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Rowley Way Estate |
Estate’s nice people fight to shake off the Rowley Way stigma
Murder fuels a reputation tenants claim is unfair
THE Rowley Way estate should be a nice place to live. Sandwiched between two of London’s most desirable areas – St John’s Wood and West Hampstead – it has a lot going for it.
It’s not just the postcode that’s attractive. Rowley Way has won design awards, and is recognised by conservation body English Heritage as so exceptional it was awarded Grade II-listed status. The estate was seen in the Jude Law film Breaking and Entering last year.
But there’s more to Rowley Way than location, location, location. In the eyes of those who live there it has acquired an undeserved reputation – one made worse by the shocking murder of unemployed Timothy Stilwell at a flat on the estate last year. He was stabbed and bludgeoned to death by a pack of young men.
The estate’s reputation as a “no-go” zone affects the daily lives of its residents. They describe how, despite being delivered pizza flyers through their doors, when they call up to place an order, they are told: ‘Sorry, we don’t deliver there’.
It can also mean that prospective employers lose interest when they see the address.
Police investigating the murder say they were faced with a wall of silence from a community “who either feared or had misplaced loyalty to the defendants”.
With those loyalties dividing the estate and the killers hoping to cover their tracks, Camden Council was ordered by police to put out a bogus message that it did not have clear CCTV images in an attempt to lull the suspects into a false sense of security. In reality, there were clips of men arming themselves with pieces of wood.
Yet, despite the horrific murder and the conviction of three men at the Old Bailey last week, residents insist Rowley Way is a nice place to live.
“The murder is absolutely not a reflection of the estate,” said Sara Bell, secretary of its tenants’ association. “We had a few problem families but they’ve moved on.
“These flats have got a lot of potential – they’re light and non-claustrophobic, and the idea of a central walkway with people overlooking each other is a very nice one.”
Flats in Rowley Way are popular with buyers keen to snap up cheaper former council properties. A one-bedroom flat is for sale at an advertised price of more than £200,000.
Claude James, chairman of the estate’s residents’ association, said youths there are boisterous rather than violent, more likely to play “knock down ginger” than to mug a pensioner.
He described the murder as a “foreign issue” that had nothing to do with the estate overall. The accused, Scott Robinies, 21, Sean Allen, 22, and Steven Barton, 22, were given life sentences of at least 18-years for the revenge killing of Mr Stilwell after an argument with Barton’s mother. Although the accused hung around Rowley Way, they did not live there.
Mr James insisted the estate was not a bad place to live. “Youngsters tend to be boisterous and that sort of thing – but not violent,” he said. “All in all, I don’t think it’s a violent place. In terms of the community we have here – 30 to 40 cultures and nationalities – it’s remarkable that there are no serious outbreaks.”
His neighbour, Christina Harnedy, who has lived on the estate for nearly 25 years, said that the estate was “quieter than its reputation”. She added: “When I moved here it was quite a friendly estate but then they started moving in drug flats and bad families. They’ve cleared it up now, but unfortunately we still have the reputation.”
She says that is unfair on people like her four children. “They’re fine, they all go to work,” she said.
“We’re not all bad. Why do people think ‘it’s an estate, there’s going to be trouble’? There’s a lot of nice people on this estate.”
She believes that her address has cost her work as a childminder. “We haven’t lost our stigma. It annoys me when I can’t get work,” she said. |
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