Forest Gate health check (1) - poor General Practice

The NHS has become far more responsive to patient feedback, and in communicating key performance data about many parts of the health service in Britain, over recent years.

Below we present what the NHS Choices website says about the fourteen registered GP practices in E7. 

The 14, between them, have 77,265 registered patients and employ 47 GPs - 18 female and 29 male.

The NHS Choices site provides some performance data, much gained from patients' surveys, we feature a couple of those fields in the details below.

It should be stressed that these tables reflect patient feedback, not medical competence, of which we have no knowledge or experience upon which to comment.

Nor do the tables directly refer to the premises from which the GPs work, although it is clear from many of the photos below that there is a great variation in their appearances. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the scruffier looking surgeries tend to fare worst in the feedback tables.

We have created a table concerning two of the patients' feedback concerns; the first shows the percentage of patients attached to the surgery who would recommend the practice to friends and family.  

The second indicates the percentage of patients who are satisfied with the practice's surgery hours (details of these, for each practice, can be found via the links below).

As far as the patient recommendation table is concerned, NHS Choices, in addition to showing a percentage recommendation figure for each practice, indicate how that figure compares with the national average.

Unfortunately, the site does not state what the national average approval percentage figure is, but it indicates whether a surgery's performance is: among the best nationally (in top 25% of ratings of all surgeries), mid range nationally (within the middle 50% of practice percentages, nationally), or among the worst, nationally (within the lowest 25% approval ratings nationally).

Forest Gate's surgeries, on the whole do not fare well, as the table, ranked in descending order, indicates:

Patients who would recommend the practice (%)

Claremont - 79.4%
Woodgrange - 70.0%

The two surgeries, above, are mid range, nationally in their recommendation rating.  The 12 surgeries below are defined as among the worst, nationally.

Driver - 66.1%
Krishnamurthy - 65.3%
Swedan - 64.6%
Bapna - 63.5%
Shrewsbury Road - 63.4%
Yesufa - 62.9%
Abiola - 62.5%
Driver - 66.1%
Birchdale Road - 56.6%
Mahmud - 53.5%
Shanker - 44.7%
Boleyn Road - 35%

Patients satisfied with surgery hours (%)

Claremont - 84.1%
Birchdale Road - 83%
Woodgrange - 82.6%
Bapna - 82.1%
Yesufa - 79.4%
Krishnamurthy - 76.9%
Abiola - 62.5%
Mahmud - 71.7%
Driver - 71.2%
Swedan - 71%
Patel - 71%
Shrewsbury Road - 69.6%
Shanker - 66.4%
Boleyn Road - 56.9%

Star ratings (out of 5) - average given by patients

Abiola - 4.5
Claremont - 4.5
Woodgrange - 4
Patel - 3.5
Swedan - 3.5
Bapna - 3
Mahmud - 3
Driver - 3
Shanker - 3
Birchdale Road - 2
Krishnamurthy - 2
Shrewsbury Road - 2
Yesufa - 2
Boleyn Road - 1.5

Far more information about individual practices can be accessed via this link.

Forest Gate Practices:in order defined by NHS Choices:

P Abiola, 121 Woodgrange Road, E7 0EP. Tel: 020 8250 7550

Registered patients: 3,761

GPs in practice: 2 (1 female, 1 male)

Special services: Asthma clinic; Learning disability health check

62.5% of patients would recommend the practice (among the worst, nationally)

75.3% of patients satisfied with surgery opening hours 

4.5 Star rating (out of 5): (based on 18 surgery review responses)

Govind Bapna, 511 Katherine Road E7 8DR. Tel: 020 8472 7029

Registered patients: 1,084

GPs in practice: 1 (1 m)

Special services: Asthma clinic; Learning disability health check

63.5% of patients would recommend the practice (among worst, nationally)

82.1% of patients satisfied with surgery opening hours 

3 Star rating (out of 5): (based on 5 surgery review responses)

Birchdale Road Medical Centre, 2 Birchdale Rd, E7 8AR. Tel: 020 8472 1600

Registered patients: 3,285

GPs in practice: 2 (1 f, 1 m)

Special services: Learning disability health check

56.6% of patients would recommend the practice (among the worst, nationally)

83% of patients satisfied with surgery opening hours 

2 Star rating (out of 5): (based on 6 surgery review responses)

Boleyn Rd Practice (Dr S Rafiq), 162 Boleyn Rd, E7 9QJ. Tel: 020 8503 5656

Registered patients:7,226

GPs in practice: 2 (2 m)

