Stephen Birbeck. Police also ruled out the theory that a fight had taken place. Lebanon police arrested 27-year-old Anthony Boisvert, of Lebanon, in connection with the incident. After being turned away, the other boy whom he named began the fire in revenge. Within months an inquest returned an open verdict. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. The New Cross fire in South London in 1981 prompted a campaign for political action over allegations of a totally inadequate response from police and government. The blaze broke out on 18 January 1981 at a joint birthday party for Yvonne Ruddock and Angela Jackson at 439 New Cross Road in Lewisham. A lot of people refuse to do their research because they want to believe that a white person did it; how did the alleged white arsonist get past the doors and into the party?. The New Cross house fire was a fire that occurred during a party at a house in New Cross, south-east London, in the early hours of Sunday, 18 January 1981. A mural has been revealed in honour of 14 young black people killed by a fire in south London 41 years ago. Would the same happen if it had been 13 young white children? Name. They declared March 2, the Black Peoples Day of Action to demonstrate against the Mets mishandling of the teenagers deaths. (link opens a new window) Support links. We were young kids, all together and having a great time. In the face of this silence, activists from across London established the New Cross Massacre Action Committee. The party had begun the night before and gone over into the next day. 2023 London Remembers, All Rights Reserved. ANTHONY, N.M. - NASA White Sands Test Facility Fire Department escorted the remains of Lt. Edward Vasquez from Albuquerque to his hometown of Anthony, New Mexico, on Friday, with aid from local . On Sunday, January 18, 1981, thirteen black youths attending a birthday party in Deptford, South London was killed in an alleged racially-motivated house fire. This led to accusations that the police had not done enough to solve the mystery of the fire. The South London blaze and the failure to find the culprit helped crystallise the feeling that those in authority did not care for them. Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Save my name and email address in this browser for the next time I comment. A forensic report produced for the Met Police in 2011 ruled out a firebomb attack, concluding that the blaze started when someone in the house set an armchair alight. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Fresh inquiry into New Cross fire set to blame adults at house party, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Up to 20% off & extra perks with Booking.com Genius Membership, Extra 25% off kitchen appliances using this AO discount code, 10% off sale orders 100+ with this Soak & Sleep discount code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK March 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this March, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. Please use the search above if you cannot find the record you require. The New Cross Fire was a significant turning point in Britain in terms of black Britons, the police and the medias relationship and intergenerational alliance to expose racism, injustices and the plight of black Britons. [2][11] The Black Power group Black Unity and Freedom Party (BUFP) published an account of what happened on the night of the fire in their journal, Black Voice. I recently learnt that Paul ran into the house several times. He was the baby of the family. He recanted on his confession, at about the time of a parole hearing in 2015, claiming he was not present when the fire started. ', A Met spokesman said: 'We thoroughly investigated the circumstances of the fire in 1981. NF logos and W*gs Out written on rucksacks; N***rs Out scratched into school desks. 17,029 pages were read in the last minute. People started panicking and screaming. Tony Birbeck is on Facebook. By February 9, four more black teenagers had succumbed to their fire injuries. [32], Rex Obano's radio play Lover's Rock (BBC Radio 3, broadcast in November 2012) is a fictional account of the events leading up to the New Cross Fire. | London, 02 Feb 04 In 2002, a new action in the High Court led to an order for a second inquest, which was held in 2004. On 18 January 1981 he was at a party held at 439 New Cross Road, London, SE14 6TA that claimed 13 lives as a result of a fire and subsequently became disturbed following the deaths of his best friends. [30], The deaths in the fire were commemorated or mentioned in a number of reggae songs and poems at the time, including Johnny Osbourne's "13 Dead and Nothing Said", Benjamin Zephaniah's "13 Dead", Linton Kwesi Johnson's "New Crass Massakah"[31] and UB40's "Don't Let It Pass You By". So harrowing are the details that the families of the victims will be offered counselling after the hearing at the Inner London Crown Court. CROSS for fire safety Region: CROSS-UK Published: 29 March 2021 Neil Gibbins discusses CROSS's expansion into fire safety and the benefits that this will bring to the fire safety sector. is a New York State licensed and insured life safety company. One event in Leeds in August 1981, branded An evening of black cultural expression, included poetry, music and dance alongside hair-plaiting and painting competitions. [2] The initial police suspicion was that the party had been firebombed, either as a revenge attack or in an attempt to stop the noise; there was also an alternative theory that a fight had broken out, from which the blaze emanated. Our assessments, publications and research spread knowledge, spark enquiry and aid understanding around the world. No disrespect to those who did try to help but a lot of so-called activists made their names off the back of the tragedy - TV appearances, radio shows, big jobs, said Mr Haynes. Mr Haynes told BBC London what he remembered of the night. