On your door step

An unwelcome surprise.

I just walked out of my front door 30 minutes ago, going to the shops, to find a couple of junkies right at the top of my steps in front of the front door. They were blocking my way. A couple, mid 20's, caucasian, respectably dressed. Him with a hypodermic in his hand. As I couldn't even get down my steps, I asked them what the fuck they were doing, he replied that she was diabetic, and that she needed insulin.

I told them to fuck off ('Fuck off you fucking junkies!!!') and that I was calling the police. They did walk away, but with no great haste, and looking back, like maybe I was being unfair in some way. My neighbour was around. His sister, a nurse, had clocked them as junkies just before I walked out the door.

5 minutes later I called the police, who seemed to understand that I was shocked, asked for their descriptions, and said that they would alert local police cars. I mentioned that these are not not regular junkies from around here, and that alerting cars won't really help, and that I just wanted to register what had happened...

The operator understood. We chatted more, and we concluded that maybe it might be better in future, if I leave the junkies to it, and call the police to a 'crime in action'.

This was 5.30pm... sigh

Local junkies: The key players

New to this blog? Here is a recap of the key junkies seen hustling every day around Westbourne Grove/Queensway. Names have been assigned to them, simply so can I remember who is who, and report it here, they are not real names.

Sta
Caucasian, probably late 20's, circa 6'-6'2", black unkempt straight hair - sticking out in all directions at times, other times matted down. Slightly receding at the front. He has a long thin face and long nose to match, and has a rather haunted or startled look, though with his hair matted down he can look more lucid. Usually in dark scruffy clothes. Favours begging outside Tesco Queensway and the HSBC near the park. Often sits with his hands in the prayer position.

Dod
Appeared quite recently, but has been very active. Caucasian, maybe 5'8", with dirty blonde hair in a pony tail, and a black and yellow head band. Has a really messed up face, it has clearly been kicked in severely a few times. Maybe late 20's/early 30's, hard to tell. Usually seen either holding a drink cup and actively approaching people begging, or wondering to and fro drinking from a can of cider. As he walks he usually weaves or dodders around. He has an indistinguishable regional accent and a weak child like voice. He is quite persistant in approaching people, and anyone who gives him money, will be pressed to give him more.

Ali
Ali is a fixture in dealing/using in the area. He has been dealing crack and actively thieving from local shops for at least a decade. He is Algerian, maybe 5'8", late 20's, short dark loosely curly hair. He walks with a slight limp and has a hooked nose. Usually reasonably smartly dressed. He is known to the most local shopkeepers and the police, which is not surprising, as I expect he is responsible for a good proportion of the shoplifting and purse theft in W2/W11. He is an alert guy, and bright eyed. I've seen him trying to walk into shops to steal, he doesn't necessarily visibly look like a junkie, though his behaviour patterns do, but he is just too well known, and security are usually right onto him once he has a foot through the door. Usually seen constantly walking to and fro and at great haste around Queensway, and down Westbourne Grove.

Jim
He looks a bit like Jim Morrison, about 6' caucasian, thick short dark straight hair, and a thick beard and moustache. The beard and moustache are funny in a way, neatly cropped to about 1/2" long, but they almost look like they could have been put on as a disguise, it looks somehow unnatural. He is gaunt, and has pale waxy skin. He wears a long scruffy green Macintish type overcoat. He is often seen begging outside Tesco Queensway, or thieving from local shops. I've seen him picking up a 'Needle Exchange' pack from a local chemist.

Col
He is about 5’10” with short dark hair, caucasian. He often has a few days stubble, but generally looks healthy, and dresses well. In fact he seems to change clothes pretty often, and looks neat and clean, verging on cool in a ‘street’ kinda way at times. although I have not seen him for a week or two, he has been a local player for a long time. Frequently seen thieving from shops, especially spirits from M&S.

Ora
Caucasian, female 5'6", ginger/dark blonder hair, usually dressed in brown clothes, and wrapped in a manky threadbare orange blanket, and dark drown corduroy 'flower-pot' hat. Begs outside supermarkets, interspersed with hurried walks to peer though the doors of local bookmakers, where she appears to be seeing if there is any money to be stolen.

