Before I get into today I would like to share the text I gave to the local press from which MK Citizen has written an article STAB CITY:
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.
AND The introduction I have written to my soon to be published whodunit RICHARD HEADINGTON PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR:
In early 2017 I put out a survey on social media asking what was peoples’ favourite genre of fiction reading. The answer overwhelming came back with CRIME FICTION. This was not something I had tried before but I thought I would have ad dabble !
On 9th March 2017 Amazon published my novel THE CASE FILES OF DAVE McDERMOTT. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this collection of stories and tried to develop a different style to the usual whodunit tales. On 31st March 2020 I published a sequel THE LOTTERY OF EVIL.
I now find that writing whodunit stories is perhaps my favourite genre within which I am continuing to develop what I hope is becoming something unique to Yours Truly. My published stories now include:
THE
CASE FILES OF DAVE McDERMOTT Published 9th March 2017
THE
LOTTERY OF EVIL Published 31st March 2020
BEHIND
THE NOOSE OR NOT Published 15th February 2021
BY
THE PRICKING OF MY THUMBS – THE DIARY OF A SERIAL KILLER Published 3rd
February 2021
MIT
CASE FILES Published 29th May 2021
THE
KEY IS THE ANSWER Published 26th July 2021
THE
HISTORY OF CRIME FROM A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE Published 7th July 2021
THE
MURDER TREE Published 14th June 2021
MURDER
MOST FOWL Published 12th September 2021
GEOFFREY
JESSOP A PRISON DIARY Published 26th October 2021
THE
ECCENTRICITIES OF CRIME Published 6th January 2022
THE ANGEL OF DEATH TAKES REVENGE - Published 15th February 2022
Throughout I have been trying to develop characters I could work with across a series of books. Here I am hoping that Richard Headington and James Iain Flemming, better known as Jif, may be those detective characters. Have a read and see what you think:
Introduction: RICHARD
HEADINGTON PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR
Chapter One: NOT
GUILTY – NOT LOOKING FOR ANY OTHER PERSON
Chapter Two: A BAG
FOR LIFE
Chapter Three: A
STRANGE WAY TO PAINT A PICTURE
Chapter Four: VOO
THE DOLL
Chapter Five: DEATH
IN PARADISE
Chapter Six: HEADINGTON
AND FLEMMING PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS
Chapter Seven: IN
SEARCH OF THE HOLY GRAIL
Chapter Eight: THE
DRAGON’S DEN
Chapter Nine: THE
SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Chapter Ten: THE DEVIL RIDES OUT
OK so now on with the day.
8.30am Running late this morning so need to get on. Can you believe it’s snowing outside so confined to barracks today. I need to sell some books. Partly to give me an ego trip and partly to help me fund my SMILE and TREE projects. So I’ll put into facebook today’s Top Twenty e-book and paperback entries.=
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
4.
THE
TENNESSEE WALTZ
5.
PETER’S MAGIC FOUNTAIN PEN
6.
ROBIN AND SNOWDROP A LIFE TOO SHORT TO BE
LIVED
7.
BEHIND
THE NOOSE OR NOT
8.
POEMS 4 THE NATIONAL TRUST
9.
QUANTUM MECHANICS A TIME TRAVEL TRILOGY
10. THE RAMBLINGS OF A SILLY OLD MAN
11. THE
MULBERRY LAWN
12. THE MURDER TREE
13. 13. THE EVACUEE
14. THE
LOTTERY OF EVIL
15. BY THE
PRICKING OF MY THUMBS – THE DIARY OF A SERIAL KILLER
16. PLATO
I AM NOT – I AM JUST ME
17. GEOFFREY JESSOP A PRISON DIARY
18. MICKEY
RIGG
19. THE
THINKING TREE
20. JE REGRETTE TOUT I REGRET EVERYTHING - AN ALTERNATIVE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Paperback top twenty:
1.
OUR
REBEKAH A LOVE STORY FROM OUR NHS
2. THE BRIDGE HOUSE
3. NOT THE CONCRETE COWS
4. LIVES
5.
