Even though there is now an increased chance of a wrong ‘un being stopped and searched, the reduction in stop and search during the early part of Khan’s misrule, helped the criminal element to grow. Even though more stop and search may now be going on the criminals know that the chances of being stopped and searched by officers from a Metropolitan Police force that is overstretched, mired in the political correctness beloved of both Khan and the current Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, is pretty small. Lots of people in London now carry knives and quite a few of that number are prepared to use them either on their criminal peers or as this recent tragic case shows, on innocent members of the public.
On Monday the 9th August, in Chingford Mount, an area that was once an place that people in more poorer environs aspired to be able to live in, if they worked hard enough and smart enough to do so, the violent street crime that has mushroomed under Sadiq Khan took the life of a family man whose only ‘crime’ was to try to stop his daughter being harassed by thugs.
According to a report on the My London site, Jamie Markham, 45, came down from his flat to try to rescue his daughter who was being harassed by a group of boys. The boys then stabbed Mr Markham to death.
My London said:
The victim of Monday night’s stabbing in Chingford was defending his daughter from a group of boys harassing her, neighbours have told My London.
The victim has been named by neighbours as father of three and “kind, family man”, Jamie Markham, 45.
Reports from neighbours suggest that on August 9 Jamie came out of his flat to defend his daughter from the group and was set upon and stabbed by one of the boys.
His wife was reportedly heard screaming when she found Jamie outside fatally wounded.
Despite the efforts of the London Ambulance Service Jamie was pronounced dead at the scene in Chingford Mount which has now been cordoned off by police with a murder investigation opened.
Although the Metropolitan Police have opened a murder investigation but as yet there have been no arrests or charges. Granted that this investigation is at an early stage but it appears to be relying mostly on CCTV footage that might not be sufficient, especially if the assailants cannot be identified from CCTV images. The police do not seem to have a lot to go on with this case although it’s quite possible that witnesses might come forward as the investigation proceeds. Because this murder was committed by random ‘boys’ who might not be readily identifiable, London’s already overstretched and badly managed police are likely going to face an uphill struggle to solve this murder. It is also one of dozens of other murders that the Met are currently having to investigate.
London’s policing should have been much more focused on tackling the violent crime that most frightens and afflicts Londoners. Instead, under Khan, police resources have been diverted into units dealing with relative nothingburgers such as ‘hate speech’ and because of Khan’s policies, along with the acquiescence to them by the Commissioner, Londoners are no longer safe from violent crime.
An innocent family man has been ripped from his loved ones by scum whilst the police for whom Khan is the ultimate managerial authority, are hampered by policies that act against the idea of effective and consensual policing . London is policed by officers who have been encouraged by both their political and operational management to kneel before the Marxist / BLM idol whilst London’s streets become a warzone where violent thuggery rules.
It’s my belief that London’s policing is in a far worse state than it was in the mid 1960’s when corruption, including corruption alleged to have its roots in gangsterism, was commonplace. Now however the corruption is much more widespread and all pervasive because today’s corruption is political rather than financial. It’s bad enough for officers to take bribes from criminals but I suspect that we have a situation in London where officers are reluctant to police effectively because of political pressures from above.
Sadly Londoners have to a certain extent themselves to blame for Khan’s re-election as Mayor and Khan’s continued failure to tackle crime. He could have been beaten by the Conservative candidate had it not been for the fact that only 42.1% of potential voters had bothered to turn out to vote. If more people had got off of their arses and voted against him and voted for the most credible alternative candidate, which in this case was the Tory one, then Khan’s period of misrule would have been but a nasty memory not an ongoing nightmare.
Crime is making London un-liveable for all too many Londoners and unless something changes, I can only see this situation getting worse. This latest tragic death might have been preventable had London been policed more effectively than it has been since 2016.
