Residents living on a ‘warzone-like’ estate have described how drug dealers and prostitutes have invaded their community leaving them feeling like prisoners in their own homes.
The Little Ilford estate in Newham, East London, is home to pensioners and families with young children, and is a short walk away from two stations on the Elizabeth Line.
But residents say the estate has deteriorated dramatically in recent years and disgusting sights of used needles, human excrement, and blood-stained rags are now a near-daily occurrence.
Elderly tenants who have called the estate home for more than 30 years say things have never been this bad and that they’re scared someone may die before problems are resolved.
Drug paraphernalia litters the communal areas of the Little Ilford estate in Newham
Rough sleepers have began to occupy spaces inside the tower block
A damaged door inside one of the tower blocks at the Little Ilford estate in Newham
Calvin Terry, who has lived on the Little Ilford estate for around 30 years
They complain that police take forever to arrive when they’re called, or simply don’t turn up at all.
Residents say drug users who behave like ‘zombies’ use crack and heroin in communal areas of their tower blocks, which have become like ‘prisons’.
Dealers even break into storage sheds on the estate and use them to run their drug operations.
‘We’ve had enough,’ Calvin Terry, who has lived on the estate for around 30 years, said.
‘This is our home. We shouldn’t have to live like this.
‘We have homeless people living in the shed area, leaving it like a pigsty, urinating everywhere…
‘They use our building as a toilet. It’s not fair.’
Little Ilford – also known as the Warrior Square estate – sits on the border between the London boroughs of Redbridge and Newham between two stations on the Elizabeth Line – which cost nearly £19billion to construct.
Immediately outside the estate is a huge sign that reads: ‘Welcome to Newham, London, a place where people choose to live, work and stay.’
The irony the sign has come to represent is not lost on residents living on the estate.
‘We have prostitutes on the corner who fight all night. It’s like a war zone,’ 69-year-old Mr Terry claimed.
Residents say drug users who behave like ‘zombies’ use crack and heroin in communal areas of their tower blocks, which have become like ‘prisons’
Locals complain that police take forever to arrive when they’re called, or simply don’t turn up
Residents said their pleas for help have gone unanswered by both the police and the council
‘They use our building as a brothel. They come in here and defecate and have sex and use drugs.
‘The staircase is full of needles and used condoms.
‘We have children here, working people, OAPs – a nice crowd. But everyone’s scared.
‘We do as much as we can to get evidence but it’s dangerous. When you film these people, they don’t like it.’
The Met Police said tackling the problems was ‘among our top ward priorities’.
However, residents said their pleas for help have long gone unanswered by both the police and the local council.
Mr Terry said he’d witnessed intermittent trouble on the estate during his near three-decade tenure, but never to this extent.
‘It’s like living in a prison,’ he said. ‘We’re afraid in our own homes. Nobody wants to go outside after dark.
‘People have been asked to get out of the building but they threaten to stab people.
‘I’m terrified that eventually, someone will get hurt.’
Another resident, who has lived in Charlbury House on the estate for two decades, agreed that the situation had now become ‘scary’.
Mr Terry said he’d witnessed intermittent trouble on the estate during his near three-decade tenure, but never to this extent
One resident filmed a man on the floor of the shed area, packing drug paraphernalia including lots of syringes into a backpack, whilst another said they discovered a couple using drugs
‘I’ve walked out the back and seen prostitution in full effect,’ said the male resident, who gave his name as Max.
‘There are times when it spikes but recently it really has been quite nasty.
‘We’ve had groups of people squatting, defecating, injecting drugs, drinking. You find urine on the stairs, by the bin rooms, the exits…
‘On a daily basis I’m blocking people from coming in and they’re trying to push past me.
‘There’s so much activity that it’s scary. Honestly, it’s bloody scary.’
Another resident, who gave his name as Zac, said he’d also seen a ‘dramatic’ decline on the estate over the two decades he’s lived there.
‘The number of homeless people, the prostitution – just the sheer disrespect,’ he said.
‘You find condoms in the bin room and I’ve seen human excrement in the bin room and the lifts, vomit…
‘I’ve seen people jacking up with heroin and smoking crack in the stairwell..’
