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What the fuck is happening in Belsize Park?! (mod: man slaughtered by axe-wielding maniac in London)

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Beheading horror in street
By Richard Edwards and Chris Millar, Evening Standard
14 March 2005
A man was beheaded in a London street today by an attacker wielding an axe.

Mothers on the school run were among those who saw the horrific killing in Eton Avenue near the Hampstead Theatre in Belsize Park.

The man with the axe approached his victim and repeatedly struck him as he screamed for help. When officers arrived it is reported the attacker was standing over the body and told them: "It's private."

A scaffolder working nearby saw the axeman running towards his victim with the weapon held above his head. Seconds later he struck the first of a series of heavy blows which continued even when the victim lay slumped on the pavement.

The workman said: "It was unremitting. The man with the axe ran at his victim and just laid into him. He brought it down on his head and floored him. The victim had tried to defend himself with his arms and I heard him shout something. But it was hopeless.

"Within seconds he was on the floor and his head had been split open. There was blood pouring from his head and spilling onto the pavement. It was horrific."

The scaffolder, who would not be named, said he believed the two men knew each other as they had seemed to exchange a few words before the attack.

With his victim dead at his feet, the attacker put the axe down and stood impassively until police arrived at the scene.

The scaffolder went on: "Police arrived a few minutes after the attack and the axeman was still there."

He added: "I heard them question him. They asked him why he had done it and he said: 'It's complicated. It's private'."

Avelina Rodrigues, 48, said the attacker ignored her pleas to stop as he brought blow after blow down upon his victim, leaving the body badly mutilated.

She said: "I heard the first thuds of the axe as it hit the man's head. I thought it was the sound of a child being hit by a car.

"I ran to the front of the house and 20 feet away I could see a man, I guess of about 43, smartly dressed, tall and thin with the axe in his hand.

"The axeman saw me but he just ignored me. He hacked his victim's head cutting it as if it was a block of wood for a fire. His victim was unconscious on the ground, but he kept bringing his axe down on him. I begged him to stop and he just looked at me without emotion. There was no anger in his face, he did not seem crazy.

"He was just coolly finishing off his victim. He wanted to destroy him."

Another woman, a passerby in a car, stopped and pleaded with the man to stop his attack and leave his victim alone, but he ignored her. He also ignored pleas from builders working nearby and continued attacking his victim until the police arrived.

Police arrested a man at the scene and he is currently being held for questioning at Holborn Police Station.

Eton Avenue is known as one the most exclusive streets in north London with a host of multi million-pound properties.

Belsize Park is also the home to a host of celebrities.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 14 March 2005 14:56 (twenty years ago)

This is not the sort of thing I expect to happen on the streets of NW London. Grim.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 14 March 2005 14:58 (twenty years ago)

It's complicated.

That seems to put it mildly.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

fucking hell.

― N_RQ, Monday, 14 March 2005 15:02 (twenty years ago)

And, there are some brave people to go up to an axe wielding madman and beg him to stop.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

I'm sorry. My first thought was actually "BLINKIN' HECK!" So that's what Richy Manic has been doing for all these years - writing local news for the Evening Bastard.

Er, anyway. Yeah. That's right around the corner from where I used to live. Not the sort of thing you would think of as happening in that neighbourhood at all. Those folk are so rich they can surely hire others to do their homicidal axe murders for them!

― Masonic Cathedral (kate), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

Someone should have run the bugger over.

― NickB (NickB), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

yeah there are rich people in belsize park, but no-one ever related mad axe murders to sociology.

― N_RQ, Monday, 14 March 2005 15:06 (twenty years ago)

i'm suitably horrified by this, but not because of the location, which is utterly irrelevant really (i.e. let's not make an extra special fuss about this just because it was a 'posh' area eh?). i wonder what the motive could have been.

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:08 (twenty years ago)

Posh people commit axe murders, too! I watch Midsomer Murders.

I'm not shocked by its happening in a nice neighbourhood. I'm shocked by its happening on a street I used to walk down on a regular basis.

― Masonic Cathedral (kate), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

10 points to anyone who can name the top 10 1984 hit that namechecks belsize park.

i'l have to hurry you, first answers only.

― piscesboy, Monday, 14 March 2005 15:13 (twenty years ago)

Kayleigh

― NickB (NickB), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:14 (twenty years ago)

Sorry, forgot to buzz. Bzzzzt!

― NickB (NickB), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:15 (twenty years ago)

I heard the first thuds of the axe as it hit the man's head. I thought it was the sound of a child being hit by a car.

There's two sounds I don't ever want to be able to recognise. (The lack of screeching brakes should've ruled out the latter).

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:21 (twenty years ago)

bingo!

― piscesboy, Monday, 14 March 2005 15:22 (twenty years ago)

jeesus this is awful, if i had witnessed this I would've fainted for sure.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:23 (twenty years ago)

fucking hell. scary. I can't imagine having to watch something like this happening just outside your house.

