Tia Sharp: a victim of the New Addington ‘ghetto’?

TIA Sharp. With Stuart Hazell is custody accused of her murder, the tabloids’ reporting on the case is curtailed by law. So. The Sun does what it always does, cocks and ear to the prison cells and hears that lags want to murder Hazell. He’s to appear in the Old Bailey via videolink today.

The headline thunders:

Inmates vow to kill Tia accused

What inmates. And why are they in prison? The Sun does not say:

Stuart Hazell, 37, is in isolation on a wing with paedo-philes and rapists at high security Belmarsh prison.

Only the peados and the rapists can get at him, then. Does Abu Hamza, the Muslim cleric who urged his followers that the murder of non-Muslims was justified “even if there is no reason”?

A source who visited the Category A prison in South East London yesterday said: “Everyone in the kitchen was talking about him arriving. “Inmates are talking of death threats. You can hear his name being shouted out from cells. He’s being kept in isolation and under 24-hour watch for his own safety.”

Do these inmates also want to kill the paedos and the rapists?

Away from prison, The First Post looks at New Addington, where Stuart Hazell lived with Tia’s Sharp’s grandmother Christine Sharp. The 12-year-old’s body was found in the house’s loft.

It was meant to be a 1930s ‘garden estate’ – today it is as deprived as many inner city communities

And:

New Addington is an impoverished ghetto of 25,000 largely white people.

Robert Chesshyre then warns against “characterising the whole community“.

It gets better:

To be born in an area like New Addington is to be born as far away as possible from any sort of privilege. If David Cameron’s analysis of ‘broken Britain’ has any validity, it applies to communities like this one.

Broken, then:

The ‘shrine’ – and there is no other word for the huge accumulation of teddy bears, flowers and candles that grows by the hour outside the house where Tia’s body was found – is evidence of local people’s solidarity

Not broken, then.

He concludes:

We talk of the Olympic legacy, meaning sports fields and opportunities for (mainly fortunate) athletes: a fitting legacy for Tia Sharp would be a national resolution to tackle the ills that beset so many who normally live out-of-sight and out-of-mind in places like New Addington. Each murder is unique, but they often tell us something important about the communities in which they happen.

New Addington killed Tia Sharp? Murders of children are just a product of the place? Blimey! It’s unlikely that defence will work in court.

Finally a few words from people who actually live in the “white ghetto”:

Jayne Laville, 39, of Ivers Way, said: “I love New Addington because of the green spaces.

“I can look out of my window and see masses of beautiful countryside. We also get the best sunshine because we are so high up.”

Michael Lyons, 78, of Chertsey Crescent, said: “I love New Addington because we have the best of both worlds.

“It is country-cum-city.

“I have lived here since 1956 – a lifetime – and I would never move.”

Ken Burgess, 60, who runs Burgess Boys Pet Care Centre, said: “It has everything you need here.

“We are very self-contained and there is a real sense of community.

“Everyone helps everyone out if they can.”

Matt Morecraft, 18, from Applegarth, said: “I love New Addington because it has gems like the Timebridge Centre which helps so many young people.”