Author: Henry Caldwell

Detectives investigating the murder of 20-year-old Malakai Ferguson-Ramson, who was fatally stabbed in a north-west London street, have released images of witnesses they urgently wish to identify. The pictures show dozens of people around Ashmore Road and Drayford Close in Kilburn at the time of the murder. Those captured on CCTV react in such a way that police believe they are likely to have witnessed the incident and therefore hold information that must be shared with officers. Malakai died in Ashmore Road, W9, shortly after 20:50hrs on Tuesday, 26 May. In the days following the stabbing, officers have made two arrests. A…

London Fire Brigade crews rushed to Whitehorse Road in Croydon this evening after a vehicle burst into flames near the junction with Windmill Road. Exclusive photos and video obtained by London Chronicle show a black SUV consumed by thick smoke, with flames clearly visible underneath the rear of the car. Firefighters can be seen working at the scene, with the area taped off to keep the public at a safe distance. At least one fire engine was deployed close to the Lidl supermarket and Legacy Youth Zone, while heavy smoke drifted across the surrounding streets. There are no immediate reports…

Dozens of firefighters are tackling an enormous fire in east London which has left a tube service severely delayed.  Video footage posted to social media shows dark smoke billowing into the air over an aggressive fire near Hackney Downs Station on Sunday evening. Eight fire engines and 60 firefighters have rushed from stations across to east London to fight the blaze, which erupted on Cottrill Gardens. A static caravan and two cars have been engulfed by the fire, the London Fire Brigade said, as well as part of a grass embankment. The incident has caused severe delays on the Mildmay overground line, Transport…

The British Army covertly took over a disused part of the London Underground in central London to plan a Nato military response to possible future Russian attacks. Hundreds of British soldiers took part in what the army called “one of the most ambitious military exercises in a generation” in the disused platforms of Charing Cross Underground station. Arrcade Strike was described as “a major command post exercise run by the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), which is Nato’s deployable corps headquarters, led by the British Army”. It was designed to test ARRC’s ability to plan and command large-scale military operations…

Britain’s high streets are to be swept clean of criminal infiltration under a major new government offensive, with organised gangs running barber shops, vape stores, mini-marts and sweet shops as fronts for money laundering set to face raids, closures and cash seizures on an unprecedented scale. The Home Office has launched a dedicated High Street Organised Crime Unit — backed by £30 million in new funding — to bring together the National Crime Agency, police forces across England and Wales, Trading Standards and government departments in a coordinated drive against what officials describe as a growing threat to communities and…

Tourists threading their way past Nelson’s Column and along The Mall on Saturday found central London transformed into a tightly controlled security zone, as the Metropolitan Police mounted one of its largest public order operations in years. More than 4,000 officers were deployed across the capital, at a cost of about £4.5m, to keep two rival demonstrations apart: a “Unite the Kingdom” rally organised by the anti-Islam campaigner Tommy Robinson, and a pro-Palestinian march marking Nakba Day. Despite the scale of the crowds, there were no serious clashes between the two sides. Senior officers built their plan around a “sterile…

The Metropolitan Police has issued an urgent appeal for a woman to come forward after detectives identified what they believe to be a rape captured on CCTV in south London, in a case officers say has caused them serious concern for the victim’s safety. The incident is reported to have taken place outside Gaumont Place, a residential development off Streatham High Road, at around 5.30am on Tuesday 12 May. It was not reported to the police at the time, and only came to officers’ attention the following day, when the footage was reviewed and the alarm was raised. Specialist detectives…

A former imam who exploited his standing as a trusted religious leader in east London to rape and sexually abuse women and girls some as young as 12 has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years. Abdul Halim Khan, 54, of Old Ford Road in Tower Hamlets, was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Thursday following one of the most extensive child sexual abuse investigations the Metropolitan Police has pursued within a London faith setting. He was convicted in February of 21 sexual offences, including nine counts of rape and five counts of raping a…

Two men who travelled across London to film themselves verbally abusing a Jewish man for a social media stunt have admitted committing a religiously aggravated hate crime, in a case that police say underlines the rising tide of antisemitism on the capital’s streets. Adam Bedoui, 20, of Park Lodge Avenue, and Abdelkader Bousloub, 21, of Merrivale Mews, both Hillingdon, west London, pleaded guilty to a religiously aggravated public order offence at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Saturday. The pair were charged within 48 hours of the incident, the Metropolitan Police said. According to officers, the two men set out from west…

A 48-year-old man has become the ninth person arrested over the arson attack that destroyed a fleet of volunteer-run Jewish ambulances in north London, as detectives press on with one of the most extensive counter-terrorism operations the Metropolitan Police has run in recent years. The suspect was detained on Leytonstone High Road on Wednesday and is being held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson, the Metropolitan Police confirmed. He remains in custody. The arrest is the latest development in the investigation into the firebombing of four Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green during the early hours of 23 March. The…