PLANT A TREE ‘TIL SEVENTY-THREE
6.
YESTERDAY I WROTE A POEM – TOMORROW WILL YOU
WRITE ONE TOO
7. THE
ECCENTRICITIES OF CRIME
8.
PIP
DIAMOND THE PRINCE OF ROCK AND ROLL
9. MILTON DREAMS THE CITY THAT NEVER WAS
10. A B C
OF POETRY
11. A HIVE
OF ESSAYS
12. DANCING
THROUGH THE DECADES
13. A YEAR
OF POETRY
14. WHO
NEEDS A PUB TO HAVE A QUIZ
15. THE KEY IS THE ANSWER
Today’s
promo:
e-book:
BEHIND
THE NOOSE OR NOT – Published 11th February 2021 £0.77p What are your opinions regarding capital
punishment ? Is the death penalty a deterrent or is it simply revenge ? I will
he take you through a number of murder cases, present you with the facts and
invite you to consider each individually and then as a whole how the punishment
of a killer should feature within our justice system.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08WHZW5MW
Paperback:
MILTON
KEYNES THE CITY THAT NEVER WAS – Published 5th September 2020 £3.99 When Harold Wilson's Government on 1st
January 1967 designated an area of land in North Buckinghamshire it was not to
build a new town but a new city - The New City of Milton Keynes. Sadly, we have
never been given a city charter. This work is a kaleidoscope through the good,
the bad and the ugly of a middle-age city that never was. CELEBRATE the good - FIX
the bad and PAINT the ugly then very loudly CELEBRATE the new good. I want to
spark in my readers a dream that one day we will be awarded a city charter to
no longer be Milton Dreams The City That Never Was but to be Milton Keynes The
City That Truly Is.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08HTG4155
In 2020 at the start of lock down I began a diary which I called Escape From Armageddon. In 2021 I wrote a diary page every single day which I turned into a time capsule for people to be read in the year 2121. Now in 2022 I began with a daily diary which I called Life Is A Novel So Start Writing. By sharing my writing and what was happening around me I hoped to inspire other people to write but it was not really working. I am changing the style now to make it DAVID’S DAILY DIARY. Let’s try sharing the first page on Google (Failing) Blogger !
PETS IN NEED – WOW. This is something I started last year, it just kind of happened. Jollyes Pet Superstore got behind it and it has really taken off. Just had an e-mail from the store advising of ANOTHER fantastic collection. WOW.
8.55am: A job I am trying to put off. Having changed the way this diary is working I need to publish the March edition of the former LIFE IS A NOVEL SO START WRITING. 9.11am Done that. Text b/f 57,869 Final text 59,261 Written 1,392 Submitted to Amazon.
9.15am: Yesterday I had a wonderful experience meeting a lovely doctor. I am going to spend some time now working on my BIRTHDAY HITS FOR THE NHS. Right now there are 1,672 words written. Let’s see where I am in a hour.
10.05am: I have written about twenty words ! Totally out of the blue my son who lives in Devon called by on his way to York. That’s a bit of a drive AND it’s snowing. Amazon has accepted my book. Back to the NHS writing.
11.18am: 1.021 words written for my NHS pop hits bit of fun I am taking a break. I have just had an e-mail from Medical Detection Dogs and I am pondering if perhaps I should change my sponsored haircut and stage it at Jolleys Pet Store in aid of this charity. I am going to wash up from breakfast and prepare a bit of lunch.
Amazon has accepted the e-book for LIFE IS A NOVEL and it is going through the publishing process. It has stopped snowing. Yesterday’s diary page is still sitting at five readers on Google Blogger. HECK ! My piece on knife crime is the lead article on the MK Citizen’s website.
11.42: Lunch put ready to cook and eat in an hour or so. I’ll now turn to checking and editing some draft chapters for RICHARD HEADINGTON PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR
2.10pm: Edited the introduction and chapter one. Added 452 words. I think I’ll do a bit more work on the NHS Birthday Hits.
3.30pm: Going
to call it a day.
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