Friday 1st April
2022:
6.40am: Following yesterday’s article in Milton Keynes Citizen I have just e-mailed the following to the two members of parliament concerned:
I
trust you have read the article in Milton Keynes Citizen:
I
have received some positive feedback in relation to this.
It is my understand there have been TWO further incidence since this was written. One in Shenley Brook End and one between Fishermead and Bradwell Common.
I have pasted below my original text from which the Citizen prepared the article. Please take note of the text in red.
I believe your concerns as reported in the media are genuine and sincere. I wish you every possible success as you seek to make our borough a safer place in which to live. However, I do not believe all those who would seek to engage with you will point you in the needed directions to achieve that which is needed. There are those, particularly in the run up to local elections, who will attempt to use the situation for their own political ends. The footer at the end of the Citizen’s article is a perfect example of this.
Neither is increasing police numbers the easy answer. What we are witnessing is the result of deeper issues within society.
I am here formally offering to meet with you in order to discuss the information I gave to Milton Keynes Citizen for the article to be written. Within any meeting I would IN CONFIDENCE be prepared to advise you of the anecdotes I could not expand on for the public domain.
Your intention to meet with the Home Secretary is a good move. I believe she is a good person. However, without knowing where to look in order to understand the problem behind the incidents we are seeing now almost daily everything will be a waste of time. You are not going to find the help you need within areas I have marked in red on the following text.
I trust you will use my time to help you in your mission and accept my offer to meet.
I await hearing from you.
David J B Ashford
PS: In 1991 I ran a project reuniting the Leon Family with its ancestral home of Bletchley park. I am in the process of writing a sequel IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SAMMY LEON. Associated with this are invitations from Fenny Poppers to the Leon Family to fire a popper this November and an invitation from Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council for a family member to plant a tree in Leon Recreation Ground. I need some help contacting the family, although Sir John Leon (John Standing) and I are friends on Facebook this is not the way to issue the invitations. I would like to discuss this HAPPY matter with you.
MILTON KEYNES STAB CITY !
I read with some interest the article in last week’s edition of Milton Keynes Citizen MP: I am determined to stamp out knife crime You will recall our previous discussion where I shared some of my experiences but I do not think you were able to use such in an article at that time.
Given this statement by MP Ben Everitt and the fact that there was yet another knife murder yesterday on Netherfield I would offer the following to you.
My first reaction to reading the article is to ask if this is a case of political gamesmanship or something of genuine concern. If it is the latter, which I sincerely hope it is, then Mr Everitt has set himself a mission impossible which needs to be supported by all residents of Stab City in an attempt to achieve his ambition.
Prior to the pandemic and lock down I worked extensively with vulnerable adults, homeless rough-sleepers and a wider range of teenagers from whom I gained much inside information. Such is now two years old but I believe still relevant.
In any determination to stamp out knife crime it has to be understood that Milton Keynes Council is part of the problem and not part of the solution.
When the deputy leader of the labour group on Milton Keynes Council was sounding off about people carrying knives I wrote to her asking if we could meet in order that I could share information I had relating to the attitude of such knife carriers. She failed to answer my letter. I wrote again twice. Both of those letters failed to receive the courtesy of a reply ! I would explain that I hand delivered the letters to Milton Keynes Council’s office so there can be no question they were received.
I was later contacted by a member of the conservative group on Milton Keynes Council asking for my thoughts. These were then passed the party leader on the council were they were completely ignored. He has, of course, a very poor record of responding to communication, a reply from Lord Lucan is more likely than from his office !
I had previously passed information given to me by a vulnerable adult to Crimestoppers. This related to a major drug dealer who went about his business in Milton Keynes with a major knife weapon and wearing a stab vest. Had I met with the two persons above I would like to think I included in our discussions this information. The dealer concerned is now serving a life sentence with a minimum of thirty years for murder. Your paper covered the crime and trial. I wonder what reaction to their failure to communicate the two politicians I have mentioned is to that case.
Just over two years ago I became Chairman of
Thames Valley Police Community Forum West Bletchley. Again lockdown frustrated
things but we have achieved some significant matters. The forum meeting in
early 2020 placed as priority:
1.