Dea
Male, caucasian 6', mid 20's, dark blonder hair, black hoodie and black jeans. He is discreet, his hood right down when he is off to score with some of his visibly 'far gone' mates. Could easily be mistaken for simply being homeless, rather than a Class A drugs user. Usually seen begging outside Tesco Queensway, or HSBC up towards the park.

Crack house of the week: 29A colville Terrace, W11.

Can't get away from them

I just went to Tesco on Queensway. Dod was wondering around outside Whiteleys, cup in hand begging, he is pretty peristant. Outide Tesco Dea was begging in front of the ATM, holding his hand out.

Dea does not look too whacked, I expect most people might think him simply homeless, rather than a heroine addict.

I leave Tesco, still both there, Dod approaches me, he has an indistinguishable regional accent, and a really weak voice, "Spare any change?", almost child like.

Into Whiteley's, and when I leave 5 minutes later, they are both gone, off to get their next hit I expect...

Hungry junkie

I was in the supermarket opposite Budgens on Porchester Road.

Dea was walking in right in front of me, I could tell by the way he walked in and the circuit he was doing around the central island that he was there to steal food.

I walked in in front of the counters, and told the guy behind the counter that this other guy was a junkie and he was going to steal stuff. He rang a bell, another member of staff appeared, smiled, thanked me profuseley ... he knew the score...

Tuesday

Walking home up Westbourne Grove this evening, I saw Ali and Dea heading towards Queensway. They popped into the Coral Bookmakers for a minute, re-emerged, Ali exchanged words and had a laugh with the old guy that runs the fruit stall outside the mobile phone shop, and was off towards Bishopsbridge Road. They both looked pretty chilled out, so they were probably returning from scoring at Colville Terrace.

Around the corner on Porchester Road, a guy in big overcoat, and thick wooly hat, was holding out a handful of coppers, and begging off a women passing by. She refused, and he persued her around the corner. It happened so quickly, and his hat was pulled so low, I couldn't describe him better. I'll see if I see him again, meanwhile he is Mys3.

Saturday

I went into Queensway Tesco, nothing doing. But when I left Sta was sitting on the pavement in front of the cashpoint. He looked unusually lucid. Dod was wondering around holding a drink cup approaching people, begging.

Later returning down the street, Dod passed me southwards, he got as far as HSBC, saw none of his junkie mates were begging there, did a 180, and returned back down to Whiteleys.

Dod's begging style is to approach people walking towards him, and ask them for money. He is pretty 'in your face', and his success rate is probably about 5%. Anybody who gives him money is pressed to give him more, which they sometimes do.

Outside the computer shop, he ran into a friend. She was caucasian, very overweight, short dark hair, probably in her 30's. She was wearing a red nylon bomber jacket, black jeans and pink baseball cap. They talked and she gave Dod a cigarette. A few minutes later she was standing in the doorway of the Computer Shop telling Dod to 'Go home!'. She was drinking a can of Special Brew, and her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head. I doubt she is a junkie, but we'll see, but you wouldn't expect Junkies to buy cigarettes, they scrounge them instead. I'll refer to her as Mys2. She and Dod wondered together back up to the park, split up, she continued, Dod returned down past Boots where he tried at some length to get some money off a busker playing violin. This is the life of the street junkie, constantly on the move, constantly begging and thieving.

At Tesco, Jim was walking over the road from Whiteleys. He was in a grey sweater, no coat today. He didn't look for traffic, he looked a million miles away. Sta was wondering up and down, eating a yogourt with his finger. Some people who give to junkie beggars think it clever to give them food - however that just means they spend more of their money on drugs.

Busy bees

Today was one of those days, I saw just about the whole crew within minutes.

Going down Porchester Road I passed Jim, so I thought I'd see what he was up to. He walked north to the fried chicken shop, where he did a 180. Dod was also coming up Porchester Road, he went into CostCutter and bought a doughnut. Jim followed him in, the shop has two entrances (one locked) and a central island, I could see that he was looking to shoplift. He went in, walked around the island and walked right back out. There were staff everywhere, he was not going to be able to lift anything. Dod walked out munching ona doughnut. Jim was looking through the door of the bookies next door. He continued down to the Queensway/Westbourne Grove junction, where he stopped and looked to and fro, up the various streets, nothing doing I suppose. He headed off down Westbourne Grove.