Special services: Asthma clinic; Child health and development; Child immunisation, Drug and alcohol services, Long acting, reversible, contraception; Smoking cessation Travel health and Yellow Fever

35% of patients would recommend the practice (among the worst, nationally)

56.9% of patients satisfied with surgery opening hours 

1.5 Star rating (out of 5): (based on 43 surgery review responses)

Claremont Clinic, 459 - 463 Romford Rd E7 8AB. Tel: 020 8522 0222

Registered patients: 8,719

GPs in practice: 6 (3 f, 3 m)

Special services: Anti-coagulent monitoring and dosing; Child health and development - Baby clinic; Child immunisation; Minor surgery (e.g. removal of moles and skin lesions); Obsesity management; Physiotherapy; Primary care counselling (CBT); Smoking cessation; Travel health and Yellow Fever

79.4% of patients would recommend the practice (mid range, nationally)

84.1% of patients satisfied with surgery opening hours 

4.5 Star rating (out of 5): (based on 29 surgery review responses)

Dr DK Mahmud and Dr SW Rahman, 45, Westbury Rd, E7 8BU. Tel: 020 8472 4128

Registered patients: 4,199

GPs in practice: (1 f, 2 m)

Special services: Asthma clinic; Baby clinic, with health visitor; COPD clinic with spirometry; Diabetes clinic; Learning disability health check, Travel health, without Yellow Fever

53.5% of patients would recommend the practice (among the worst, nationally)

71.7% of patients satisfied with surgery opening hours 

3 Star rating (out of 5): (based on 16 surgery review responses)

Dr CM Patel, 2 Jepson Road, E7 8LZ. Tel: 020 8470 6429

Registered patients: 2,112

GPs in practice: 2 (1 f, 1 m)

Special services: Asthma clinic; Child health and development; Child immunisation; Learning disability health check; Primary care counselling service; Travel clinic, without Yellow Fever

62.1% of patients would recommend the practice (among the worst, nationally)

68.6% of patients satisfied with surgery opening hours 

3.5 Star rating (out of 5): (based on 25 surgery review responses)

Dr Swedan and Partner, Little Lister Health Centre, 121 Woodgrange Rd, E7 0EP. Tel: 020 8250 7530

Registered patients: 3,121

GPs in practice: 3 (2 f, 1 m)

Special services: Asthma clinic; Baby clinic with health visitor; Child immunisation; COPD clinic with spirometry; Learning disability health check; Long-acting, reversible contraception; Minor surgery (e.g. removal of moles and skin lesions); Primary care counselling service; Smoking cessation clinic; Travel health, without Yellow Fever

64.6 % of patients would recommend the practice (among the worst, nationally)

71 % of patients satisfied with surgery opening hours 

Star rating 3.5 (out of 5): (based on 20 surgery review responses)

Driver and Partners, Little Lister Health Centre, 121 Woodgrange Rd, E7 0EP. Tel: 020 8250 7510

Registered patients: 6,930

GPs in practice: 4 (2 f, 2 m)

Special services: Learning disability health check 

66.1% of patients would recommend the practice (among the worst, nationally)

71.2% of patients satisfied with surgery opening hours 

3 Star rating (out of 5): (based on 21 surgery review responses)

T Krishnamurthy, East Ham Memorial Hospital, Shrewsbury Road, E7 8QR. Tel: 020 8250 6555

Registered patients: 2,006

GPs in practice: 2 (2 m)

Special services: Asthma clinic; Child health and development; Child immunisations; COPD clinic with spirometry; Minor surgery (e.g. removal of moles and skin lesions); Primary care counselling service; Smoking cessation clinic; Travel health, without Yellow Fever

65.3 % of patients would recommend the practice (among the worst, nationally)

79.6 % of patients satisfied with surgery opening hours 

2 Star rating (out of 5): (based on 8 surgery review responses)

PD Shanker and Partners, 75 - 77 Upton Lane, E7 9PB. Tel: 020 8471 6912

Registered patients: 7,240

GPs in practice: 4 (1 f, 3 m)

Special services: Asthma clinic; Learning disability health check

44.7 % of patients would recommend the practice (among the worst, nationally)

