I was pleased to read this morning that finally the shrine to dead career criminal Henry Vincent has been officially removed. But instead of the Metropolitan Police removing it, they left the job to Lewisham Council. This highlights the Met's priorities in this case. It would rather pander to a criminal traveller family than do the job it's tasked to do.
Mr. and Mrs. Osborn-Brooks can't return to their home in Hither Green. It is too dangerous for them. They are instead being protected in a safe house. Now Vincent's family are going to splash out £100,000 on his funeral, including £50,000 on flowers. Who said that crime doesn't pay? It pays very well for these scumbags.
They are even claiming racial discrimination because they are travellers. No. People don't like you because Vincent conned and robbed vulnerable elderly people for years. You can say that he had a heart of gold from now until eternity. He didn't. He was a nasty, manipulative man who threatened violence as he robbed pensioners' homes.
On the day of Vincent's funeral, his family plans to have a horse drawn procession which will go past the Osborn-Brooks's home. This can only be described as a deliberate attempt to intimidate local residents - law abiding people who are sickened by what happened to Mr. and Mrs. Osborn-Brooks.
As I wrote last week, this isn't the funeral of someone who was killed in a tragic accident. He died because he was engaged in a criminal activity and Mr. Osborn-Brooks acted in self defence. The Met thinks that Vincent's death was a "tragedy". It is treating his family as victims. It's time it thought of the real victims - Mr. and Mrs. Osborn-Brooks. It's time it thought of local residents in Hither Green who have had their lives turned upside down by a criminal family who would like to see Mr. Osborn-Brooks dead.
I'm not sure if the Met can sink any lower in the way it has handled this case, but it can do the right thing and dictate the route of the funeral procession. If it doesn't, expect a protest as the procession goes by. If I lived near Hither Green, I would be joining it.