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:27 (twenty years ago)

i have no idea what i would do, that's what's scaring me as much as the nature of the crime itself. i've never witnessed anything like this and i'm extremely grateful for this right now and hope that continues. i mean i really have no idea what i would do...

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:27 (twenty years ago)

Apparently the victim was in his 60s and the attacker in his 30s.

― NickB (NickB), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:27 (twenty years ago)

I think the word 'beheading' in the article is at the very least extremely misleading if not totally inaccurate, reading what actually happened.

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:30 (twenty years ago)

Holy Bateman!

Also, Evening Standard articles BY LAW have to mention the price of property in the street where a crime happens, or the price of the house/flat where the criminal, bad mother or moral reprobate lives.

― suzy (suzy), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:34 (twenty years ago)

This is what happens when you deprive a nation's citizens of the right to bear arms.

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:35 (twenty years ago)

jesus christ there's a picture of the dead body on the front page of the thisislondon website! I didn't want to see that at all.

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:36 (twenty years ago)

father/son?

― TOMBOT, Monday, 14 March 2005 15:40 (twenty years ago)

growing up with limbless teddies can really fuck up your head

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:41 (twenty years ago)

Belsize Park is also the home to a host of celebrities.

tcha, as long as THEY'RE okay eh?

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:42 (twenty years ago)

xxpost

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:42 (twenty years ago)

the axe was smaller than i thought.

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:44 (twenty years ago)

This is what happens when you deprive a nation's citizens of the right to bear arms.

uh, please quote sarcasm level here?

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:46 (twenty years ago)

come 'on Steve, give me a break.

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:49 (twenty years ago)

more of a hatchet.

― Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:50 (twenty years ago)

:(

fkn hell

― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:53 (twenty years ago)

Holy fuck. I know some unstable people who live there. Have the people involved been named yet?

― dave q (listerine), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:56 (twenty years ago)

It looks like he has been beheaded on that thisislondon site...?

― Rumpsy Pumpsy (Rumpie), Monday, 14 March 2005 15:57 (twenty years ago)

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

I don't wanna enlarge! That's not good.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

tht picture is plain awful.

― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:02 (twenty years ago)

I didn't enlarge. But I might have to. Just to confirm. I'm surprised he was rendered unconscious by the first blow, I would have thought he'd be rendered dead.

― Rumpsy Pumpsy (Rumpie), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:03 (twenty years ago)

I am being no fun here maybe but I can't believe ppl are making jokes about this.

― cozen (Cozen), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

See, this is what happens when you crazy Brits ban handguns!

In the states, this would have been a simple, everyday driveby.

― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:06 (twenty years ago)

yeah, it's not funny in the slightest. i'm horrified that there's a picture of it, too.

― stelfox, Monday, 14 March 2005 16:15 (twenty years ago)

Drivebys are too damn easy. I think the level of raw, shreiking insanity required to axe someone to death in the street is much greater.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:16 (twenty years ago)

bit late for that joke jay

i was surprised by the quickness of jokes too - not criticising people for it, but i have no desire to joke about this one...

i am going to try to avoid looking at the picture, tho i wonder if perhaps i should look

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:18 (twenty years ago)

i think clobbering someone to death with a pair of bear arms is more brutal

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:18 (twenty years ago)

by the way when you click "enlarge" in that picture it doesn't actually like zoom in or anything like that - you just get to see more of the surrounding area. (the small version was cropped rather than shrunk)

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:20 (twenty years ago)

I don't know why, but I was surprised the street was empty...Did I think people would just be going about their business and stepping over him? I dunno...

― smee (smee), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:20 (twenty years ago)

I went to school in Belsize Park! Scary.

― just adam (nordicskilla), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

Oh why did I have to look?

Fuck.

― Matt (Matt), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:27 (twenty years ago)

It is mercifully not a closeup, nor very lurid. It's not a bad news photo, really -- it captures how utterly *surreal* it is to have a headless man lying on the sidewalk in what looks like a perfectly peaceful neighborhood.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

Images of real death and destruction in the mass media - why?

Its pretty fucking horrible but actually less lurid and upsetting than some of the Iraq/tsunami/dead heroin girl pictures to have been put on the front of major mainstream newspapers in recent years. I think what's disgusting about this instance, like with Mark Vivien Foe, is that I can't see any justification for it. At all.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:34 (twenty years ago)

Who estimates someones age at 'about 43'? I find that really weird.

― alix (alix), Monday, 14 March 2005 16:35 (twenty years ago)

working in newspapers and, as such, knowing what i'm on about here, i'd personally have taken the editorial decision a (largely inaccurate) splash headline of "beheading horror on the street" doesn't really need many internet-based pictorial bells and whistles to back it up. it's a hell of a strong story anyway. to be honest the picture *isn't* that bad until you look really closely and see that half the pavement is caked in blood, but it's more the fact that the guy's dead and this must be a pretty upsetting image for his family and friends. i'd be right at the PCC if i was a member of his family.