Drugs dealing
2.
Knife carrying
3. Anti-social behaviour
Discussing this with a group of teenagers in a school they confirmed that drug dealing was a major issue but felt knife carrying was not. How may their attitudes have changed in two years ?
Knife carrying and drug dealing are often two sides of the same coin. Again I see Milton Keynes Council as part of the problem and not the solution. Part of the problem through ignorance and part not properly engaging with real people. How many boroughs can boast their mayor’s nominated charity being targeted by drug dealers ? Milton Keynes Council can. TWICE !
Taking part in an overnight walk to help locate homeless rough-sleepers, working with a local charity, we came across a giant drug camp immediately behind The Bus Shelter MK then in Campbell Park. The Bus Shelter MK was then then mayor’s chosen charity. Campbell Park, of course, is named after Lord Campbell of Eskin who was chair of Milton Keynes Development Corporation.
Within Central Milton Keynes is what is colloquially known as the YMCA Bridge, indeed it is adjacent to YMCA MK. This is a notorious drug dealing location. I found in the shrubbery on the hostel side of the bridge another drug camp. I took photographs and reported this.
How many of the knife crime and murders within the past two years are drug related ? Those which have gone to trial are in the public domain while the remining incidents are sub judicia.
I find it very hard to understand the mentality of someone stabbing another person knowing full well they will be arrested and end up in prison. I discussed this with one particular homeless rough-sleeper who attended the weekly lunch of love I ran pre-pandemic. He understood the mentality and tried to explain it to me. He wanted me to set up a meeting for him with Iain Stewart MP for South Milton Keynes but again the pandemic intervened.
It makes sense from my perspective for a drug addict to carry a knife when going to score. ALL dealers carry blades. Perhaps not intending to use the knife, but such gives mental assurance to the addict as he enters the dangerous situation of making his purchase.
During my time running the weekly lunch for vulnerable adults so many confided in me some sad stories. I will not include here those anecdotes, without their permission would be wrong to do so. However, in many of the cases Milton Keynes Council was part of their problem and not the solution. Supporting two former homeless rough-sleepers it was a non-stop uphill struggle with the council.
Milton Keynes Stab City ? Well we don’t have a city charter do we ? Given this situation do we deserve one ?
It is easy to condemn the politics of Milton Keynes Council which I most certainly do but knife carrying is a wider issue across society.
When I was a teenager in the 1960’s I carried a knife. All teenagers did. A pocket or better known as pen knife. We used these to sharpen pencils, to open pop bottles, to clean our fingernails and many other things BUT nobody ever considered them a weapon and would NEVER have used them in such a way to harm anyone.
I was not a member of The Boy Scouts but back then a sheaf knife was part of the uniform strapped to the boy’s lower leg.
Society has changed. How do we change it back ? How do WE realise MP Ben Everitt’s hope ? Putting up posters and having amnesty bins can not be the answer.
Do I carry a knife ? When I go to the DIY store I will have in my pocket a Stanley Knife so I can cut bindings on such items as wood in order to fit them into my car. Perfectly legitimate and I hope if ever I am stopped by the police in a random check such legitimacy would be accepted.
Do I feel safe out and about in Milton Keynes ? Things have changed. I never go to Central Milton Keynes, I shop locally where I feel safe but always I am uneasy using a cash machine. Taking a vulnerable adult to a cash machine about four years ago I saw him robbed at knife point.
The government needs to open its eyes ! We need harsher, much harsher sentences for knife crime and for drug dealing. I am not in favour of the death penalty, I am old enough to remember when it was in use. My father was friends with a high court judge who had sent many to the drop including the serial killer Reginald Christie. This judge was actually a lovely man, I wonder what he would make of today’s society.
When mobile phones were first introduced all numbers had to be registered, including pay-as-you-go. Bring such back and eliminate the burner phones of the knife carrying criminal drug dealers. Is that likely to happen ? It would make a difference.
I wish MP Ben Everitt all the best if indeed his thinking is to genuinely stamp out knife crime but no MP and no government can undo the society we live in. Society itself must do that.
8.08am: Breakfast
done and finished. Time to:
Put yesterday’s diary into Google Blogger.