Outside the Bestway supermarket by Khans on Westbourne Grove, was a female junkie who I have seen here before. I've seen her shuffling between begging on this spot, and checking out the bookies onPorchester Road just last week. I did a loop around just to get a closer look at her. She is maybe 5'6", caucasian, ginger/dark blonder hair, and was dressed in brown clothes, and wrapped in a manky threadbare orange blanket, and dark drown corduroy 'flower-pot' hat. I'll call her Ora. The hat was pulled down low, but she seems to have piercing blue eyes.

I stop off for a haircut at the barber. I tell them that I've been watching a junkie, and they start giving me their own stories. I describe various incidents that I have seen, and tell them about Ali. At the same moment as I am describing the guy, one of the barbers asks 'Do you mean this guy?' pointing outside. Indeed, there he is passing by, what a coincidence lol! One of the guys tells me that Ali has been thieving and dealing crack on Queensway for eleven years that he is aware of (since the barber started working there aged 15). Apparently Ali is Algerian. They tell me that he was stopped by the police last week in a basement office on Queensway in possession of several bottles of perfume. The police could do nothing, they had no proof it was stolen, so he was let go. They also tell be about witnessing junkies clearing out shelves in Whithards (in Whiteleys, next to M&S), and thieving from Maplins, the electronics shop, and Greggs the sandwich shop. In the latter case, the staff just put up with the thieving, because they do not feel they are paid to take the risks of challenging these people.

Up and out onto Queensway. Sta and Dod are begging in front of Tesco. Whistles are exchanged and a caucasian guy in a black hoodie and black jeans joins them, I'll call him Dea. Sta picks up his wooly hat of coins and they head off north, crossing the road outside Maplins. I try and clock the new guy in the hoodie, as he seems like an orchestrator. He is being very discreet, his hood right down, and looking at the ground, but then surely anyone would wonder who the hell is hanging out with wrecks like Sta and Dod. I watch them cross in front of TGI's. Dea looks back my way a couple of times, and I think he might have clocked me, so I move on, Dod & co going into a phone box in front of TGI's.

Coming back home, Dea is sitting in front of HSBC begging, now with his hoodie off. Now I recognise him, he was there last week, he has quite a beaky nose and short dark blonde hair. Last week I thought he looked to clean to be a junkie. Dod, still in his black and yellow headband is heading south, his way. They chat for a minute or two, Dea gets up and they both start heading north up Queensway. I'm in front of them. Somewhere between Bayswater tube and Boots (opposite Whiteleys) they disappear. Down past Tesco, Sta is sitting down and begging, his hands in the usual prayer position.

Latest activity

Walking down Westbourne Grove this evening, I saw a junkie I recognise, passing me in the opposite direction. He is about 5’10” with short dark hair, caucasian. He often has a few days stubble, but generally looks healthy, and dresses well. In fact he seems to change clothes pretty often, and looks neat and clean, verging on cool in a ‘street’ kinda way at times. I’ll refer to him as ‘Col’.

 

Anyway, he was heading west down Westbourne Grove, wearing a short sleeve check shirt over a t-shirt, and jeans. He was holding a can of beer (not uncommon for him), and trying to work out how to get his shirt off at the same time. He was also wearing a grey wool beanie pulled down low, I had to double-take to recognise him.

 

I’ve seen this guy shoplifting whisky from M&S in Whiteley’s before. He had two bottles, one tucked up each sleeve of his overcoat, and managed to drop one right next to me, it hit the floor and exploded. He is also seen hurrying around with Ali quite often, they’re a bit of a double act, and I spotted him in a phone box on Queensway last week beating ten bells out of the phone, presumably trying to extract some money from it. He didn’t put any money in, but was frantically hitting the reject coin button, then hitting it with the handset, then giving the whole phone unit major blows with his palm. That time he was wearing a bright red hoodie, he put his hood up when he stopped some people to hustle. This evening he seemed in quite a rush, so probably off to score.

 

On past the supermarket opposite Oddbins, where Sta was sitting on the pavement and begging. He had his hands in the prayer position, presumably this convinces more mugs to give him money. When I passed him later, he’d put his hands down and appeared to be asleep. I had to double take him too, his hair that is usually sticking up all over the place, was flattened down.