― stelfox, Monday, 14 March 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

Yeah considering they haven't even named yet and there's a picture of his body on the internet and (probably) in the Standard as well.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 14 March 2005 17:03 (twenty years ago)

Oh shit, this is by the Hampstead Theater! I used to to walk down this street every day.

― just adam (nordicskilla), Monday, 14 March 2005 17:05 (twenty years ago)

matt, that's what i mean - it's not pictured in the standard. i'm presuming that this is because the story is pretty fucking shocking and will get you to read it anyway, on headline alone.
if you've taken that tack with the paper, why publish the picture on the internet?
then again, it might be because the shot wasn't filed in time for the west end final and nothing to do with tate and decency at all.

― stelfox, Monday, 14 March 2005 17:09 (twenty years ago)

Tate?

― just adam (nordicskilla), Monday, 14 March 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

okay, okay...

― stelfox, Monday, 14 March 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

Tate and Lyle.

― alix (alix), Monday, 14 March 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

England needs to address its axe problem, but if you outlaw axes, only outlaws will have axes.

― andy --, Monday, 14 March 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

axes don't kill people, andy. bear arms do.

― ken c (ken c), Monday, 14 March 2005 18:04 (twenty years ago)

I was being sarcastic sorry if that seems insensitive. Constant exposure to human-on-human violence does desensitive you though and that's not being sarcastic.

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Monday, 14 March 2005 18:10 (twenty years ago)

it might be because the shot wasn't filed in time for the west end final and nothing to do with tate and decency at all.

The copy I saw at Charing Cross had the picture on the front. Albeit from a much further distance. I think they'd also drawn a ring round him, although I only glanced very briefly.

The guy at the paper kiosk in Hither Green station had put a sheet of paper over the picture.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 14 March 2005 18:46 (twenty years ago)

all the copies I saw at Tesco just now had the picture on the front. The caption said that the more graphic aspects had been blurred - it wasn't very clear, but I decided I didn't want to peer at it closely to make sure.

Tesco did not put any sheets of paper over it.

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 14 March 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

Holy fuck, I live next to there and walked along Eton Avenue shortly before this happened. I must admit if I'd seen an axe murderer in action I would've just run away (discreetly).

PS: The Hampstead Theatre end of Eton Avenue is not Belsize Park.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Monday, 14 March 2005 20:31 (twenty years ago)

Two feet is a hatchet not an axe, and yes, I noticed that estimate of "about 43" too. perhaps that witness was that age and thought he looked about her age? Also, for some reason, the witness who described the attack as "unremitting" just chilled my blood. I'd have expected "relentless" or "merciless" or "brutal" or something, but that word freaked me right the fuck out.

― David A. (Davant), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 09:41 (twenty years ago)

The killer apparently said to the victim just before he struck: "You've had this coming for 20 years."

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 09:51 (twenty years ago)

hey Eyeball Kicks, i was wondering if you were still around

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 10:30 (twenty years ago)

"You've had this coming for 20 years."

It's morbid, but I find this tantalising.

― Matt (Matt), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 11:26 (twenty years ago)

yes, i have no desire to see any photos but i would really love to know what the motive was. the killer's behavious seems extraordinary, seemingly a pre-meditated action yet quite haphazard and opportunistic - surely the killer had resigned himself to his fate upon doing the deed, as if whatever the victim did it was worth spending years and years in prison for just for bloody revenge. heavy.

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 11:34 (twenty years ago)

Or he was a crackhead.

― alix (alix), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:10 (twenty years ago)

Oh, Lixi.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:13 (twenty years ago)

Well, he might be.

― alix (alix), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:17 (twenty years ago)

Why would a crackhead have an axe? Weapon of choice would be a knife, surely? An axe seems a little incongruous to me. Who the hell even owns an axe in London?

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:22 (twenty years ago)

Lumberjacks?

― alix (alix), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:27 (twenty years ago)

hey Eyeball Kicks, i was wondering if you were still around

Sometimes. I was in Tel Aviv for a bit, and Havana for a bit, and last week until yesterday hanging round Eton Avenue for a bit. Now another bit in Tel Aviv. I remember to look here every now & then and I have just noticed & am quite excited by the chess business.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:38 (twenty years ago)

Are you running a one-man drug cartel, EK?

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:39 (twenty years ago)

What Mike Jones said.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:42 (twenty years ago)

A father and son thing, perhaps?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:56 (twenty years ago)

You ever thought of joining the police force Marcello?

― My Son Calls Another Man Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:57 (twenty years ago)

fookin ell EK, well played. get with the redhotpwning then...

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:57 (twenty years ago)

It was Chrissie and Zoe wot dunnit.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:01 (twenty years ago)


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