Time now to prepare my book promo:
e-book top twenty:
1 THE WILD ADVENTURES OF DI CENTRAL EATING
2 THE DIARY OF BILLY HARDCASTLE
3 THE ADVENTURES OF DOROTHY THE DUCK AND
FRIENDS
5PETER’S
MAGIC FOUNTAIN PEN
ROBIN
AND SNOWDROP A LIFE TOO SHORT TO BE LIVED
BEHIND THE NOOSE OR NOT
POEMS
4 THE NATIONAL TRUST
QUANTUM
MECHANICS A TIME TRAVEL TRILOGY
THE RAMBLINGS OF A SILLY OLD MAN
THE
MULBERRY LAWN
THE MURDER TREE
THE
EVACUEE
THE
LOTTERY OF EVIL
BY THE
PRICKING OF MY THUMBS – THE DIARY OF A SERIAL KILLER
PLATO
I AM NOT – I AM JUST ME
GEOFFREY JESSOP A PRISON DIARY
MICKEY
RIGG
THE
THINKING TREE
JE REGRETTE TOUT I REGRET EVERYTHING - AN ALTERNATIVE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
1.
Paperback
top twenty:
2. OUR REBEKAH A LOVE STORY FROM OUR NHS
3. THE BRIDGE HOUSE
4. NOT THE CONCRETE COWS
5. LIVES
6. PLANT A TREE ‘TIL SEVENTY-THREE
7. YESTERDAY
I WROTE A POEM – TOMORROW WILL YOU WRITE ONE TOO
8. THE
ECCENTRICITIES OF CRIME
9. PIP DIAMOND THE PRINCE OF ROCK AND ROLL
10. MILTON DREAMS THE CITY THAT NEVER WAS
11. A B C
OF POETRY
12. A HIVE
OF ESSAYS
13. DANCING
THROUGH THE DECADES
14. A YEAR
OF POETRY
15. WHO
NEEDS A PUB TO HAVE A QUIZ
16. THE KEY IS THE ANSWER
e-book:
THE TENNESSEE WALTZ –
Published 12th October 2021 £0.77p
I am a prolific writer. I have been writing
stories since I was a teenager and now I am an old man ! I write across many
genre but writing love stories has not quite been my thing.
A few years ago I came up with an idea for such a
story but did not do a lot with it. Originally I called it What Are We Going To
Tell The President but have now after juggling and changing the original text
here it is as The Tennessee Waltz.
See what you think. Obviously I hope you like the
story. If you do and if there are others who also find themselves humming The
Tennessee Waltz perhaps I can write some more love stories
Read on. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09J8YLNM2
Paperback:
PLANT A TREE ‘TIL SEVENTY
THREE – Published 4th October 2021 £7.99 I have been a member of The National Trust for
forty years and since in 2020 the pandemic closed down the many things I was
involved in I have come to visit a National Trust property most weeks. I am not
into the houses the trust cares for but the beautiful gardens and parklands
within which these houses are situated. It is in the parklands and gardens the
trees are to be planted. The National Trust intends to plant twenty million
trees by the year 2030, less than a decade away.
This book is my part supporting The National
Trust's tree planting project.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09HFTQLLH
8.35am: I finished editing the text for RICHARED HEADINGTON PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR part way through Chapter Two yesterday. I am going back now to finish that off.
9.22am: Chapter two finished. I think that once I have been through everything and actually finished writing chapter ten I will need to check the text again to make it perfect. So when will I be able to submit it to Amazon ?
11.05am: have been working on chapter three but went out to see the beautiful people at Jollyes Pet Supermarket regarding their latest collection for Pets In Need then went to collect my medication from the pharmacist. Hopefully this will ease the mental health condition my physical illness has been hitting me with. Back now to work on Richard Headington.
11.21am: Chapter three finished. A bit of work now on the NHS Birthday Hits.
12.41pm: I have now finished the NHS hits to the end of the 1950’s. Time now to have a look at the next chapter in Richard Headington.
2.58pm: I finished the chapter and actually dropped off to sleep. I’ll call it a day.
Written today: 4,845 Total for
month 4,845 Total c/f for year 460,035
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