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Aaron Andrews is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Leeds Beckett University working on the AHRC-funded project Forged by Fire: Burns Injury and Identity in Britain, 1800-2000. [This is a republication of an article originally published on HWO on 18 January 2021, the fortieth anniversary of the New Cross fire.]. Forty years on, it is vital that we continue to remember the story of the New Cross Massacre. Nevertheless, the popular press focused overwhelmingly on the minor disturbances that occurred on an otherwise overwhelmingly peaceful demonstration. In the 1960s and 1970s there was a litany of police framing and police brutality. Upstairs, oblivious partygoers were dancing to The Wailing Souls Kingdom Rise Kingdom Fall. Artists like Linton Kwesi Johnson, Benjamin Zephaniah, and Johnny Osbourne also wrote poems and songs, telling the story of the massacre, and condemning the silence which followed it. Subsequently, the New Cross Massacre Action Group was formed and led by activists, writers, and civil rights campaigners John La Rose and Darcus Howe. His mother, Velvatine, said: "Before he went he kissed me goodbye and said I will see you in the morning Mum. Username. Mr Haynes, who worked closely with the Metropolitan Police during a second inquest into the disaster in 2004, said he remains satisfied with officers enquiries and believes that people within Lewishams own Black community know the truth behind how the fire started. You have misleading reports on radio and television. In the immediate aftermath of the blaze, the police were accused of not properly investigating what happened while the government and Royal Family were silent on the issue without so much as a message of condolences to the families affected. For four decades, the cause of the fire has remained a source of serious contention. Boisvert is being charged with two counts of first-degree assault in the alleged stabbings and . Your email address will not be published. 1 He held the office of Deputy Lieutenant (D.L.) Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in. Tony Birbeck Director at Centurion Financial Planning Durham, England, United Kingdom 72 followers 71 connections Join to connect Centurion Financial Planning Activity https://lnkd.in/dSyWCQM It. He was 14 at the time and claims he had tried to gatecrash the party with another teenager. My specialities are: - UX and human-centred design - user research - content. This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated: Mr Haynes said: We need to stop doing this. (For some context, this was the time in history when the Vikings were still a major European powerhouse on the . Anthony Shepherd, . My knees went jelly.. Sir Collins, who lost his son Steven in the fire, produced a whole album in tribute to the thirteen young Black Britonsthe album features Stevens voice, recorded when he was much younger. The exact cause of the fire has never been determined and the original inquest returned an open verdict, much to the dismay of the families of the victims. Between 5:45 and 5:55 a.m. on Sunday 18 January 1981, a fire broke out in the front room of 439 New Cross Road in the London Borough of Lewisham. Marion County Fire Rescue crews responded to a mobile home on Northeast 86th Lane at 12:41 a.m. DDPC 3/3 fire insurance assessments . The fourteen victims of the New Cross massacre were: Rosaline Henry; Patricia Johnson; Humphrey Brown; Gerry Paul Francis; Owen Wesley Thompson; Andrew Gooding; Peter Campbell; Lloyd Hall; Patrick Cummings; Steve Collins; Yvonne Ruddock; Glenton Powell; Paul Ruddock; and Anthony Berbeck. The victims of the fire were very publicly memorialised during the Black Peoples Day of Action (2 March 1981) when up to 20,000 people (estimates vary) marched for over 12 miles through central Londonfrom New Cross Road to Hyde Parkwith many carrying aloft placards bearing pictures of the thirteen victims, their names, and dates of birth and death. Anger and fear sparked an unprecedented demonstration by black Britons, tens of thousands taking to the streets of London. Thirteen young black people were killed and the black community stood up and said, No, not this time., Uprising airs at 9pm on Tuesday 20, Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 July on BBC One. Hassan Howe tells i: It was drizzling and I wondered if people would come. The New Cross Massacre exposed the indifference and disdain with which government and the media have treated the loss of Black lives. Thirteen young people were killed, more than 50 injured and one guest - Anthony Berbeck - died two years later at the age of 20. We needed to give it the platform itdeserved.. No one has ever been tried for starting the blaze, but between 1991 and 1993 police received confessions from a jailed killer who gave the name of a suspect, and said he himself was present when it began. People listen to everything that comes out about the New Cross fire only to get [hopes] built up and then torn back down. Sign up hereto stay up to date with the best new TV. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. It led to 20,000 people taking part in a mass protest, and is seen as a catalyst for the notorious Brixton riots in April of the same year, 1981. In early April, an estimated 943 peoples were stopped and searched by the police under Sus laws, an addendum to the 1824 Vagrancy Act, and 188 black youths were arrested. London, 06 May 04 Email or phone: Password: . "Nobody sent condolences, nobody behaved as they do nowadays or indeed as they would have done then if white children had been lost.". Windows exploded and revellers fled the house. The jury returned an open verdict. Some 300 police officers and 65 members of the public were injured in three days of violent unrest. Commander Graham Stockwell, head of south London CID . My wife started screaming. Others have been very ill for a period of years.". It was a profoundly moving act of memorialisation and defiance. (London and Sydney: Pluto Press, 1984); Darcus Howe, New Cross: the blaze we cannot forget. The Guardian, 17 Jan 2011. In 2021after a year which saw Black Lives Matter protesters once again take to streets across the world in protest against racist violence, and people of colour disproportionately impacted by coronavirusthere has never been a more urgent moment to remember the victims of past racial violence, and, just as anti-racists in New Cross and beyond did forty years ago, to resist the racism endemic in modern British society. 2021 Associated Newspapers Limited. Yvonne's brother Paul, aged 22, also perished. BlackPast.org is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and our EIN is 26-1625373. When 48 people died in the Stardust disco fire in Dublin, Ireland, in the early hours of 14 February that year, the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the Queen offered their immediate condolences. ", "23 years on, new inquest opens into black youths killed in fire", "Coroner repeats open verdict on New Cross Fire 7 May 2004", "Preface to New Cross Massacre Story published by New Beacon Books", "Black People's Day Of Action: Inside The 1981 New Cross Fire March That Brought Britain To A Standstill", "New Cross Fire 13 dead and nothing said! When news of the tragedy spread in 1981 there was first disbelief and then outrage at what many in the black community felt was indifference shown by those in authority to their plight. Smithyman, who was 14 at the time of the tragedy, reportedly told officers that he had tried to gatecrash the party with another teenager who began the blaze in revenge after they were refused entry. Commander Stephen Allen, from the Metropolitan Police, said: "Part of the way we police now comes out of the terrible riots and disorders that we saw in the 1980's, where we came to an understanding that we had to relate differently to the people we work for.". I will always remember him as I saw him the night of the party. Moreover, local far-right extremism and the longer history of racist arson attacks in the area suggested that the fire was a deliberate attack. It would also keep jobs from taking their toll on the elderly. He added: : The one thing that people cant seem to get into their heads is this: the fire started inside the party, not outside. 2 . There was no trust of any kind certainly not from young black people and theirparents.. Do you find this information helpful? By Andy Gardner and Jake Ryan For The Mail On Sunday, Published: 22:01 GMT, 30 October 2021 | Updated: 02:08 GMT, 31 October 2021, Michael Smithyman, who had been jailed for killing his pregnant girlfriend, was the subject of a police report submitted to the Home Office and was reinterviewed by an elite Scotland Yard unit in 1993. Lovers rock tracks pumped from a sound system as revellers jostled. Forego a bottle of soda and donate its cost to us for the information you just learned, and feel good about helping to make it available to everyone. England. True justice would look like 65 Black people, who were affected by the fire, being made multi millionaires by the Government where they havent received compensation, Mr Haynes said. Its a state ofbarbarism.. I help people through a broad range of emotional issues and am available to see you 7am - 9pm Monday - Friday. Before the New Cross Fire, black homes and community centers were targeted and burnt down. Initially. No one has ever been charged in relation to the incident. There was no shock.. On the night of the fire, nine black youth died. Jeselnik's punch lines are like Kyrie Irving's crossover dribbles: You know they're coming, have a good sense of the direction, and yet you're still surprised. ) Support links Cross Massacre and having a great time, spark enquiry aid... 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anthony birbeck new cross fire