Three women and baby 'terrorised by stranger who was standing over the Kray twins’ graves'
A 53-year-old taxi driver has complained to the Met police and the CPS over missed opportunities to catch a stranger with mental health issues, who burst into her home "threatening to kill" her, two other women and a baby.
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According to the victim, the opportunity for police to bring forward charges such as threats to kill and harassment had "timed out", following cancelled interviews with the perpetrator and an inability to locate him.
Kelly Kane was walking her dog through Chingford Mount cemetery towards her home in East London on a sunny morning in May last year when she was approached by a stranger, who had been standing by the graves of the former notorious gangsters, the Kray twins.
Ms Kane told LBC that the man quickly started behaving in an aggressive manner, and she realised something was wrong.
“He started to shout about how his life has been difficult and that he was in a bad way.”
“He started to talk about how Allah was here, and that people had wronged him, and he asked if I would pray with him. He mentioned bombings...I was petrified”.
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Despite the man telling her that she should stay, Ms Kane eventually managed to leave. On her way home she noticed two young women, walking with a baby in a pram, and very soon after, she heard alarming noises coming from the cemetery.
“It started... the screams... him chasing them and telling them he was going to kill them and their baby”, Ms Kane has told LBC.
Ms Kane helped the women into her home, with their screams captured on a neighbour’s ring doorbell footage, leaving the stranger pacing up and down her front garden, and Kelly claiming that he shouted “kill the bitches” and “I don’t care if there is a man in the house.”
Whilst Ms Kane was on the phone to the police, he smashed into her locked home.
“We heard a bang. One of the girls was screaming. He kicked the door in, entered my home and walked into my kitchen. He said ‘I’m going to kill you.. I’m going to get the baby’.”
Ms Kane tried to shield the women, and repeatedly told the stranger to leave her home. It was only when her dog started to bark loudly and incessantly that he began to retreat.
“He walked out into the hallway, picked up my lamp and smashed it on the floor.”
Neighbours then chased the man as he walked down onto the high street, where he was later arrested by police.
Ms Kane says officers turned up to her house about 40 minutes later, and found her and the young women sat shaking on the stairs while the baby was screaming.
In the days and months after the incident, Ms Kane says she felt completely let down by the police and the CPS, and that her case was not being taken seriously, with multiple failings made along the way.
She says she was initially told by officers that he would be interviewed for offences including threats to kill, harassment, and criminal damage.
However, she says a string of interviews were cancelled in a row because officers could either not locate the individual, or they were too short staffed.
When Ms Kane tried to chase officers about progress, she was told that "she was not the only case they were working on."
Eventually she says she was told by police that the period for bringing threats to kill and harassment charges had been ‘timed out’, and that the only charge they were bringing forward was criminal damage.
Ms Kane says she was also told that threats made to her and the other women would not hold up in court because some were made in Arabic, and others were too generic and not directed at a specific individual.
Ms Kane says this is not true, and that he made direct threats a number of times, “He threatened to kill us. He said ‘I’m going to kill you. I’m going to get the baby.’”
Nearly a year after the incident, police charged 35 year old Mahdi Habib, based in Ilford, with two counts of criminal damage for breaking down Ms Kane’s door and lamp.
He was convicted and ordered to pay £370 in compensation to Ms Kane, which she says she still has not received. Habib was spared any prison time, and was not charged with threats to kill or harassment.
Ms Kane has told LBC that she asked the police to inform her about when Habib was due to be sentenced so that she could be present, but that officers failed to do this.
Whilst there is an injunction on Habib entering the Chingford area surrounding Ms Kane’s home, she says she is extremely anxious about the possibility that he could commit other, potentially more serious crimes in the future.
“I just put my case into the hands of the police. I thought they would protect me. I thought they were getting justice for me, those two girls and the baby.”
“I don’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone else.” “I’ve been suffering since this incident and I did everything I could to inform the police, and they just didn’t act on it.”
LBC has contacted the Met police, which has stated “we appreciate the alarm and distress this incident must have caused Ms Kane. We ensured she was supported and regularly updated throughout the investigation.
Officers conducted a thorough investigation, exploring all lines of enquiry, including reviewing CCTV and speaking to witnesses, while maintaining sensitivity to a suspect with a history of mental health concerns.
The Met is putting more officers on the beat in local areas and making sure they're tackling crime and keeping Londoners safe.”
The CPS has told LBC “we understand that this incident was extremely distressing for Ms Kane and we worked hard to consider all possible charges in this case.
Whilst we prosecuted Mahdi Habib for criminal damage, there was not enough evidence to charge for threats to kill in this case and we have written to Ms Kane to explain why.”