Inside Croydon

Two men have denied murdering Leroy Mitchell in a shooting at a silent disco in South Croydon in 2021.

Mitchell, 35 years old and a father of three, was shot as he left the party on Birdhurst Road just before 5am on October 2 2021.

A £20,000 reward was offered by charity Crimestoppers later that year, but it wasn’t until 2025 that any arrests were made.

Cimarron Dume-Gooden, 32, of no fixed address, was charged in June this year with the murder of Leroy Mitchell and perverting the course of justice.

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Rivers charity begins a Judicial Review, accusing the environment secretary of having ‘no policy at all’ for solving the crisis around Thames Water

Environment secretary Steve Reed, the MP for Streatham (and Croydon North, if he can ever be bothered) could be dragged into court by a rivers charity which has accused him of an unlawful failure to publish his policy on taking failing water companies into temporary nationalisation.

With backing of London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, Labour’s Leonie Cooper calls for water utilities ‘that put the needs of the public and the environment ahead of private profit’

Senior figures in the Labour Party in London have joined calls for the urgent re-nationalisation of Thames Water, in the latest push-back against environment secretary Steve Reed’s soggy mess of a water reform review.

Environmental campaigner Feargal Sharkey on live TV this morning called for the immediate resignation of the environment secretary, as the government’s Cunliffe Review is derided as a ‘joke’

Today’s announcement from environment secretary Steve Reed promising the “biggest overhaul of water since privatisation”, following the Cunliffe review of the water industry, went down about as well as a turd in a blocked toilet with environmentalists, campaigners and customers judging by the reactions to his weekend media round.

While Downing Street chief of staff Morgan McSweeney was conducting his latest purge in Westminster, back in his old stomping ground of Lambeth, a Labour councillor was suspended yesterday after being charged with a criminal offence.

Irfan Mohammed has been a Labour councillor at Brixton Town Hall since 2018, having been elected to represent Clapham Park ward in 2022.

A statement issued by Lambeth Labour said: “We have been made aware by the police that Councillor Irfan Mohammed has been arrested and charged.

TfL is due to begin major road works on a scheme intended to make the A23 Streatham Hill “safer and better for residents and visitors”, the transport authority said today.

The scheme will create new pedestrian crossings, a protected cycling route and what TfL says will be improved bus lanes for quicker bus journeys.

Transport for London said today that there will be lane closures on Streatham Hill from Monday August 4 until “the autumn”, which seems conveniently vague, but buses will continue to operate their normal routes.

Steve Reed OBE, the MP for Streatham (and Croydon North if he can be bothered), and the environment secretary in Keir Starmer’s government, is facing renewed calls to renationalise privatised water companies, after the biggest, Thames Water, today reported an annual loss of £1.65billion as its debts soared to £16.8billion.

Thames Water’s annual report came the day after the company – which has never built a single reservoir since it was privatised – announced a hosepipe ban affecting 1.1million customers.

A burst water main in Mitcham this morning disrupted water supplies to households across five postcodes in Croydon and Streatham.

Croydon Council described the burst main as “a major incident”.

The water main burst was on Commonside East, near Mitcham Common.

Much of the supply problem was due to a fault at a Thames Water booster station, which left some without any water, or low water pressure.

“We’re sorry if you have no water in the CR0, CR2, CR4, CR7 and SW16 areas,” Thames Water tweeted this morning.

Anthony Morrison, the man shot dead on Imperial Way last week, had been attending a wake following a funeral, it has emerged.

The Metropolitan Police has repeated its appeal for witnesses following the shooting outside CostCo at around 5pm on Thursday, June 19.

The police have already made an arrest. Byron Cole, aged 39, of Gleneldon Road, Streatham, has been charged with murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, and appeared at Bromley Magistrates’ Court earlier this week.