Photo:Ewan-M
Plans to sell a building used and owned by the Hackney Empire in order to pay back its spiralling deficit were greeted with anger by local residents at a stormy public meeting last night.
Many of its supporters said they were ‘shocked’ by the announcement that the building at 117 Wilton Way will be sold off in a multi-million pound deal with developers the Thornsett Group to build affordable housing. Speakers heckled the panel of theatre and Arts Council officials. (more…)
Boris Johnson has announced new tax rate Photo:©Crossrail
Local traders have expressed anger at a looming “tidal wave” of tax that is set to hit businesses in April.
Business rates are not set by local authorities. They just collect it for central government.
Business rates in Hackney, for example, are likely to balloon by an average of 36.5 per cent this year, following the first revaluation of business premises since 2005. Tower Hamlets will also see one of the steepest increase in rates in the Greater London area.
Companies rated above £50,000 will also see a further 2 per cent increase on the official estimate of the property’s value under conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s new business rate supplement to help fund Crossrail. It is estimated this will cost the borough £150,000 annually.
Similarly, in the borough of Croydon, businesses with rateable values of more than £55,000 will also have to pay an extra 2 per cent. (more…)
Pupils can play maths games on their Nintendo DS console. Photo: Dekuwa
Afro-Caribbean pupils in twelve Hackney schools are being given handheld games consoles to improve maths scores.
The new Learning Trust pilot scheme encourages students to play brain training games such as Sudoku on the Nintendo DS consoles.
The consoles are being lent out so that the young mathematicians can practice both in school and at home.
A number of schools are involved in the project including Daubeney Primary School, Northwold Primary School, and Tyssen Community Primary School. (more…)
Members of the Hackney Young Women's Group Photo:Hackney council
A day of arts activities is being held in Hackney on Thursday to celebrate International Women’s Day.
Young women aged 13-19 are invited to take part at the ‘We Can Do It!’ event at the Ocean Music Venue in Mare Street. (more…)
Photo: Frankybaby
Workers went without showers, punters peered through closed shop windows, and lunchers went hungry in Shoreditch yesterday as a seven-hour power cut plunged part of East London into darkness.
Nearly 2,000 homes and businesses from Aldgate to Old Street lost electricity at 7.23am yesterday morning, and power was not fully restored until mid-afternoon. Even traffic lights went out, causing chaos at the busy four-way junction of Bishopsgate and Shoreditch High Street. (more…)
Photo: Metropolitan Police CCTV images
Police have released CCTV images of potential witnesses to the murder of a Stoke Newington teenager. (more…)
Photo: Puravida
A campaign to raise awareness about private fostering has been launched by Hackney Council, which is urging local people to let them know if they are ‘caring for someone else’s child’.
The borough is highlighting the potential vulnerability of children living in private fostering arrangements as part of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF)’s National Private Fostering week.
New independent research reveals that more than 1 in 10 children in England could have been privately fostered; this is estimated at more than 10,000 children in Britain.
It is a legal requirement for private fostering arrangements to be reported to the local authority, however 42% of the privately-fostered children surveyed said that they did not believe anyone outside of the family was told.
Private fostering occurs when a child under 16 (or 18 if disabled) is being cared for by an adult who is not a relative for more than 28 days.
There are many reasons why a child may be in a private fostering situation, such as a family crisis, a child becoming homeless, or a child’s parents being overseas, or studying or working unsociable hours.
John Osbourne, 43, was involved in four private fostering arrangements with his brother as a child because their mother was a student nurse and worked long hours.
“Out of the four foster families my brother and I lived with over the years, only one of the families cared for us properly. One family told our mother that we would be staying in their house with them, but once she dropped us off, they made us sleep in their caravan in the garden and hardly fed us,” he said.
“I think it is very important for people to notify the council as they could check that every child is being looked after in a loving home.”
If you or someone you know is in a private fostering arrangement please notify Hackney Children Service’s on 020 8356 5500.
For more information, visit www.privatefostering.org.uk or www.baaf.org.uk
Kobina Essel, convicted for Matalan murder
A teenager has been found guilty at the Old Bailey of murdering the manager of a Matalan store in Dalston.
Kobina Essel, 19, stabbed store manager Jamie Simpson at the shop in March 2008 during a failed robbery with six other men.
Essel admitted stabbing his victim in the neck but claimed he reacted out of ‘panic’ after Mr Simpson, 33, grabbed him as he tried to prevent the crime.
Three other men were found guilty of manslaughter in connection with Mr. Simpson’s murder: Anthony Maina, 20, Randy Osei-Owusu, 17, and Simeon Jumah, 25.
Maina, who played a critical role in the robbery was on bail for murder at the time of the killing. Five months earlier he had stabbed an A-level student to death for a mobile phone.
Essel and his fellow gang members lay in wait for Mr Simpson at the end of the day with the intention of stealing the shop’s weekend takings of an estimated £20,000 to £30,000.
Last week, the other gang members, Roy Williams, 31 and Jamal Chambers, 18, were convicted of conspiracy to rob along with Duane Owusu, 20, their getaway driver.
Investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command of the Metropolitan Police, said: “Today, following a long and complex investigation, seven defendants have been convicted.”
She continued: “Jamie was a good man who was simply going about his job as a store manager at Matalan, Hackney when he was fatally stabbed. He lost his life because the defendants, who each played their various parts, had devised a plan to steal the store’s takings.”
All seven men have been remanded in custody and will be sentenced next month.
Mr Simpson’s mother, Lorna Simpson, said: “For anyone who takes the life of another person, then all I can say is that they are scum.”
She added: “If you are killed on a battlefield it is a different thing, but when you are going to work and you are doing your job you don’t expect to be killed. For those who are already in the knife culture or the gang culture the justice system has to lead to a stronger deterrent.”
Sexual health is the perfect gift for Valentine's Day. Photo: ppbaby888, Flickr
If you got carried away this Valentine’s Day and did not take all of the necessary precautions to protect yourself, do not panic. Hackney has set up a scheme making it easier for residents to get tested for the sexually transmitted disease Chlamydia and to help those infected get treatment as soon as possible.
City and Hackney NHS are urging the borough’s residents to make use of its free testing programme in an attempt to highlight the importance of testing for Chlamydia.
One in 12 Hackney residents under the age of 25 tested positive for Chlamydia this year. Known as “the silent infection” it is usually symptomless but can result in infertility if untreated.
“The good news is that it can be diagnosed easily and can be treated with free antibiotics – once you know you have it,” said Mike Spraggon, Chlamydia Screening Coordinator at NHS City and Hackney.
“The test is free, painless, confidential, and you can do it yourself, meaning there’s no need to be examined.”
The free test which detects sexually transmitted infections such as Chlamydia and Gonorrhea is available to everyone aged 16 to 25 throughout England.
You can get a test from your GP, or from any of NHS City and Hackney’s sexual health clinics. Alternatively, postal test kits are available from most pharmacies in Hackney, or you can have one sent to you by visiting www.checkurself.org.uk.
Channel 4’s Embarrassing Illnesses video on Chlamydia testing
Classical music is not normally associated with street demonstrations over miscarriages of justice. But campaigners are planning a special ‘dignified’ concert to highlight the case of a young Hoxton man they claim was unfairly convicted of murder.
The open-air classical performance will take place this Friday outside the Ministry of Justice offices in central London.. It is designed to bring pressure on officials to re-open the case of 22-year old Sam Hallam, from the Arden Estate in Hoxton, who is serving a life sentence for a 2004 murder in Shoreditch
The case is currently the subject of an inquiry by the Criminal Cases Review Commission who are studying new evidence which could lead the case being referred back to the Court of Appeal for a second time.
The organiser of the protest, Tom Ogg said: “We want to attract attention to Sam’s case, and put pressure on the authorities to help. We just hope the Criminal Cases Review Commission will swiftly complete investigating his case, refer it to the Court of Appeal, and for Sam to be freed soon.”
Mr Ogg said he musicians will be playing pieces by Beethoven and Messiaen and aiming for a “dignified protest’. He said: ‘Classical music is principled, refined and beautiful. You would not normally see classical musicians playing in the street without a very good reason. We chose classical music because it makes a point. When people see the orchestra playing outside the concrete of the Ministry of Justice, they will think something is not right here.”
Hallam, who was just 18 when he was arrested in October 2004 for the killing 21-year-old trainee chef Essayas Kassahun. The chef died after being injured in an altercation with a gang of youths armed with spiked baseball bats and knives in Old Street in Shoreditch..
Hallam, a jobbing kitchen fitter who had planned a future in the army, had no previous criminal record and denied being at the murder scene. Although he was not originally named as being at the scene, two of the original witnesses subsequently revised their evidence, naming him as part of the gang that attacked Kassahun – testimony hotly disputed by those who protest Hallam’s innocence. However, his alibi witness declined to give evidence on his behalf and he was convicted, along with another youth, at a trial in September 2005. Six others were cleared.
In 2007, the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal. Although the judges accepted inconsistencies in the evidence of one of the two witnesses, they said there was enough evidence from the second to support the conviction.
Since then, over a dozen witnesses have stepped forward since signing statements saying he was not at the crime scene, but playing football half a mile away. The fresh evidence was submitted to the CCRC early in 2008 and in September that year announced that it was formally reviewing the case.
A spokesman for the CCRC said: “It is not possible to say exactly how long it might be before our investigations will be complete but we can confirm that the CCRC is actively investigating an application from Sam Hallam.”
But Mr Ogg says that this is insufficient. “Two years in jail for a crime you didn’t commit is a long time to wait, due to underfunding. The protest on February 19th occurs on the second anniversary of submitting our evidence to the CCRC.”
He continued: “We want to put pressure on the Ministry of Justice and the CCRC to put more effort into investigating Sam’s case, and to make sure the CCRC is properly funded, so that cases like Sam’s are investigated in a reasonable amount of time.”
As for Sam’s reaction to the concert, Mr Ogg said: “He is keen for us to do anything to help his case get attention.”
