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How crime is exploding in [UK] capital: Carjacking, drug wars, guns and mobile phone thefts
The Independent (UK) ^ | 11 February 2002 | Ian Birrell

Posted on 02/10/2002 4:27:15 PM PST by aculeus

Tim Robinson, an estate agent aged 25, was stabbed through the heart in front of his girlfriend, Jemma Joyce, 26, outside their home in Battersea, south-west London, on 27 January. He had apparently stopped to help two men who had asked for directions. The killers fled on foot after the attack, leaving the vehicle behind. Four men aged between 17 and 20 have been arrested and released on police bail.

* There were an estimated 1,200 carjackings in the capital last year, some involving high-performance cars. Eighty per cent of the vehicles were later recovered.

* The Metropolitan Police has estimated that there are five or six teams of thieves operating in the capital concentrating on carjacking.

DRUG WARS

A Yardie gangster fired a stream of bullets from an Uzi sub-machine-gun into a Ford Mondeo during a car chase in south-west London last Friday. The Mondeo was riddled with holes during the chase but the driver escaped to Battersea police station. His passenger was found dead in his seat.

* The number of black-on-black killings has continued to rise. In 2001 there were 21 murders and 94 attempted murders. Last month alone, there were three murders and 21 attempted murders.

* Black-on-black killings, usually linked to drugs, respect or territory, make up a substantial share of the total number of murders in the capital which, in 2000-2001, stood at 171.

GUN CRIME

Two men were shot dead and a third stabbed when two gunmen burst into the Good Companions pub in south Croydon on Saturday evening as families were eating. One man was shot in the head at point-blank range, another was shot in the chest, and a third, who survived, was shot in the arm and stabbed. The shootings happened after a fight between two groups of men at the nearby White Lion pub in Warlingham.

* In 2001, there were 3,986 reports of guns being used during crimes in the capital. They included 27 murders and 108 cases of grievous bodily harm.

* Police accept that gun crime has increased sharply although Scotland Yard does not have year-on-year figures.

MOBILE PHONE THEFT

Dean Healey, 23, was jailed for four years last month for attacking a teenager and stealing his mobile phone. Healey and an accomplice approached Lee Staples, above, in Streatham High Road, south London, before punching him in the face and kicking him. He was jailed after Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, said robustsentences were needed to curb the alarming rise in mobile phone theft.

* Last year there were more than 45,000 street crimes in London, of which about half involved mobile phone theft. Nationally, more than 700,000 mobiles were stolen last year.

* A Home Office report said most of the suspected phone thieves were black, including 71 per cent of youths accused of the crime in London.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
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Even the left-wing British press is getting nervous.
1 posted on 02/10/2002 4:27:16 PM PST by aculeus
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To: aculeus
Call Dempsey and Makepeace!
2 posted on 02/10/2002 4:29:09 PM PST by real saxophonist
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To: aculeus
But, wait, how can there be crime in Britain? They have gun control, don't they?

< /sarcasm >

3 posted on 02/10/2002 4:30:39 PM PST by Thane_Banquo
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To: aculeus
But how could this be < / sarcasm > they banned all guns from their people.
4 posted on 02/10/2002 4:30:55 PM PST by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
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To: aculeus
It appears gun control and liberalism is working!

Good luck guys.
5 posted on 02/10/2002 4:32:10 PM PST by lizma
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To: real saxophonist
I'm sure this is because of "Bush's War on Terrorism." /sarcasm
6 posted on 02/10/2002 4:32:25 PM PST by In mourning for six years
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To: aculeus
And every criminal knows there is no chance of his being shot, by the coppers or victims.
7 posted on 02/10/2002 4:33:29 PM PST by PackerBoy
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To: aculeus
*AHEM*...where was my ping!!!! *L*

So they are killing each other in the UK?......oh, I'm devastated </sarcasm off>

8 posted on 02/10/2002 4:34:49 PM PST by Happygal
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To: aculeus
I keep reading about mobile phone theft in England. I don't have a cell phone, but can't you just call the service company and get a stolen phone inactivated? Are thieves stealing them just so they can make calls until the deactivation? Do cell phone companies keep records of numbers called (which would allow tracking back to the thief)? Or are they just selling the phones themselves, the hardware?
9 posted on 02/10/2002 4:35:47 PM PST by Stirner
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To: aculeus
I thought that this sort of thing only happened in 'big, bad America'.

Wasn't there a time when the world looked askance at this country and our wanton, criminal ways? Weren't we the brash, young country who couldn't control our citizens?

10 posted on 02/10/2002 4:54:58 PM PST by Exit148
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Comment #11 Removed by Moderator

To: aculeus
Wait for Daschle, Gephardt, Hillary Clinton, and Kennedy to blame this on the American "eeevil Right-Wing-Conservatives," led by the Bush administration.
12 posted on 02/10/2002 5:05:16 PM PST by Cobra64
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To: aculeus
What kind of punishment do they receive?
13 posted on 02/10/2002 5:06:29 PM PST by rebdov
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To: aculeus
* Police accept that gun crime has increased sharply although Scotland Yard does not have year-on-year figures.

Mmm-hmm.....tossed down the ol' Memory Hole no doubt. Wait till Tony Blair runs for re-election. The figures will magically reappear and they will show a massive REDUCTION in violent crimes.

14 posted on 02/10/2002 5:23:05 PM PST by Texas Eagle
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To: aculeus
The killers fled on foot after the attack, leaving the vehicle behind. Four men aged between 17 and 20 have been arrested and released on police bail.

Gun control isn't the only problem. They gave bail to killers. Gee, I'm sure that they're no risk to rob, stab and kill another random victim. /sarcasm>

15 posted on 02/10/2002 5:23:39 PM PST by LenS
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To: aculeus
Hey, what's goin on? They banned guns didn't they? How can there be Uzi shoot-outs on the streets of London, they're illegal, aren't they?
16 posted on 02/10/2002 5:37:28 PM PST by Kermit
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To: aculeus
What would X42 do Tony? Make a good speech sans the finger wagging? No. Cry like he did at Ron Brown's funeral? Wrong again. Take a comprehensive poll? Getting closer. Blame it on the society - pop culture. No one knows what that is....good show.

Now we need to find a way not to single out the , Ahem, voters who actually did the crime. We could blame drugs and guns. Tony, we don't have guns. Who can we blame? Wait....movies have a lot of guns in them. Movies made in America. Yea, thats it. Its not our fault we not just ban guns but movies w, it not our fault.

I can see it now. Applying ratings to movies that are violent. It worked in America. The crime went down since then.

Simply the dividends of mutlicuturalism after the empire I'm afraid.

17 posted on 02/10/2002 5:41:57 PM PST by keving
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To: aculeus
Interesting that they call them blacks and not African-British.
18 posted on 02/10/2002 5:43:59 PM PST by 2right
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To: aculeus
Just another beautiful day in that multi-cultural, socialist, sheep farm called england
19 posted on 02/10/2002 5:51:56 PM PST by watcher1
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To: rebdov
What kind of punishment do they receive?

They have to drink their tea without crumpets.

20 posted on 02/10/2002 6:01:06 PM PST by Texas Eagle
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