Inside Croydon

An Old Bailey jury yesterday heard how father-of-three Leroy Mitchell was shot in the head at point-blank range in an “act of petty revenge”.

Mitchell was 35 when he was killed at a silent disco in Birdhurst Road, South Croydon, in the early hours of October 2, 2021.

Despite a £20,000 reward offered for information that might lead to a conviction, arrests in connection with the shooting were not made until last summer.

It’s a case of Foxtrot Oscar for CLP chair Harman, as his former boss comes under increasing pressure over his role with Labour Together and his ‘deeply unprofessional and possibly unlawful’ handling of local elections. On the fifth anniversary of the hack of this website, our Political Editor, WALTER CRONXITE, reports

Six months after journalist Paul Holden revealed that he had been followed by private investigators, today the Cabinet Office said it will be “looking at the facts” around Labour Together, the organisation established by Croydon MP Steve Reed and his former Lambeth Council aide, Morgan McSweeney.

It has been reported that Prime Minister Keir Starmer has ordered the Cabinet Office probe. “It absolutely needs to be looked into,” Starmer said this morning.

The investigation comes only after McSweeney left his job at No10 as the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff.

The Croydon MP and friend of Morgan McSweeney is ‘disingenuous’ in his claims over how his aide blocked debate about the controversial appointment of Ambassador to the United States.

Mostly, here at Inside Croydon, we report the news. But sometimes, we make the news, as was the case when ITV’s Good Morning Britain quoted from our pages as they put a cabinet minister on the spot over his part in the cover-up over the disgraced traitor Peter Mandelson.

The car park at Ikea off the Purley Way is being used as an emergency depot for those across Croydon, Mitcham and Streatham who have been without water supplies since a main burst on Mitcham Common yesterday.

As many as 18,000 properties across eight postcodes – CR0, CR2, CR4, CR7, CR8, CR9, SM6 and SW16 – in four south London boroughs were originally said to have been affected by the burst main.

Work continued through the night to dig down to the burst pipe.

Up to 18,000 households across Croydon and three other boroughs have been affected by a burst water main today “on a field” near to Watneys Road, which borders Mitcham Common.

Homes have encountered reduced water pressure, or no supply at all.

Properties, some schools and business premises in CR0, CR2, CR4, CR7, CR8, CR9, SM6 and SW16 are known to have been affected.

In its latest update, timed at just after 11am, Thames Water stated: “We are still on site working hard.

Up to 18,000 households across Croydon and three other boroughs have been affected by a burst water main today “on a field” near to Watneys Road, which borders Mitcham Common.

Homes have encountered reduced water pressure, or no supply at all.

Properties, some schools and business premises in CR0, CR2, CR4, CR7, CR8, CR9, SM6 and SW16 are known to have been affected.

In its latest update, timed at just after 11am, Thames Water stated: “We are still on site working hard.

BARRATT HOLMES, housing correspondent, on how an election promise to scrap ground rents for leaseholders has been watered down to something which now won’t take full effect until the year 2066

Groups representing leaseholders and renters have accused the Labour government of “feet-dragging” and “tinkering around the edges” over its proposals to cap ground rents and reform the leasehold system.

The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill, published today, was first put forward in the King’s Speech in 2024.

Keir Starmer, the son of a tool-maker, managed a quick, and secretive, visit to Ikea in Croydon this morning.

It was suggested that he may have been looking for a new cabinet, because the one he’s got in Downing Street appears to be falling apart…

But the visit, which undoubtedly will have been diarised by the chair of the Streatham and Croydon North Constituency Labour Party, failed to warrant any mention on Starmer’s or No10’s social media platforms.

Keir Starmer, the son of a tool-maker, managed a quick, and secretive, visit to Ikea in Croydon this morning.

It was suggested that he may have been looking for a new cabinet, because the one he’s got in Downing Street appears to be falling apart…

But the visit, which undoubtedly will have been diarised by the chair of the Streatham and Croydon North Constituency Labour Party, failed to warrant any mention on Starmer’s or No10’s social media platforms.