Mugging on bishopsthorpe road

[sydenhamguy]

Hi everyone.
At around 10pm last night I was walking to sydenham station going the same route I have done a million times to meet my girlfriend, and at the top of bishopsthorpe road a man came running behind me and pulled a 12 inch knife out and pushed it against my throat. He asked me what I 'had for him' but I only had my brand new iPhone 4s on me anyway. He took this whilst threatening to kill me several times and started to pat me down whilst pushing the knife closer into my throat, he said if he finds something else and I have lied he was going to stab me in the face and slash my throat, I wasn't lying and he then told me to turn around but I legged it.
I managed to run up the high street to meet my gf just before she had left the station and we contacted the police straight away. They came out and searched etc. but obviously they didn't have much to go on. The attacker was about 5'10 black and only had his eyes and forehead uncovered.

The iphone is now totally useless and has been disabled remotely, so it was all for nothing. I'm not trying to scare anyone, but as you can imagine it was a terrifying for me. And I just wanted to warn people to be extra vigilant around this area.

[G-Man]

That really is terrible. I hope you're okay.

All the best.

G-Man

[Voyageur]

How awful - I hope you have made a good recovery, that must have been very frightening

[sydeman]

that is shocking. I was mugged about 2 months ago on a train coming in to Sydenham, he took my phone which again was immediately stopped so do not understand the logic. I did find tghe police brilliant though, but it is amazing that this can happen so often, and so brutally. As you say the phone is replaceable, but it scares me now hearing these types of reports. Did the police seem to say about catching the mugger? Hope it does not traumatise you too much.

[Eagle]

I am shocked such a thing can happen in a lovely road like Bishopsthorpe. Glad you are OK.

[coll]

This sounds like the third or forth mugging fitting the same pattern - targeted leaving the station and attacked on the dark corner of Bishopsthorpe and Silverdale. So sorry to hear this has happened to you and I hope that SOMETHING will be done. The guy who lives across from me had it happen on Bishopsthorpe and Kingsthorpe. When are the police going to actually do something? When someone gets hurt or worse?

[Eagle]

Coll
Short of posting an officer in the road not sure what they can do. They cannot be in all the roads at the same time.

Min problem is if they are caught and convicted will be lucky if they even get one month in prison.

Threatening to kill with a knife should be min 10 years

[CaptainCarCrash]

For all we know this is a troll.

Don't get me wrong but first posts like this are usually the work of wolves banshees and killa clowns.

If not a troll then there's a maniac on the streets of syders mugging peoples phones and it's about time plod got their act together IMO.

This is becoming far too common, it's the wishy washy justice system that's partly to blame and too many wishy washy types making excuses.

Meh!

[Voyageur]

Eh?

I would imagine that a person might be sensible to sign up to a local forum and make such a post if they wanted to warn others in the area?

[sydenhamguy]

I have never been described as a troll before! Ha.

I actually stumbled across the website whilst looking up if anyone had had a similar experience.

Thank you everyone for your kind words.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[MiniFox]

Very pleased to hear you are ok. What a horrible experience

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[admin]

Headmaster here so sit up staight and listen. It ain't end of term yet ...

First time posters are sometimes trolls. All are rightly viewed with care until they have established a track record. However some genuine posters will come here because of a traumatic event unaware of trolling and will post stuff that looks like a troll.

You , and I, cannot always tell the difference and some good posters have been lost due to mistakes of this kind. I plead guilty for a start.

Hence the protocol is, unless it is an obvious spam, to treat all new posters with respect and be welcoming. If you feel what they have posted in inappropriate, phib, or a classic troll then the response is a polite word saying that there is a problem that you would like to believe them but bad people have posted misleading stuff like this. Eliciting a bit more information is likely to help distinguish between the genuine and the troll. Result.

OK you may resume your lessons. Oh wait, its playtime!

Admin

[maestro]

Whilst the Headmaster was distracted by giving you lot a lecture, I managed to get his wallet out of his jacket pocket, so the drinks are on me in the Town Pub. Please PM me if anyone wants a 2012 membership pass for 'Caligula's Gay Sauna/Massage Club' in Soho, I'll take £20 for it. (hope his wife doesn't see this )

[bensonby]

For those saying "something must be done" and that the police ought to do more, or something different, then I'd like to know precisely what they have in mind.

