Sign Of The Times, Part 259

A little story, brief and with few details, catches the eye in the Beeb news page:

A psychiatric nurse is due in court accused of murder after a woman suffered burns in an incident in north London.

Donna Drepaul, 50, was found with severe burns in a property in Islington on Friday.
She was taken to the Royal London Hospital where she died on Sunday.

Aiah Tondoneh, 43, of Shoot Up Hill, Kilburn (Ed: Seriously.?!?), is due to appear before Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on Monday to face a murder charge.

Terrible, shocking, awful. All those things.

But bland, almost comforting. There’s been a murder, police have a suspect, justice is now taking its course, all’s right with the world once again.

The story in the ‘Islington Gazette’ is much more illuminating, in many respects:

A nurse suffering from severe burns died after running from door to door in a desperate bid for help.

Donna Drepaul urgently needed medical help as she banged on neighbours' doors at about 4.15am on Friday - but they were all too scared to answer.

Eh..? How can this be?

Didn’t our previous top cop ‘Sir’ Iain Blair say, of neighbouring Haringey, that crime was falling, people were now feeling safe, could leave their doors unlocked, etc?

Yes, I see that he did.

So what gives? Do we know more about the victim?

Ms Drepaul, a staff nurse at University College Hospital in Euston, came from Guyana, and had a 29-year-old son, Sherman, and a Staffordshire bull terrier called Keisha.

Odd sort of detail to include, isn't it?

Steven Leow, 24, lived opposite Ms Drepaul and said he regarded her as his adopted mother.

Fighting back the tears, he said: "I woke up to police breaking the door through. There was blood where she had been running around to the neighbours trying to get help. I spoke to a policeman on Saturday and he said that she had 80 per cent burns. I really can't understand why people didn't help."

So, why didn’t they?

Ms Drepaul's neighbours are devastated that they did not open their doors - but insist they did not recognise her. Wendy McDaid, 37, said: "Someone knocked on my door. I thought it was a drug dealer and I was too scared to open the door. I called the police. Later I looked out the window and saw police wrapping a figure in cling film. If I had known it was Donna, I would have answered the door. I feel awful. I just wish I had let her in. She was a lovely lady, one of the best."

Too scared to even go to the door to see who it was that was knocking. This is clearly not a happy place to live.

And clearly, miles away from the image given of a crime-free, trusting, diverse and multicultural society.

Fellow neighbour Maria Mbachu, 33, said: "What I saw through the door that morning wasn't the person I knew and I feel terrible. When I looked through the door, it was like I was seeing a crazy madman. It was terrifying. I just wish I had opened the door."

Who could blame her for not doing so, though?

And now, you see why the Beeb’s story is so bland and lacking in detail, don’t you?