London riots 2011

Charlton’s night of looting: Confessions of a curtain-twitcher

Matt6 Comments

Living on Woolwich Road has its ups and downs. The constant traffic is unfortunate, but there are many positives. One positive is being able to see the realities of human life through the partially drawn curtains of my home. On Monday night this took a turn to the more extreme.

After watching disturbances in Lewisham on rolling news since I arrived home from work it was hard to rule out something happening in the retail parks opposite my house. I had popped out to Asda at 8.30 just as the sun was going down. Despite increasing numbers of police cars rushing along Woolwich Road it actually seemed fairly normal. I asked the Asda security guards whether they were about to close. They replied: “We’re staying open – for now.”

Back home it wasn’t long till the violence erupting in Woolwich was confirmed. Tied with footage on the news of the fire in Croydon, things definitely went from serious to disastrous. It reached 10 o’clock and I was still transfixed to the television when a friend alerted me to the looting commencing over the road. There it began.

I looked through the blinds and sure enough five men were pulling up scarves over their faces outside my very house. My eyes followed them towards the alleyway at the foot of Victoria Way where there was already people filing in and out of the retail park. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Before long I started to see people coming the other way: Women with new clothes still on the hangers, men struggling with large boxes, teenagers fingering freshly looted trainers.

At the same time false rumours were being spread that Asda was now on fire. I looked into the sky and couldn’t see smoke. My girlfriend wouldn’t let me leave the house so I rushed into the garden to see if I could smell smoke. If Asda was on fire, then we would have certainly been evacuated.

I was in a state of shock at this point, I could hear shop sirens wailing in the distance. We had been on hold to the police for fifteen minutes before we spoke to someone. They kept on repeating the same question, “Is anything on fire?”. I had to be sure, my view of Asda from my house is restricted at best. Could I smell smoke? I couldn’t see anything in the sky, online reports of fire were severely outnumbering those saying there wasn’t any. “No”, I replied, three times over.

I really didn’t know what to do with myself, the next two hours were spent flitting from one room to the next. I peered through the upstairs curtains, cowered behind the downstairs curtains. I watched BBC News in the living room, Sky News in the bedroom. I would comfort concerned housemates, probably only making them worse.

I would rush out to the garden to smell the air, unravelling the hose pipe at the same time. I literally tripped over myself at numerous points, frantically trying to be everywhere at once. I managed to find a brass candlestick that I stared at in disbelief in the thought I might have to use it. There was a steady stream of looters by this point, some carrying weapons. Looters gushing out of the alleyway onto the road, sometimes causing traffic to swerve.

Hooded thieves were disappearing into the darkness of Wickes’ car park, jubilantly thrusting their arms into the air as they jumped over the two foot wall. Cars were parking in numerous laybys with masked men appearing from them. Police cars rushed towards us from Greenwich, only to fly straight past to the more serious riots in Woolwich.

At around 2am I tried to sleep. The looting had calmed down slightly. I was still uneasy about the threat of fire. Distant shop sirens were still haunting me, I had placed my candlestick beside my bed. It goes without saying that I couldn’t sleep. However, I was relieved to here the rotors of a helicopter over our house. A police helicopter, training its light over the retail park. They had arrived, they were here in force, it was going to be okay, after four hours of waiting.

The noise was deafening and it sounded like it was outside my bedroom window at points, but it was far better than shop sirens. After what seemed like ages I managed to drift off and get a few hours sleep before work.

Throughout the whole experience and the day after the incident thoughts revolved around my brain. Many entered my mind, but overriding them all was my disbelief that there are so many unlawful people in the world. I had no idea that amount of people would be willing to break the law in what was a night of opportunistic madness.

Charlton looting: Businessman’s daughter in court

Darryl Chamberlain2 Comments

From Telegraph.co.uk:

Laura Johnson appears as far removed as is possible from the lawless “underclass” said to have been blighting Britain’s streets.

The 19–year–old is a high–flying pupil who attended St Olave’s Grammar School – the fourth best performing state school in the country.

She is now reading English and Italian at the University of Exeter.

However, Miss Johnson now stands accused, along with two others, in connection with the alleged theft of £5,000 of goods from the Stonelake Retail Park in Charlton, south London.

The goods were allegedly found in a car being driven by Miss Johnson.

It was claimed that they were stolen from a Comet store [sic]. Miss Johnson appeared before Bexleyheath magistrates’ court where she indicated a plea of not guilty to five counts of burglary.

Her parents, Robert and Lindsay Johnson, live in a large detached farmhouse in Orpington in Kent. They bought the house, which has extensive grounds and a tennis court, in 2006.

Before moving there they sold their previous house, 10 miles away near Greenwich, for £930,000.

Mr Johnson is a successful businessman, with directorships in several companies. The couple run Avongate, a direct marketing company. Mr Johnson was also a director in a company that took over the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport newspapers in 2007.

Miss Johnson was granted bail on condition that she does not associate with her co–accused, wears an electronic tag, submits to a curfew between 7pm and 6am and does not enter any London postcode. Both her parents were in court to offer her their support.

She is due to return to the court on Sept 21 when her case is expected to be committed to the Inner London Crown Court.

More on Telegraph.co.uk.

Charlton deals with the day after the looting

Darryl Chamberlain12 Comments


Most shops and businesses in Charlton had closed by the middle of Tuesday afternoon as fears grew of further riots across south-east London. In Charlton Village, all premises were closed except the Bugle Horn pub and the new Baguette sandwich bar.

Down the hill, the clean-up continued after a night of looting at the local retail parks. Charlton Champion reader Simon captured the scene in the Greenwich Shopping Park, and the debris from a night’s thieving was still obvious around the foot of Victoria Way this morning, with piles of wrappings adding to the usual clutter in the alley leading to the GSP.




Despite rumours carried by a local newspaper website, there was no fire at Asda, which opened for business as usual. Argos, Staples and the Carphone Warehouse were all closed, along with other clothing and electrical retailers.

But the worst damage, though, was at the Stone Lake Retail Park, where PC World and Currys were looted and daubed with graffiti. This afternoon, PC World staff were removing stock from the store.


It’s not known when the affected stores will be back in operation.

Greenwich Borough Commander Richard Wood said last night’s scenes were “utterly unacceptable”, adding “I will do everything in my power to ensure that those involved are caught.”

He continued: “I urge everyone in the borough of Greenwich to clear the way for police at night so that we can deal with those criminals who intend to bring disruption to our area. Also, people must not to take matters in their own hands and have to let the police deal with incidents in a law abiding manner.

“I ask parents, schools, local leaders and others to stand together and convey the message that the crime and disorder we have witnessed will not be tolerated. I have spoken to many people across the borough today and without exception, they are appalled by the outrageous criminal acts of thuggery that took place.

“Many arrests have already been made, but I would ask everyone to work with police and help us to identify those involved so that we can arrest them at the first opportunity.

“We continue to work with the Council and other emergency services to ensure that we keep everyone in Greenwich safe.

“Above all, we remain unfaltering and united in tackling criminals on our streets and look for support from you, the community we serve.”

Anyone with information can call police on 101, or images and video can be e-mailed to rgviido@gmail.com.