 

On to Tesco on Queensway, where Jim was sitting outside begging. He’s trimmed his beard and moustache and it makes him look younger. He was still dressed in his pale olive green full length mac.

 

Outside Dongle, something was going on. A black guy, was hustling with two short Slavic looking guys. The black guy was looking around in a very surreptitious way, and exchanging something with one guy. Then the second Slav walked up on the opposite side of the road and whistled (a common means of communication with junkies it seems, they seem to have ‘personalised’ whistles), all three of them joined up and headed up Queensway towards the park. I haven’t seen them before, meanwhile I’ll refer to the black guy who seemed to be the dealer as Mys1, he was noticeable for a marked limp, an injury in his right leg. Let’s see if we run into him again…

Saturday night

Walking home down Queensway last night, I noticed Dod and another junkie outside Tesco.

I'll call the new guy Jim, he looks a bit like Jim Morrison, about 6' caucasian, thick short dark straight hair, and a thick beard and moustache. The beard and moustache are funny in a way, neatly cropped to about 1/2" long, but they almost look like they could have been put on as a disguise, it looks somehow unnatural. He is gaunt, and has pale waxy skin. He wears a long scruffy Macintish type overcoat. He was sitting down begging outside the entrance to Tesco, and Dod was standing next to him, doddering around as usual.

I ran into Jim for the first time on Friday in a local chemist. He was walking in just in front of me. He held the door open for a lady who was leaving, he was standing there holding it open for ages, and at the same time he was looking towards the counters to see where the staff were. He proceeded to one of the racks by the entrance that the staff can't see and starting shuffling around with some bottles of shampoo. I suspected he was going to steal something, so walked to the counter as quickly as I could alerting the staff. To cut a long story short, Jim announced he was going out for a minute as he had left something outside', and when the pharamcist asked him if he wanted to buy/pay for anything from the front rack, replied asking if he was accusing him of stealing stuff. Back at the counter, Jim simply asked for '1ml', to be handed an anonymous grey polythene wrapped package. It later transpired that this was a pack from the needle exchange scheme, containing 1ml syringes, hypodermic needles and a sharp-safe.

Another day, a whole lot more junkie activity!

I was discussing the drug-dealing in my neighbourhood on another forum recently, and it provoked an interesting reponse. I see it going on just about every day, and I joked about starting a blog...

My position in that discussion was that use and dealing in Class A drugs is known to the police, and yet they seem unable to control it. I expect it is an issue of resources, but still, it exists, and so despite being illegal it is essentially to an extent tolerated.

Some people questioned how I am able to recognise that a person is a junkie (which for the purposes of this blog I am categorising as a user/dealer in heroine or crack), or claimed that I could not, and that the people I describe might have Alzheimers disease, have suffered a stroke, or have psychological problems. This is probably a topic for future debate, but for the time being please accept that I can spot them, and usually instantly.

I have lived in the area a long time, know the people, and have scores of stories of junkie activity, but as this is a new blog, I will start as of today. As I said, I see this activity just about every day I go out (I work from home), and today was no exception.
...

This morning I was heading out for a walk in Hyde Park, when two junkies that I recognise passed me by. As I had time to spare (and mulling over the idea of starting this blog), I decided to follow them. The two are quite well known to me, I'd put them in the 'pretty far gone/far gone' category.

The first one is caucasian, probably early 30's, circa 6'-6'2", and has black unkempt straight hair - basically sticking out in all directions, slightly receding at the front. He has a long thin face and long nose to match, and has a rather haunted or startled look. I'll refer to him as 'Sta' in future, not to demean him, but just so that I can remember who is who... He was wearing pretty scruffy clothes, and carrying an aluminium crutch, although not using it. For some reason the crutch is something you see quite often with junkies. I've heard various ideas, they're injecting in the veins in their thighs (the veins in their arms and hands being shot to pieces), and it leads to complications that leads to difficulty walking. And secondly, that dealers carry a crutch and keep their stash in it. I don't know, but if you see someone who looks like a homeless person, carrying a crutch and not really using it, I'd say odds on they are a junkie. I've seen Sta around for the past year or so, he is probably too messed up to walk into a shop without being challenged, 'pretty far gone'.

