The gang-related revenge killing or ‘tit for tat’ feud accounts for a very small proportion of murders in London. It is however one of the most disturbing, conjuring up echoes of the American mafia as represented by The Godfather and other films. This type of murder appears to flourish when when those responsible seem to …
Category archives: Current Affairs
The Unsolved Murder of Andrew Cunningham – A Sister’s Plea for Help
The sister of a father-of-five who was murdered three years ago blames The Sun newspaper for the failure to catch his killers. In December 2011, Sarah-Jane Cunningham spent the third anniversary of her brother’s death handing out police appeal notices. She was prepared for indifference. But she was genuinely shocked when some members of the …
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A Brief History of Cameras in Court
Earlier this month Sky, ITN and the BBC lobbied the government to allow cameras in court. The hope is that criminal trials could be televised as early as early as 2015. The ban on taking photographs goes back to 1925 but even before then cameras had to be smuggled into courtrooms in hats or bags. …
On ‘Racist Murders’: Evidence Required
The murder of Danny O’Shea in east London last week highlighted one particularly divisive issue – when can you classify a murder as racially aggravated? There have been questions – particularly from what you might call ‘right wing organisations’ such as the BNP – as to what exactly distinguishes the murder of a black victim …
Hacking scandal’s first victim?
While the hacking scandal is dominating the news, it’s worth remembering a gruesome south London murder 24 years ago. Daniel Morgan, a 37 year-old private investigator, was hacked to death with an axe in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham. His brother Alastair believes that Daniel was killed to stop him …