No doubt you will remember the incident on the left (click the pic to enlarge) on 23rd October 2007. It has taken nearly two years for the full story to emerge.Fiona and Frankie committed suicide in a lay-by less than two hundred yards from my house on the A47. That night I was in the “Plough” pub next door when someone looked out the window and said that there were huge flames and smoke rising up above the trees.
The road where I live is on a hill overlooking the A47, but it’s not possible to see the lay-by because of all the trees on the side of the hill. Everybody in the pub thought it was the local riding school, which is in the lay-by, burning old bedding straw etc., and paid it no more attention. It wasn’t until the morning when the news broke that we learned the full horror of what had happened.
I cannot reproduce the article in the “Hinckley Times” here because it takes up three full pages in the paper and would fill this blog! The online version is very brief:
'THE POLICE handling of Fiona Pilkington’s catalogue of anti-social behaviour complaints has been described as “strange” and “poor” by the coroner leading the inquest into their horrific deaths.
Olivia Davison slated the way the Leicestershire force handled the series of events, stating “more could have been done”.
Former Assistant Chief Constable Christopher Tew was grilled by Ms Davison over two days as he revealed the staggering array of complaints made to police from Miss Pilkington, her mother and several neighbours over a seven year period.
During that time no-one was arrested or prosecuted.
Fiona, 38, doused the inside of her Nissan Micra in petrol before the car exploded into a fireball in her desperation over the abuse.
Her daughter Francesca ‘Frankie’ Hardwick, 18, was sitting in the passenger seat as the car burst into flames killing both women.
For a full in-depth report on the inquest so far, see your Times today'.
A better report of the inquest can be found here and here. Don't believe the picture in the second link, it has been specially posed by the paper to show the police in a good light. In fact we very rarely see the one policeman in Earl Shilton, the next town to Barwell, and I've been told it's the same there as well.
We have problems with anti-social behaviour and vandalism here in Earl Shilton with gangs of youths roaming the town centre at night. I'm surprised that there hasn't been a serious incident here yet! The situation here is so bad now that vulnerable people like the elderly dare not leave the homes when it's dark. Even I would not walk to the town centre to the local shops and supermarket at night because of a problem that has been created by the smoking ban in pubs. I know that sounds strange, but there are two pubs on the main street and the yobs that use them have to stand in the doorways in order to have a cigarette.
They are usually well tanked up on drink by then and feel brave enough to spend their time outside verbally abusing passersby like myself. You dare not answer their comments or even catch their eye otherwise you are 'dissing' them (showing disrespect?) and the situation could turn physical.
One of my neighbours did just that. He is about 80 I think and always dresses smartly with a suit and tie and has an old-world sense of values and respect from his younger days. He was on his way the Constitutional Club for his evening pint. As he passed 'The Red Lion' some young men standing on the pavement, drinking and smoking, called him an 'decrepit old git' and other names then burst out laughing. The enraged him, so he told them off. They surrounded him, punched him and knocked him to the ground, he told me later. Fortunately he wasn't hurt, just his pride, but he won't go out at night now; it really shook him up. He wouldn't report it to the police for fear of repercussions from the youths involved.
Let's face it, in this day and age they would probably have just got a telling off and a slapped wrist!
No comments:
Post a Comment