The second guy has only appeared in recent weeks. He is caucasian, maybe 5'8", with dirty blonde hair in a pony tail, and a black and yellow head band. This guy has a really messed up face, it has clearly been kicked in severely a few times. So determining his age is not so easy, but again I'd imagine somewhere around 30, given the ravages of the junkies habits. He is usually sighted holding a can of cider, and perhaps as a result is frequently drunk. In any case, as he walks he weaves, and as he stands he dodders. I'll refer to him as 'Dod'. This guy probably wouldn't make into a shop full stop, he is definitely 'far gone'. The 'shop' measure is notable, because the local junkies are all shoplifters, if they can get away with it.

So these two guys pass me on Porchester Road, W2. I thought I'd follow them for a minute or two, to see where they were headed, but then it got interesting.

They crossed the road opposite the church by the rail bridge, and hooked up with a third guy.

This guy is Middle Eastern (Morroccan) in appearance, maybe 5'8", late 20's/early 30's (never easy to tell with junkies), short dark loosely curly hair. He walks with a slight limp and has a hooked nose. Today he was quite scruffily dressed, but he is usually smarter. This guy has been around years, he was the first junkie that I mentally registered. I see him just about every day up to something, either shoplifting or heading off with other junkies somewhere or other. He is also known to the police (another story), which is not surprising, as I expect he is responsible for a good proportion of the shoplifting and purse theft in W2/W11. He is an alert guy, and bright eyed. He is a dealer (see below), but probably a user too who is not yet raddled. I've seen him trying to get into shops, he doesn't necessarily visibly look like a junkie, though his behaviour patterns do, but he is just too well known, and security are usually right onto him once he has a foot through the door. I'll refer to him as Ali.

So Ali, Sta and Dod are now heading off down Westbourne Park Villas. You can usually tell when something is up with these guys because they are in a hell of a rush. They were today, Ali leading the other two. Why would what most people perceive as simply a homeless person, or a group of them, be in such a rush to get anywhere? What do they have to rush for? Well with junkies it is usually because they are about to go and get their next fix. This is one of the easiest ways to spot them, mismatched behaviour, people behaving contrary to what you would expect them to be doing given their situation.

Westbourne Park Road, St. Stephen's Gardens, Shrewsbury Road, where I almost lost them they were going so fast, Talbot Road, Colville Terrace, the basement flat of 29 Colville Terrace to be precise. I did a loop around, and noticed that the front basement flat window had been broken into and was boarded up. The two sides of the bay window had bars in place. Perhaps the owner had removed the bars from the front window, anyway the sad fact is that the flat is now squatted, and the occupants are probably dealers and user/prostitutes. This place will now be attracting every junkie from the borough, 24 hours a day - party time. If you live in the area consider your home security, you'll have junkies wondering around trying to steal anything that is not nailed down. I also note that someone has crudely pencilled arrows and '29' on the two pillars at the street entrance. This is another give away, as whacked as the occupants might be, they realise that if the local junkies are knocking on doors at #28 and #30 all hours of the day and night, they are much more likely to get police attention and raided...

A minute later a police van cruised by. I'd have stopped them but they probably already know what is going on there.

So, on for a lovely walk in Hyde Park...

On my way home heading down Queensway, I ran into all three 'usual suspects' again. Firstly Sta was sitting outside the HSBC, looking very forlorn. He had his hands in the prayer position and was looking at the pavement. Westminster Council report that 80% of street beggars test positive for hard drug use, and discourage people from giving to them (they ran a campaign last Christmas 'Don't kill with kindness'). For some reason he was wearing a pair of black woollen gloves. Either he was feeling the cold, or perhaps trying to hide needle tracks in the veins on his hands.

Continuing down Queensway 50 yards and there is Ali, he seems to be really to and fro. He does a 180, and stops at the junction of Inverness Place, looks around the corner, another 180, back down Queensway towards Whiteleys, gets to Boots (always a favourite for their shoplifting) does a 180 before the Post Office, walks back and into Porchester Gardens (with all this to and fro I thought that he had clocked me), reappears a minute later and continues back down Queensway. He passes Dod who is standing outside the Post Office, doddering around as usual, imploring passers by for money. Ali doesn't stop but they exchange a quick word or two, and Ali is back on his way.

Ali finishes up in a telephone box on Bishopsbridge Road outside Pizza Express, and now its time for me to go...