This week 10, 20, 30 years ago
10 Years Ago
Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) announced that Detective Sergeant David Blackbrow was warned over a rape investigation following a disciplinary hearing.
In November 2009, a woman made a complaint about a rape to the Sexual Offences Investigations Technique (officer at Walworth Police Station).
DS Blackbrow, the supervising officer for the Southwark-branch of the Met’s sexual offences unit Operation Sapphire, told them the alleged incident did not constitute rape because the victim “consented”.
As a result there was no examination of the alleged crime scene by forensic teams.
Thousands of people took over the streets of a South London neighbourhood for the eighth annual Brixton Splash.
The centre of Brixton was filled with people taking in the sights and sounds of the free festival, which drew huge crowds.
The official sound systems lined Coldharbour Lane and Atlantic Road and thousands of people partied in the streets throughout the day. Revellers enjoyed the food stalls and the grooves on the main stage.
Residents and businesses were assessing the damage after a burst water main deluged a busy street.
People living and working in five roads in Herne Hill have spent the past two days counting the cost as they clear up after the flood.
The damage caused by the flood which ripped through 37 homes and businesses in Half Moon Lane, Dulwich Road, Milkwood Road, Herne Hill and Norwood Road, was expected to run to hundreds of thousands of pounds.
20 Years Ago
Residents joined forces to fight plans to put a mobile phone mast on top of a church near their homes.
Telecoms company Orange wanted to put the mast on top of St Giles Church spire in Camberwell Church Street to give Camberwell and Peckham residents better network coverage.
But neighbours said they had grave concerns about the mast and drew up a petition calling for planning permission for the mast to be refused. They said the mast would put their health at risk.
London’s second “flash mob” stunt turned out to be a damp squib with more reporters watching the event than bemused bystanders.
The flash mob – a stunt where people arrange to meet at a predetermined site and behave in an odd manner in sync before disappearing into the crowds was staged in front of the London Eye.
Members of the group peeled bananas, put up umbrellas and repeated a mantra to the landmark. But so few people were around that it turned out to be a flop.
Regulars raised a toast to a popular publican when he retired after 40 years behind the bar.
Steve Wheeler scooped the South London Press Pub Guv of the Year gong in 2002.
But after nine years pulling pints at the Leather Bottle in Garratt Lane, Tooting, he and his wife Doreen decided to hang up the towel.
Young’s Brewery chairman John Young presented them with a painting to mark the day.
30 Years Ago
A former councillor dubbed “Red Ted” Knight was blocked in his bid to make a return to Lambeth council.
The former Labour council leader failed to persuade the London Labour Party to let him stand in the local council elections in 1994.
Mr Knight had been banned from office amid a row over the capping of rates.
A policeman launched an appeal to raise ÂŁ3,000 for a humanitarian mission to South America.
PC Ian Jamieson, 24, based in Streatham, planned to set off for Chile as part of a team put together by charity, Operation Raleigh.
To help raise the cash, the PC took to the streets wearing a kilt and playing the bagpipes.
The officer, who was originally from Edinburgh, also planned to do a sponsored bungee jump.
A balti curry house created a stir after becoming the first to be set up in South London.
Balti restaurants had opened all over Birmingham in the 1970s and 1980s but the craze was so new to London that the organisers of the first Festival of India, held in Lewisham in 1993, did not include Balti food.
Chef Sadiqur Choudhury was the first to start serving baltis when he opened Bhangra Beat in Sternhold Avenue, Streatham.
Generic Picture: Pixabay/niekverlaan
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