Police were called and one arrest made in the early hours of this morning after vandals attacked tributes at the David Bowie memorial at the side of Morleys on two occasions.
Local resident Rob Goacher said he heard screaming and a commotion around the memorial at about 11pm. From his window he saw a woman walking through and kicking flowers and candles across the pavement. Police arrived a few minutes after he called 999. Mourners visiting the site after the O2 tribute concert were very upset and distressed
The police arrived and rearranged the flowers while the woman continued to shout aggressively and smash bottles onto the area around the memorial.
The police calmed her down, but were unable to arrest her, so sent her on her way.
Then, at about 2.30 am, Rob was wakened again by drunks singing Bowie songs loudly and badly as if football chants. This went on for about 30 minutes.
An hour later, he called 999 again when woken by shouting and glass smashing. The same woman as before, this time accompanied by a man, were kicking into the memorial flowers and smashed the glass of a large framed picture.
Police again arrived extremely quickly. The woman was again told to go on her way as they could not make an arrest because nobody knew the owner of the picture.
The man was arrested for breaching bail conditions.
The attacks came after the memorial concert at the Academy on Sunday night.
Academy images David Wilcock
Yeah when I saw them chatting to the woman in question I nearly went up & said why haven’t you moved her yet?! She was obviously known to them. Also the bloke who went up to my dad then me repeatedly saying “go away” they weren’t interested in at all. I said to them “aren’t you going to remove these people??” One copper looked at me as if I’d said something ridiculous & said he wasn’t getting involved in whether people wanted to take pictures. I said is this not a public disturbance & he just ignored me, I made a few more comments & left before I said something I regretted. They seemed more keen to look after the local winos than the normal people trying to pay their respects. Who cares whose property the woman damaged, she still damaged it so should’ve been removed from the area asap, I’m guessing smashing a vodka bottle right in front of it didn’t warrant arrest either. I think she’d have had to have knocked someone to the floor for them to have done something meaningful
This is the first l have heard of this mindless and wanton vandalism, if l had been there, then there is no doubt l would have reacted and no doubt l would have been arrested for my behaviour. Although the police have a hard enough job, they should have arrested these people, even though the owner of the picture was not known. I would have thought smashing bottles would be arrestable. In Stoke-on-Trent, you can receive a fine for dropping a cigarette end. Are there different laws for Londoners and females???. Metropolitan police have earned themselves a few black marks and lost a lot of respect. RIP David
I was there with my dad and the police did v little to help. They didn’t rearrange the flowers, that was done by the people who were trying to pay their respects.
She was rude & abusive to the mural & the people around it & the police just took her to one side & had a chat. Why they didn’t move her away or put her in the van I have no idea as she was clearly a danger to herself & the people around her.
Another person in a similar condition also started preventing people from taking photos (including myself & my dad) . When I asked the police to deal with him they said they didn’t want to get involved. I made my displeasure clear before leaving as we weren’t going to get any help. The whole episode left me v disappointed with the police in that area
It is a shame that from what you state the police were less than helpful. Over the last few years I have on three occasions reported events and each time the response I have had back (from the police involved) has been that I am made to feel the nuisance or don’t know what I am talking about. I do not want to be placed in that situation again so now I am extremely loathe to report any crime or suspicious activity that I happen to witness. The attitude sort of puts me right off!