66.4 % of patients satisfied with surgery opening hours 

3 Star rating (out of 5): (based on 58 surgery review responses)

Shrewsbury Road Surgery, Shrewsbury Rd, E7 8QP. Tel: 020 8586 5111

Registered patients: 12,848

GPs in practice: 5 (2f, 3m)

Special services: Asthma clinic; Child health and development; Child immunisations; COPD clinic with spirometry; Minor surgery (e.g. removal of moles and skin lesions); Travel health, without Yellow Fever

63.4 % of patients would recommend the practice

69.6 % of patients satisfied with surgery opening hours 

2 Star rating (out of 5): (based on 19 surgery review responses)

Woodgrange Medical Practice, 40 Woodgrange Road, E7 0QH. Tel: 020 8221 3100/3128

Registered patients: 12,317

GPs in practice: 11 (4f, 7m)

Special services: Asthma clinic; Child health and development; Learning disability health check

70.0 % of patients would recommend the practice (mid range, nationally)

82.6 % of patients satisfied with surgery opening hours 

4 Star rating (out of 5): (based on 49 surgery review responses)

A Yesufa, East Ham Memorial Building, Shrewsbury Road, E7 8QR. Tel: 020 8552 2299

Registered patients: 2,417

GPs in practice: 1 (1 m)

Special services: Child immunisation

62.9 % of patients would recommend the practice (among worst, nationally)

79.4 % of patients satisfied with surgery opening hours 

2.5 Star rating (out of 5): (based on 7 surgery review responses).

Footnote: For further information about each of these surgeries, visit here .

Fires and drought on Wanstead Flats - a reflection

This August is a significant anniversary month for Wanstead Flats; the fortieth since drought dried area up, and the tenth since it encountered a major fire.

So, we felt it an appropriate moment to remember, both them and previous fires on the Flats - celebrate would hardly be the word! Peter Williams looks back.

2016 is the fortieth anniversary of the Great Drought in Britain when the country was ravaged by grass and heath land fires for over two months. From 22 June until 26 August -  nine weeks - the weather was consistently dry, sunny and hot. The summer of 1976 marked the culmination of a prolonged drought which had begun in April 1975.

By April 1976 the drought had become extremely serious, not only for the water-supply industry but also for agriculture. The topsoil in East Anglia had turned to dust and was being systematically eroded by stiff easterly winds, and farmers warned of poor yields unless the rains came soon. They didn't.

A Drought Bill was rushed through Parliament, water consumption was restricted as reservoirs and aquifers dried out, the parched countryside turned from green to brown and from brown to white as the last vestiges of moisture disappeared, and there were extensive heath and woodland fires in southern England. Finally a Minister for Drought, Dennis Howell, was appointed to co-ordinate water conservation. Within three days it had started raining!

The centrepiece of the summer, meteorologically speaking, was a truly unprecedented heatwave which lasted from 22 June to 16 July - 25 consecutive days - on each of which the temperature climbed to 27C or more (the 80s F) somewhere of other in the  UK.

Even more remarkable, the temperature reached 32C (the 90s F) on every one of the 15 successive days from 23 June to 7 July, inclusive. (Source Philip Eden website weatheronline.)

2006 was also a drought year in the UK.

9 August 2016 marked the tenth anniversary of the largest fire on Wanstead Flats for many years. It burned several acres of ground and made the news. It was a hot dry summer and the fire started near the north end of Centre Road.

There was a strong north westerly breeze blowing so it spread rapidly to the south east amongst the long grass only stopping when it reached the cut grass of the playing fields. The damage covered an area equivalent to 15-20 football pitches.

Eight fire engines attended and Centre Road was closed for several days whilst they were damping down hot spots which kept flaring up in the hot, dry and windy conditions. The last fire engine left nearly a week later.

In fact, there is a long history of fires on the Flats – the first account is from 1835 of a fire covering 20 acres:

Morning Advertiser - 13 August 1835

There was no organised fire brigade at this time (just tiny wooden parish manual engines) so there was no option but to call out the army’s Royal Engineers from Woolwich Barracks. The sappers dug trenches to contain the fire, not to fight it. Interestingly, to this day the fire brigade in Paris is a regiment of the French army and hence are called Sapeurs (sappers) Pompiers.

Here is a further report on this fire, with the interesting addition of a supposed cause:

https://books.google.co.uk/books/books?id=eeQ_AAAAYAAJ-1858

(The relationship between "gipsy partying" and Wanstead Flats is an interesting one and will be the subject of a future article.)

