This week 10, 20, 30 years ago

10 years ago

A new £1million fund was outlined to help a borough’s town centres recover from the London riots. Southwark council’s Community Restoration Fund would pay for improvements to the neighbourhoods that were hardest hit during the disorder on August 8 and 9.

Walworth, Peckham, Camberwell and South Bermondsey were the borough’s worst affected areas.

Councillor Richard Livingstone, cabinet member for finance, said: “Activities which support the positive contribution young people bring to local communities will in particular be prioritised.

“It is intended that the fund be split between support to businesses and young people.”

Two men who stabbed and bludgeoned a housemate to death when he objected to their music were jailed for 38 years in total.

Romanians Gheorghe Mihai Teodorescu, 47, and Marcea Corbu, 51, killed 42-year-old Csaba Siklodi after he asked to listen to music from his native Hungary.

They stabbed him 18 times and beat him around the face with a crowbar before Teodorescu fell asleep beside him, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

Police arrived at the house in Mayow Road, Sydenham, at 2am on February 8, 2011 and found him next to the corpse in a bloodspattered room.

Teodorescu blamed the attack on fellow housemate Corbu, claiming he had witnessed the stabbing but fallen asleep shortly after.

But Corbu said he was powerless to stop Teodorescu from slaughtering their friend.

The pair denied murder, but jurors found them guilty by a unanimous verdict after five hours of deliberation.

20 years ago

Princess Anne handed out bravery awards to officers at Wandsworth prison who risked their lives to save inmates.

Six officers were recognised after they helped prisoners escape from serious fires in the jail earlier in the year.

The Princess Royal also attended a Christmas party that staff and inmates had organised for blind schoolchildren.

Pupils from Linden Lodge School in Southfields visited the prison once a week for one-to-one supervised activities.

The prison had recently been praised for turning around its bad reputation and climate of intimidation.

Prime Minister Tony Blair met patients at King’s College Hospital on the same day new measures to stop patients having to wait more than six months for an operation were announced.

The Labour Government had announced that people waiting longer than six months could have their operation done at a hospital of their choice – and travel to Europe if necessary.

Staff at the hospital in Denmark Hill were keen to point out that, despite Mr Blair’s visit on the day of the announcement, the majority of its patients were not experiencing long waits for surgery.

A spokesman for King’s said that 87 per cent of its patients waiting for an operation were treated within the new deadline.

A South London man was spearheading a radical £185million plan to turn the Millennium Dome into an urban theme park.

Peter Elford wanted the then struggling Dome to be turned into a sophisticated attraction charting the evolution of man.

He said: “It would be the number one attraction in the UK.”

The centrepiece would have been called Paradise Island, an exotic tropical island with restaurants, music, dancing and entertainment.

The Dome would have been renamed Timeport UK.

30 years ago

A pencil that looked like a blood-filled syringe caused outrage at a Stockwell primary school.

A 10-year-old girl brought in the toy, which was clear plastic with a measuring tube, a plunger and a red liquid inside.

The headteacher confiscated the pencil.

She said: “This is a case of sick humour. We have to be careful of children finding real syringes which have been thrown away, so we are very sensitive about the subject.”

A man dressed as Father Christmas and armed with a shotgun terrified bank staff in Waterloo.

The masked raider threatened cashiers in the NatWest bank in Stamford Street.

He stole £3,000 before escaping in a car with an accomplice.

A police spokesman said: “There certainly seems to be a bit of a seasonal twist to this one. But it was not in the festive spirit.”

No one was injured in the raid, and the double-barrelled shotgun was not fired.

Southwark council backed plans to reroute the extension of the Jubilee line which threatened hundreds of homes.

Tower blocks on the Canada Estate were so decrepit that trains passing underneath them could have posed a danger to residents, with cracks appearing in walls and ceilings.

The council’s development committee said it would petition for the planned Canada Water station to be relocated 80 metres to the south to avoid the estate.

But a London Underground spokeswoman said the chosen route was the right one.

Compiled by alexandra@slpmedia.co.uk

Pic: Princess Anne handed out bravery awards to officers at Wandsworth prison this week, twenty years ago.