Robbery is one of Lewisham Police's top priorities. There is a squad dedicated to patrolling in plain clothes disrupting robberies aswell as responding to them. Robberies that have just happened are given the highest priorty call grading by the control room. In addition, uniformed officers are directed to patrol robbery hotspots and faces of known robbers are a diet of daily briefings. This is all backed up by an extensive (although I'd like an even bigger) council-run CCTV system.

If you see something, or heaven forbid, are a victim then you can help the police response by calling 999 immediately after being a victim of or witnessing anything, giving a precise location as to where you are, a clothing description of the offender and a direction of travel.

I really don't have many more ideas on what can be achieved by The Met with the resources available. If you have any bright ideas then please let's hear them! A nebulous "Something must be done" doesn't really help anyone does it?


The really sad thing is that many of these robbers are well-known to police. They have been caught and convicted before. They will be caught and convicted again. The police repeatedly put many of them before the courts - as is the job of the police. Something is evidently failing elsewhere in the system.

[Eagle]

I agree Bensonby especially with your last paragraph. The courts need to get tough.
The incident refered to was attempted murder

[coll]

Bensonby,
Surely the police could be slightly more present on what now must be a known crisis point. There have been several muggings there so wouldn't occasionally placing a few plain clothes police be the thing to be done? Or is this just becoming a No Go area in our neighbourhood?

[Eagle]

As Bensonby says it is a case of police resources. Before this would have thought The Thorpe's were some of the safest roads in Sydenham.
Surprised no locals noticed anything.

Also as Bensonby says the problem is not catching them but getting courts to put them away.

[stuart]

Coll - you can't get away from the fact that we were offered three choices on the level of public spending cuts (and implicitly the effect on police manpower) in the last general election. We chose, rightly or wrongly, the most severe.

Hence the police presence here, or anywhere else, is going to get less and, worse, probably less effective. It is not really a choice for the police. I really feel it for Chief Constables (an unusual experience!) who have to try and make it work against the ludricous demands that they shouldn't cut the frontline force when the effectiveness of that force is very dependent on the back office.

To bring it back to Sydenham. There is, or was, a very large Met establishment down Newlands Park. Very much back office. What they did was not clear but I think had something to do with communications. However without back office work the Met communications would be very much compromised. What use is a policeman if he can't call back up or check facts online?

The bottom line is that for the first time in more than a generation we stopped and reversed the rise of crime. That is unlikely to continue. I'd be very happy if it could.

Stuart

[catwoman]

There were two more similar cases two weeks back at the cash point on Vennor Road (Possibly not spelt right), a black man on a bike with a knife. I know one of the victims didn't report the crime, as he just went to the pub for a drink after.

The reason why criminals commit these crimes is because prison life these days is so easy. TV's game consoles, mobile phones and a roof over their heads, so it's just like a little holiday to them. It doesn't help when the prison staff are dodgy and helping them with bribes either.

[14BradfordRoad]

The reason why criminals commit these crimes is because prison life these days is so easy. TV's game consoles, mobile phones and a roof over their heads, so it's just like a little holiday to them. It doesn't help when the prison staff are dodgy and helping them with bribes either.

Wouldn't entirely agree Catwoman. I have known several young offenders who have not
liked being put inside for a while one little bit, loss of freedom, etc. Of course whether
prisons should be harder is always debatable but young offenders certainly do not enjoy
being locked up!
I can't believe that corrupt prison warders are the norm either even though some young
offenders might like to convince you otherwise. A minority corrupt group will certainly exist
in all walks of life, nothing new and probably always will. None the less prisons are there to
serve their purpose.
The choice of whether or not to commit violent crimes is the criminals choice and not the
fault of the prison institution. The biggest deciding factor will always be the chances of
getting caught from the criminals perspective. Less police presence will always highten
the chances of these crimes occuring in the first place. It's a no brainer really..