Fires continued to be a feature in the nineteenth century, often caused by what we now call anti social behaviour:

Cheltenham Chronicle - 13 August 1887

Essex Newsman - 15 September 1906

The pictures below give some impression of 2006. Fire engines were deployed onto the flats.

Large columns of smoke covered Forest Gate east of Centre Road and drifted south over the houses. There was no risk to property however.

A ghostly fire engine on the Flats. You can see how dry this grass was in 2006.

Centre Road was closed for a couple of days as water supply was a problem and the hoselines ran across and down it. This is near the Centre Road car park.

This specialist hoselayer was deployed from as far away as Southgate. Other specialist fire appliances were brought in. Note hoselines down Centre Rd junction of Forest Rd. It was nice to walk down the road with no traffic across the Flats for once.

Looking south towards Capel Point, at the corner of Woodford Rd/Capel Rd, and Canary Wharf in the distance. In total 30 acres was affected. Note how the paths were not burnt as they are gravelly and compacted so the fire tended to jump them. Some wartime features were exposed by the fire.

The same view 13 August 2016. Notice
 how the vegetation on the right (mainly
 broome) has grown so extensively

This image is from Google earth, dated

 September 2006, and clearly shows the fire damage.

The light area in the photo, above, is the Centre Road car park. Top right corner is Aldersbrook Road changing rooms and car park. The pattern of burning is quite clear, with the origin, top left, of burnt area. There was a stong breeze from the north west. Note how the paths remain very clear.

Since the end of cattle grazing on the Flats in 1998, due to the BSE crisis, there has been a significant issue of the spread of such scrub. There have been no major fires in the last few years to limit its spread.

The Corporation of London are planning a programme of scrub reduction in a managed way involving some local voluntary groups including the Wren Conservation and Wildlife Group. Broome is an important home for wildlife especially birds, but there needs to be a balance between open grassland and the more scrubby areas; that balance traditionally would have been maintained by grazing with cattle nibbling out certain plants and encouraging diversity.

Newham council parks police white CCTV
 vehicle on the Flats on 9 August 2006

In 2006 the Newham's parks' police service courted controversy and was later closed down. Maverick officers put blue lights on vehicles when they should not have (as they were not official 999 emergency vehicles), and there were several other scandals associated with them, including using Metropolitan Police paperwork in tackling what was anti social behaviour, not crime, e.g. incorrect disposal of waste by shopkeepers.

They “arrested” some boys on Aldersbrook Road near the Flats even though they were not in Newham at the time but in Redbridge. Indeed the picture above shows them operating on the flats which are in Redbridge where they had no legal authority as they were a Newham council force.

An independent solicitor, Amanda Kelly, was commissioned to conduct an investigation into the Newham parks police. As the Waltham Forest Guardian reported it in May 2006:

An investigation has been launched into claims that two boys were unlawfully held and questioned by parks' constables outside the boundaries of Newham.

If true, the incident will do further damage to the reputation of the division, which was condemned as badly trained and poorly run by an independent inquiry last year.

The report by solicitor Amanda Kelly found that the service was riddled by unproven allegations of abuses of power, corruption racism and bullying.

Despite having powers of arrest inside parks, the constabulary have the same authority as members of the public on the streets and are not permitted to patrol outside Newham.

Kwaljit Singh, 17, of Campbell Road, East Ham, told the Guardian that he was attempting to cross Aldersbrook Road in Wanstead when a van carrying up-to six officers blocked his passage.

He admitted that he shouted at the van, which then stopped and reversed. He said he panicked asnd fled, but was pursued by the constables who caught up with him.

He was joined by his friend Sahmi Mohammed, 14, of Whitear Walk, Stratford, and the two were ordered into the back of the van.

According to an official log seen by the Guardian, when constables noticed Sahmi was wearing a tag the police were called and asked if there was any reason why he should be detained.

A police officer refused to give the constables any information and they were forced to release the two.

Kwaljit said: I admit I did shout at the van and panicked a bit, but they were intimidating and calling me names. I knew straight away who they are because they often stop me and my friends, but they did not identify themselves and tell me what my rights were.

The log records the incident as taking place "out of borough" and listed an anti-social behaviour category listed as "shouting/swearing".

A council spokesman said : "We have been made aware of an alleged incident in Aldersbrook Road and are investigating the matter".