Another resident, who gave her name as Sandra and has lived on the estate for over a decade, says she’s stopped letting her young nephew visit as it’s become too dangerous.
‘We’d go up the staircase and there were needles everywhere,’ she said.
‘Two or three years ago there was a guy in the block who’d be up in the early hours, walking up and down with a machete.
‘We were told nothing could be done. It was a year before he was moved.’
Some intruders have ripped the locks off residents’ storage sheds and begun living in them or using them as drug dens.
‘You wouldn’t believe what we’ve found in here before,’ Mr Terry added.
Another resident, who gave her name as Sandra and has lived on the estate for over a decade, says she’s stopped letting her young nephew visit as it’s become too dangerous
Another resident, who gave his name as Zac, said he’d also seen a ‘dramatic’ decline on the estate over the two decades he’s lived there
‘They’ve been converted into little offices where dealers pack their drugs into little envelopes to sell them.’
One resident filmed a man on the floor of the shed area, packing drug paraphernalia including lots of syringes into a backpack, whilst another said they discovered a couple using drugs on a communal staircase.
‘I called 101 but couldn’t get anyone on the phone so I called emergency,’ he said.
‘They said they’d be out in an hour. That was six days ago. They never came.
‘I called the council’s antisocial behaviour team the next day but after an hour and a half with no answer I hung up.
‘I think they’ve been cut back and are understaffed. Fifteen years ago you’d call and someone would answer.
‘Now the service is appalling. It makes you feel pretty isolated. You feel like an outcast.’
Parcels have also recently begun to go missing from outside residents’ doors, with Mr Terry suggesting that ‘the addicts obviously have to get their money from somewhere’.
A delivery driver’s vehicle and a resident’s car were both also recently broken into.
But when the resident asked for CCTV footage of the incident from the council, he says he was told the cameras that would’ve caught it ‘didn’t work’.
‘This is our home,’ Mr Terry said.
‘It may be meagre, we may not be rich – but we have our pride. We pay our council tax but we’re not receiving a service.
Bloodied tissues and other soiled items have become a regular sight the Little Ilford estate
Despite police insisting they regularly patrol the area and encouraging residents to report any offences they see, residents feel that not enough is being done to reclaim the estate
‘What does it take? Does someone have to get killed before anyone decides to do anything?’
Zac added that he’d lost his faith in anyone, including the police, tackling the situation at Little Ilford.
‘It’s a shame,’ he said, ‘because I really love my flat.
‘But when you come out and see urine and burger sauce smeared around the building, it’s not a nice place to live.’
Max added that it felt as though the entire estate had sadly developed a ‘prisoner state of mind’.
‘We feel like our lives are shit, where we live is shit,’ he said.
‘No one cares about us and this is as good as it gets… And that’s pretty sad.’
Despite police insisting they regularly patrol the area and encouraging residents to report any offences they see, residents feel that not enough is being done to reclaim the estate from criminals.
‘I have the highest respect for the police, but there is no prevention here,’ Mr Terry said.
‘You’d think they could drive through every couple of hours at night, when most of this happens, but there’s no preventative policing.
‘I can’t remember the last time I saw a copper on this estate.’
Inspector Ganesh Rasaratnam, from the Met Police’s North East Command Neighbourhood Policing Unit, insisted regular patrols were carried out in the area.
‘We understand the misery to residents that can be caused by drugs and/or sex worker-related antisocial behaviour,’ he said.
‘We regularly patrol hotspot areas, including Little Ilford, and will continue to do so.
‘However, crime is rarely committed while police are present and it is important that local people report offences and provide information so that we can build intelligence on those responsible and take action against them.’
Newham Council also said it conducted site visits with police to identify and tackle antisocial behaviour ‘across our housing estates’.
It said it had improved ground maintenance and communal spaces and set up groups where residents could raise concerns.
A spokesperson for the borough council said: ‘We will continue to arrange regular walkabouts with residents, local groups and partner agencies and councillors to continue our efforts to make our estates safer and more secure living environments for all residents.’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13209893/warzone-East-London-housing-estate-drug-dealers-prostitutes-residents-prisoners-homes-police-never-show.html
