Forum Topic

Brentford stabbing

This awful incident is 'reported' on the front page.It contains minimal information,and worst of all no description of the attacker.How are we supposed to keep ourselves safe if we don;t know the full facts of something like this happening in our midst? It's either poor journalism or a police service that no longer believes in doing all it can to prevent crime,one of it's two main reasons for being.Or am I wrong,could there be another reason?

Keith Iddon ● 22d13 Comments

It is strange that there doesn’t appear to be much impetus from the police to solve this case.Meanwhile I found this story from the BBC website relating to another serious crime in Brentford a couple of years ago. No qualms about using cctv images to try to identify a suspect who was unknown to the police.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66028159.amp

Simon Hayes ● 9d

Where exactly did this stabbing take place.At a shop that was being burgled?Which shop? One selling alcohol?The victim apparently laid injured along the High Street near Half Acre. There appears to be none of those yellow "Incident" boards erected in the Area by the Police seeking information from the public.Something is amiss with the reporting of this stabbing crime.

Jim Lawes ● 9d

Perhaps the reason there are no police on the beat is that they are all hanging out at Jeremy’s house.Funnily enough, whenever I reported on a crime it was never a problem to use cctv to identify an individual in connection with an incident. The presumption is innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The usual reason to trace people is to eliminate them from enquiries.And years before I worked for a firm of criminals defence lawyers and the access to cctv footage was used to establish exactly what happened, so a client might be advised accordingly, such as entering a guilty plea rather than go to trial.And before that I worked for a police force and they certainly used CCTV footage to try to trace suspects, without knowing who they were.I wonder if your policemen might be of the ‘when’s our next tea break’ variety?

Simon Hayes ● 9d

Jeremy,it appears you have access to police officers far more than nearly just about everyone else locally.Can you ask them what is so wrong in expecting a description of a dangerous person who has stabbed someone in our community so that we can all look out for him or her and assist them in their inquiries and do our best to avoid them.

Keith Iddon ● 9d

Simon I appreciate there are lots of circumstances in which police do issue CCTV but, as you'll know from your training, it is something they often hesitate to do because it may make a successful prosecution less likely.I can assure you that I have spoken to officers who say that often images of a suspect are released not to identify the person shown but other of their victims. This is often to pressure them into a guilty plea and reduce the need for witnesses to testify.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 9d

I was being ironic, although those with Rolex watches might be higher up the potential target list for these villains.I wonder how the police are getting on….

Simon Hayes ● 15d

A worry for all of us actually,I don't know what wealth has to do with it.

Keith Iddon ● 15d

Jeremy, the police don’t just release cctv footage because they know who the person might be. If that was the case there would never be any footage released ever. Most serious crime is carried out by individuals already known to the police for one reason or another. They can usually follow a chain of cameras showing the whereabouts of this person of interest before and after the event, which usually helps identify the perpetrator.The purpose of identifying individuals is to follow up and then either eliminate them from enquiries or arrest them. That there has been no description forthcoming in this case indicates that Brentford high street might be a blind spot for cctv. A worry for those wealthy individuals moving into the swanky flats there.

Simon Hayes ● 15d

Jeremy,when something like this happens the first thing the police woukd ask after ascertaining what happened would be whether the victim could describe the assailant and whether they said anything or whether there was anything particularly memorable about them.Ditto any journalist worth their salt.As it stands we have no idea whether the perp was tall,short,fat,thin,blonde,brunette or male female or black,white or otherwise.Te police have had plenty of time to follow this up if the victim was too shaken up and to add anything at the time.To completely ignore what is of profound interest for those of us who live locally is poor imo.We will obviously have to disagree.

Keith Iddon ● 15d

Keith, your confidence in your opinion does seem to be based on anything other than your confidence in your own opinion. It is a lot more difficult to give an accurate and reliable description of someone if you are a victim or even a witness to a crime. Many years ago I was crossing the concourse of Liverpool Street station when two men caught up with another man and started laying into him right in my path. I'm no have-a-go hero but as they were right next to me I put my hand on one of the attackers shoulders, who was now kicking the prone man on the ground, and said that he should stop. He turned around and punched me in the face, fortunately giving me nothing worse than a cut lip. The two attackers ran off into underground.When the police came and asked me to give a description of the two men, who I had been in close proximity with for around 15 seconds, I realised I could give them nothing. Not clothing, not hair colour, not even size or build. It's not that I was in shock, I was a little shaken maybe but not traumatised in anyway. When I confessed this to the officer he told me that this was pretty normal and it was better I was honest rather than trying to guess details as many people feel obliged to do.As for CCTV, it may well exist and if it is of sufficient quality, facial recognition technology would be the best way of identifying the attacker. However, as a journalist Simon, you will know that releasing CCTV can be a double-edged sword. A criminal's barrister will claim that their client was arrested only because he bore a resemblance to the image  or that the release was prejudicial. A police officer told me that in most cases for less serious crimes where they release an image it is because they already know who the person is but are looking for people to come forward to report other offences by the same crim.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 16d

Must be some CCTV footage of the area at the time and images of the suspect. Or is Brentford a camera free zone?

Simon Hayes ● 16d

If it is the case that the victim was too shaken up at the time to recall details,which I doubt,let the police tell us exactly that.It seems that but omitting any information about the perp. that they haven't ascertained much worthy of being passed on to local residents who are entitled to feel wary about going out at night with this perp. on the loose.They have had plenty of time since the incident to follow up with the victim and gain more information.

Keith Iddon ● 16d

You are wrong. Our local police officers are very committed to reducing crime and the people reporting on it for us do a good job.Other crime reports will contain more detail but you need to remember that victims are often in shock and can have trouble recalling details of their attacker. In such circumstances, it is much better to leave the description vague otherwise a good barrister will use any inconsistencies to create doubt in the mind of a jury.

Jeremy Parkinson ● 16d