See also:  http:/www.blowe.org.uk/2012/08/how-is-this-not-impersonating-police.html

Footnotes

1. Not the 2006 fire but this is Capel Road Forest Gate with the flats in the background.

This Land Rover, above, was a former fire engine appliance served with SFOR, (the United Nations stabilisation force) in the former Yugoslavia.

You can see SFOR label on the rear bumper nearside. It could regularly be seen driving round Forest Gate, where it was photographed in late 2005, still with its crests on the doors. 

It was on civilian registration plates having been re-registered on leaving the defence forces, and blue lights removed. Defence Fire Service stickers were still on the doors though:

In 2015 it was reported on a specialist’s website - It now drives around Wythenshawe in Manchester.  It is more black than red but still looks the same: same back door and still has the fire stickers on the driver and passenger door!


2. Author Peter Williams is both a local historian and a historian of the fire brigade.

Murdergate (2)

This is the second of two posts examining the eighteen murders that have been committed in Forest Gate since 2003. For details of the source of the information, see the footnote to this post. For some of the conclusions that can be drawn from the murders - see the earlier post, here.

10. Igor Vinogradov: Date of murder: 20 Jan 2011, solved (argument between associates)
A Lithuanian squatter who kicked and stamped his housemate to death was jailed for at least 17 years for the murder. Paulius Korsakas, 27, killed 37-year-old Russian Igor Vinogradov, as the victim slept on the floor of a house 112 Capel Road, on 20 January 2011.

Korsakas then attempted to burn his victim's body to destroy the evidence, before texting his girlfriend to admit: 'I broke one guy really badly'. Mr Vinogradov's body was not discovered until 11 days after the killing.

Convicted: Paulius Korsakas
- minimum of 17 years

Korsakas was convicted of murder after a trial at the Old Bailey and on 16 September 2011 was jailed for life with a minimum of 17 years before parole.

Witnesses told how Paulius Korsakas, a 27 year-old Lithuanian, attacked Mr Vinogradov in a drunken fury, believing he had been humiliated or slighted during a row.

Detective Sergeant Lesley O'Connell, said: "This was an extremely violent unprovoked attack on a defenceless man who was asleep at the time.

Korsakas was put out by the earlier argument and, fuelled by alcohol and his temper, took his revenge. I am pleased Igor's family have received justice."

11. Champion Ganda: Date of killing:9 May 2013, solved (street fight)
Champion Ganda, 17, was stabbed to death in Forest Gate on the afternoon of 9 May 2013. The teenager and a 16 year-old friend were found injured in Sandringham Road following a fight at around 2pm. Ganda died after being stabbed 11 times in the head, chest, arms and legs.

Victim: Champion Ganda

Champion was pronounced dead at the scene and a postmortem gave the cause of death as multiple stab wounds including a fatal injury to the chest.

The second victim, Shaquille Davis, was taken to hospital for treatment and was discharged two days later.


Guilty of manslaughter:
Amani Lynch

Amani Lynch, 20 of Canning Town was found guilty of manslaughter in February 2017 and will be sentenced on 24 March 2017.  Two others who stood trial with Lynch were found not guilty at the Old Bailey trial


12. Sabeen Thandi: Date of murder: 7 July 2013 , solved (domestic)
Mother-of-three Sabeen Thandi, 37, was found unconscious at her home in Disraeli Road, on 7 July 2013. She was discovered under the duvet in the bedroom. Attempts were made to resuscitate her but she was confirmed dead on arrival at hospital. A postmortem gave the cause of death as strangulation.

On 8 July police charged Ms Thandi's husband Mohammed Badiuzzaman, 34, a security guard with murder. He pleaded guilty to murder at the Old Bailey on 6 May 2014. He was jailed for life with a minimum of 17 years before parole.

Victim: Sabeen Thandi

The couple began their relationship in November 2012 and he moved into her property in January 2013. Detectives said he became controlling and possessive, refusing to let her go out on her own or travel to and from her work as a doctor's receptionist. He also forced her to wear a hijab and pressured her into an Islamic marriage in April 2013.

On 14 June 2013 she went to a solicitors' firm in Watford and applied for a non-molestation order against her husband. It was granted three days later at Watford County Court, after she said she feared for the safety of her and her three children.

Convicted: Mohammed Badiuzzaman,
 minimum of 17 years

When police arrived at Sabeen's flat on 7 July, Badiuzzaman answered the door and claimed his partner had not returned from work. Detective Inspector Euan McKeeve said "Mohammed learnt that Sabeen had begun a relationship with someone else and murdered his wife in a fit of rage".

