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Man gives himself up over murders and is told: Wait in the queue
Danny Brierley, Evening Standard08.07.08
The man who handed himself in over the murders of two French students was told to wait in line at the reception of a south London police station.
The badly burned 33-year-old walked into Lewisham police station and apparently tried to confess that he was the man who had killed Gabriel Ferez and Laurent Bonomo, who were set on fire in their rented bedsit in New Cross in brutal scenes that have been compared to a Quentin Tarantino film. Laurent had been stabbed 196 times and Gabriel suffered 47 wounds.
But instead of calling for an officer to arrest him immediately, a civilian worker at the station asked the man to wait his turn. It has been claimed he was made to wait with other members of the public for at least five minutes and the Met is now investigating.
Lucy Downer, 27, who was sitting in the police station with the man while waiting to pay a motoring fine, said: "We were sitting on a row of seats when this skinny bloke walked in. He looked really out of it. His hands were bright red and his face was peeling badly. There were booths just to the right of the front door and he went into the first one and spoke with a reception officer.
"Then he came back out, sat down next to my cousin and started looking at her very strangely. I got a bit worried and changed places with her. Then this bloke got out a tub of antiseptic cream and rubbed it into his hands for the next few minutes.
"He then stood up, put his hands in the air and said, 'I've got third degree f***ing burns and they are not doing anything about it'."
Ms Downer said she asked the man to repeat what he had said and then mouthed the word "help" to a nearby policeman. She added: "The guy could have had second thoughts about giving himself up and scarpered at any point. He was off his head but he looked like he was very serious about what he said."
"It was very scary to be with him for several minutes because some jobsworth didn't think it was his turn in the queue."
Police are still waiting to speak to the man, who is currently under police guard in hospital. A police spokesman said he would not be interviewed until he had been released from hospital. Detectives yesterday described him as a "significant suspect" in the killing.
It is thought the two students were tortured for their bank card PIN numbers, which were missing along with two Sony handheld games consoles.
A 21-year-old man arrested on Saturday was later released without charge.
Police then renewed their appeals and released a photofit of the prime suspect. Hours later the 33-year-old man walked into the police station.
A Met spokesman said: "We are investigating the length of time it took for the man to be detained but cannot comment further."
The news comes as 600 students - many of them friends of the victims - demonstrated against their murders in the industrial town of Clermont Ferrand, France.
The group carried a huge banner which read "Pour Lolo et Gab" ("For Lolo and Gab") and marched silently, arm in arm, for 200 metres.
They were joined by the Mayor of Clermont Ferrand, Serge Godart, as well as teachers, local residents and children.
Another banner was crowded with the first names of the classmates of Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez who "sent their love" from their own foreign exchange courses "in the four corners of the world."
Reader views (18)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
You could bet that if it was a motorist speeding past the station they would have been after him like a shot.
- Mike C, London
Stop blaming the Police, they're very busy holding people down at gunpoint on subway platforms.
- Francesco Fikesh, London
Paula,
Realise that it is not every day a double murderer walks into a police station. The civilian station officer deals with up to 50 plus people a day some of which are crazy people. In all likelihood the man probably popped in and asked to speak to a police officer without stating 'I murdered those two french fellows'. The civilian officer has asked them to join the queue like they would with any person who pushed in. I get the feeling that had this not been the murder suspect and you had been waiting in the queue to speak to police, (when the guy went to the front of the queue)you would now be complaining about queue jumping instead.
Also, if you want more police on receptions, don't moan when there aren't enough on the streets!
- Borisj, london
I thought Lewisham had a 'triage' system on the front desk to separate the important from the mundane and stop fiascos like this and the bus incident outside the front door of the station last year from happening again!
Obviously working as expected then!
- Kevin P, se13
I love this country. I really do. It's a shame, it is destroying itself.
- Christofer, London
Why don't they get the 'Plastic Policeman' to fill out the paperwork if needs must, and the real 'Bobbies' get out there and do the job they applied for. Bring back Dickson of Dock Green Policing at least he earned respect for his efforts and was largely successful in the process!
- Elaine .Uk, Basildon
A large part of the Met is now run by civilians or plastic bobbies i.e. Community Support Officers. This is to allow the real, trained policeman to concentrate on their proper jobs- that is filling out masses of paperwork for the statistic obsessed civilians who work in the Home Office and the legion of ethnic monitoring units in London.
- Charles Nunn, Stanmore. Middlesex.
When I lived in Lewisham, the police wouldn't come out when someone was trying to break into my house and told me that would pass the case to their telephone investigation team, literally whilst the break-in was occurring. I then waited an hour an a half in a queue at the police station to make a statement. Useless.
- Ex-Lewisham Resident, Kent
This is a disgrace. I am horrified at finding out the details of the man that handed himself in. He should have been taken seriously. After all, whoever committed these brutal killings is/are completely and utterly sick and twisted! Why should he be asked to wait his turn? - get more police on receptions! Our level of security in this country is a complete joke! Does this also mean that if someone walked into a police station with a bomb strapped to them - they would also be asked to wait in a queue? Or would it take this to wake police up?
I'm enraged!
There are just no words for this.
I really want to move out of London right now because it's not safe anywhere! And the police are not making us feel safe and secure when you hear details like this.
- Paula.S, London, UK
I used to have pride in our police, but after 10 years of Labour they've become just another group of social workers and jobsworths. It's time for a change so we can bring the pride back.
- Ian, London
This idiotic jobsworth should be severely disciplined, and all others given adequate training to understand how to prioritise tasks.
This is a major failure of the Police System.
- Nabil H, London, UK
I'm an American who has lived in London for a little over eleven years and I swear this place gets more like (OLD) New York every week.
I moved here for the civility, the safety and for the safety of my family I'm now reconsidering this decision.
Very bad drift downwards going on here.
- Da, London
Our police have always been and always will be a sad national joke.
- Mikko Takala, Drumnadrochit, Scotland
This is what happens when you employ civilian staff rather than police officers to man the front desk.
- Vincent, London
British low should be more strong about this sick people who transform this city in a jingle we need guarantee for our children for their life and their happiness. I am french and now I don't feel secure in London, the law should change...
- Azari Alexandre, london
As a doctor I often visit police stations for emergency medical visits, and again the jobsworths behind the counter often make me wait in the queue.
- Peter, London
You see the importance of queuing in line is so well ingrained, it can never be changed, for anything...well done Britain.
- Liam Morris, le2
I am surprised that they don't have badly thought out queues (like at Heathrow)at police stations for 'Murderers','child crime', 'minor effractions-eg burglary, assault, robbery-please use the online reporting service' etc....
- Anna Moreno, Luxembourg