13. Anu Kapoor: Date of murder:4 Aug 2013, solved (domestic)
Mother-of-two Anu Kapoor, 27, was stabbed to death at her home in Shrewsbury Road on 4 August 2013. Police were called to the address by her husband Rojel Haque at around 4.50pm.

Anu, a receptionist for a firm of solicitors, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A postmortem gave the cause of death as a stab wound to the chest. The couple had two young children, a boy aged eight and a girl aged two.

On 7 August detectives charged Rojel Haque, 40, with murder.

Haque told police he returned home to find his wife had been attacked but prosecutors claimed he killed his wife because he believed his wife was having an affair.

He pleaded guilty to murder on the first day of his trial at Blackfriars Crown Court on 27 January 2014. The following day he was jailed for life with a minimum of 16 years before parole.

14. Amina Bibi: Date of murder:13 Sept 2013 , solved (domestic)
Amina Bibi, 43, was found stabbed to death at her flat in George Carver House in Station Road on 13 September 2013. Police and paramedics were called to the at around 8.50am. Amina, who was married with two children, had suffered around 70 knife wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Victim: Amina Bibi

On 17 September 2013 police arrested the victim's husband Mohammad Ali (aka Mahendra Patel), 64 and Frederick Best, 46, of Kebbell Terrace, Claremont Road and both men were charged with murder.

The pair went on trial at Woolwich Crown Court on 22 July 2014. The prosecution claimed that Ali paid Best £1,000 to stab his wife to death after her sons had left for school. The court heard Ali was heavily in debt and was having an affair with his sister-in-law in Pakistan.

He had first met Best while running a shop in Woodgrange Road in Forest Gate in the early 1990s and was aware Best had a drugs habit.

Convicted: husband Mohammed Ali (aka
Mahendra Patel) - minimum of 24 years

When Ali left to do the school run, Best entered the communal doors and use a key to get access to the flat and attack Amina Bibi, stabbing her 70 times.

The crack cocaine addict fled the flat when the eldest son returned minutes later, to pick up school work he had left behind.

Best later told police that he was paid £1,000 to burgle the flat and entered to find Amina Bibi had already been stabbed and was lying on the floor covered in blood. During the trial Ali denied he was having an affair or had paid for his wife to be killed.

Convicted: Frederick Best
 - minimum of 30 years

On 20 August 2014 the jury convicted both Best and Ali of murder. Both men were sentenced to life imprisonment. Best was given a minimum term of 30 years before parole and Ali was given a minimum term of 24 years before parole.

15. Milena Yulianova: Date of murder:28 Jan 2014, solved (domestic)
Milena Yulianova, 27, was stabbed to death by her husband at their Nigel Road home, on 28 January 2014. Milena, a Bulgarian national, was taken to hospital but died at 8.22 pm. She had been stabbed 13 times including a fatal injury to heart.

The next day her husband Jamshaid Khan, 28, was charged with murder. Khan went on trial at the Old Bailey on 23 June 2015. The prosecution claimed that he murdered his wife during a row after she refused to help him stay in the country.

Victim: Milena Yulianova

Khan arrived in the UK in April 2011 on a study visa and married Milena in December 2012. He was granted leave to stay until February 2013, but his appeals for indefinite leave were repeatedly refused and he was told to provide further documentation.

"He needed her help, he needed her co-operation and when ultimately she did not give it she had to pay the price with her life," said prosecutor Lisa Wilding QC.

He denied murder on the grounds of self-defence, telling the court his wife must have been injured during the struggle for the knife.

On 13 July 2015 the jury convicted Khan of murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 20 years before parole, on 17 July 2015.

Convicted: Jamshaid Khan
 - minimum of 20 years

Judge Stephen Kramer QC said: "You killed Milena in anger because she wouldn't help and support you in that application."

Investigating officer Detective Inspector Andrew Kelly, of the Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: "The jury were satisfied Khan deliberately stabbed Milena in the midst of their altercation and I am pleased with today's verdict."

16. Edgaras Kondrotas: Date of murder: 12 Jan 2015, solved (drunken rage)
This murder is very similar, in a number of ways, to that of Igor Vinogradov, see case 10, above. Edgaras Kondrotas, 28, was found dead at a house in Sebert Road on 12 January 2015.

Mr Kondrotas, a Lithuanian national from Goodmayes, was pronounced dead at the scene at 3.38 pm. A postmortem gave the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the abdomen.

Victim: Edgaras Kondrotas

Detectives believe he was assaulted by up to six men in Leyton High Road at around 11.30 pm the on 11 January 2015, after a night's drinking.

On 21 January Irvingas Makasejevas, 39, of Sebert Road was charged with his murder.

Convicted: Irvingas Makasejavas
 life sentence - 26 years minimum

He was convicted of the murder, described in court as involving "extreme brutality". He was sentenced to a minimum of 26 years, on 17 July 2016.

17. Phyllis Hayes: Date of murder:11 Jun 2015, solved (domestic)
Phyllis Hayes, 65, was found stabbed to death at her home in Idmiston Road on 11 June 2015.

Police were alerted at around midday after a gas engineer gained access to the property to investigate the source of a suspected gas leak. The engineer noticed all four gas knobs on the kitchen cooker had been turned on and discovered Mrs Hayes lying dead in her bedroom.

Victim: Phyllis Hayes

Mrs Hayes had suffered more than 50 stab wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene at 12.21pm. Detectives launched a murder investigation and appealed to trace her son Mark Hayes, 36, a part-time street cleaner. He had lived with his mother, but had not been seen for several days.

Hayes was arrested at 5.20am on 12 May 2015, after two officers from the Port of Tilbury Police found him hiding in a toilet block. He was charged with murder on 14 May and went on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court on 8 December 2015.

On 21 December he was convicted of murder and the following day was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 21 years, before parole. 

It is believed that after murdering his mother, Mark Hayes tried to cause an explosion in the flat by turning on the gas and putting a cigarette lighter in the microwave.

That afternoon detectives received information that Hayes had boarded a train to London at 14.06, only to get off at Wickford Station.

In the early hours of 12 June he entered a cabin in the grounds of a pub in Tilbury and attacked a man sleeping inside. Hayes battered the victim, Alan Pryer, with a trophy and stabbed him in the torso and leg but Mr Pryer managed to escape.

Convicted: Mark Hayes - 21 years for
 murder of his mother, eight and a
 half years for attempted murder of Alan
Pryer and five and a half years for arson

Following his trial, Hayes was also sentenced to eight-and-a-half years for the attempted murder of Mr Pryer and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of five-and-a-half years for the arson with intent to endanger life at his home in Idmiston Road.

18. Harbhajan Singh Rooprai: Date of murder: 25 Dec 2015 , solved (bungled dispute attack, where the murdered man was an "innocent victim")
Harbhajan Singh Rooprai, 60, was found dead after a house fire in Field Road, on Christmas Day 2015. The body of Mr Rooprai was found inside the house. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Victim: Harbhajan Singh Rooprai

Detectives said they believed fire was started deliberately and launched a murder investigation the following day.

On 30 December Tyrone Jacobs, 27 of Ramsay Road, Forest Gate, was charged with murder. The Old Bailey jury heard that Jacobs had fallen out with one of the other tenants of Rooprai's multi-occupancy house and set fire to the property on 25 December.

The would-be victim escaped, but Rooprai was unable to escape the house once the fire took hold.

The Field Road blaze, and
 scene of Harhajan Rooprai's murder

Tyrone Jacobs was found guilty of arson with intent to murder and sentenced to a minimum of 30 years at the Old Bailey in June 2016.

Convicted: Tyrone Jacobs
 - minimum of 30 years

This concludes two rather depressing posts on recent murders in Forest Gate.

The posts record the killings on 18 people for overwhelmingly trivial matters, with major incarceration consequences for the perpetrators. 

It is not the role of this blog to veer into matters of criminal justice policy, but the stories portrayed over these posts throw up fundamental concerns over the inadequacies of Britain's criminal justice system.

The threat of lengthy prison sentences clearly provided no deterrent for the murderers convicted of the crimes, induced by by relatively minor causes.

Other than social retribution by incarceration - at considerable public cost - it is difficult to see what benefits lengthy prison sentences will serve. It is equally unclear how those convicted will have their future re-introduction to society and rehabilitation aided by being banged up for long periods with others, from whom they will presumably learn other "tricks of the trade".


Footnote:


The Murder map website (here) is run by volunteers and receives no official funding. They would be grateful for any donations, to keep their project active. Details can be found on the site.  We express our thanks to them for their meticulous work, which has enabled this post to be written.