1981 BUFP New Cross Massacre

6' ~~~tkw~<t wllz. tf!l IC/ff NEW CROSS MASSACRE - . The Fact Finding. Cpnvpi ssion At a meet1ng held on Tuesday 20th Jan- stated that he had that stageJ fire in the police q.n claiming uary 1981 at the Pagnell Street Cent re been in the ~itch~h ':cent re of the room . that the fire started between 250-300 peop~e unani~ou~ly deci- and was 'on h ~S:>·'i· ay · The pv;!.ice t hrough in the centre of the ded that a Fact Flndlng CommlSSlOn should to the front room' their enqu i-ries. are room arid was fuelled be set up. To put it shortly the setting when h.e heard some- :releasing information by paint thinners. up of the Commission was a vote of non- one shout fire he which t ends to s how From the enquiries confidence in the way the police were went ·to the fr~nt that the· fire started of the Fact Finding dealing with thit:? grave tragedy and to room and found it from inside. They Commission they h ave counter the deliberately misleading state- ablaze the whole answer the statement d iscounted the fol ments in the press. ' lowing lines of That Commission pub police enquiry. lished its preliminary (a) That a faulty finding at a public television may have meeting attended by in exploded, excess of 1500 people (b) That a spark on Sunday 25th January from a gas fire had 1981, The following igni ted a p ouffe, a summary of their (c ) That someone findings. smoking c annabis may have been care On Saturday 17th less. January 1981 at 439 (d) That an abund New• Cross Road, Yvon ance of a lcohol fue ne Ruddock whose birt lled the fire. day it was, had organ (e) That g atecras~ ised a party joi ntly ers who had been with a friend Angela turned away retur Jackson. The party ned and cause t he started late at appro fire. ximately midnight due ose witnesses in to the delayed arrival uding Mrs Ruddock, of those who were pro had spoken t o, viding the music. Frow have been present all accounts the par hen gatecrashe rs ty was well ordered wer e spoken to, con and enjoyed by the cluded that there young people there. no ani mosity. There were no argu Those young people ments or fights and ad no inkling as as Mrs. Ruddock, they enjoyed them Yvonne's mother sta the fire. building he said had about the man seen selves tha t some ted there was a limi burned out, in 3 to making a throwing act ted amount of alcohol A young man who had ion by stating that , THIRTEEN YOUNG PEOPL been at the party 5 minutes, maybe 10 . as she did not want that man had attemp S NUFFED OUT WHEN THE stated that he left minutes. Mrs Ruddock LIVE FOR, THE Y WERE a ny of the children states and has always ted to warn t:~os ·e. at to go home drunk. the party a t about the party a nd had put 5.45 a.m and walked maintained that when his hand up to stop Andrew Gooding (14), On two occasions towards New Cross she l oo~ed into the Patri cia J ohnso n (15 the police attended room after the shout glass shattering from Station. Wh e n he rea one of the windows Owen Thompson (16) P the house ,On the sec ched the Railway of fire she noticed Yvonne Rud dock ( 16) an armchair over by from falling on him. ond visit they advis Bridge he turned aro · ~ He is then s upposed Steve Collins ( 17) e d Mrs.Ruddock to und and looked in the t he window on fire , Peter Campbell (18) to have repor ted to close the windows on direction of the the curtains were Paul Ruddock (22). one of the uppe r h ouse to s ee if his on fire, she do~s n ot the police station. Through their f oren floors. The party was brother who had recall h owever at being held upstairs stopped to talk to a sic scientists the and the ground floor young lady was coming, front room had been At that point he not designated out of iced a man (but can The Official Reaction bounds to the party not say if he was bla goe rs.. It was in that ck or white) standing The murder of 13 motive. I t seems h a s heeded t h e cries room t hat the fire, outside 439. There b lack youngsters has that whenever black of Black c h i ldren in which raged like a was a white Princess stirred in the people are attacked their hour of peril. volcano through the motor car parked at ranks of tne mass or kille d precisely The MP for the area, house, started. the kerb; the engine media and those in because of racist John Silkia who has activity the police offices less than a WHAT WERE THE EVENTS was running as he t h e 'acceptable' polJ itical p arties of state that there p.,etr ol bomb away h as SURROUNDING THE FIRE, could see fumes com ing from the exhaust , this country and the was no racial motive sai d nothing. Some time before He noticed the man on government l ess con Apart ;from t he We sympatbize with 5,30 a.m a white you the pavement made a cern than t hat over n ews bulletins on 'the peopl,~ of Dublin th was obse rved to throwing action and the death of dogs. · r~dio and televi~ion who have recently suf drive around t he bui simultaneou sly heard The media were very on 18 January 1981 fered a similar tra lding 5 or 6 times . the sound of breaking quickly on the and a few lines in gedy, We cannot how Shortly before the glass. The man then scene outside some of the national ever avoid the obvious fire star ted a white walke d around to the 439 New Cross Road. pape rs on Monday analogy , There were woman unknown to tho driver's side of the SE14. They spared 19 January 1981 no teleg:r;-ams to t he se at the party e n Princess and got tnto no time in attemp there. h as been a: f amilies of Black chi t ered t he house and it. The car wh ich ting to sow these drought o f i n forma dren .who died i .n New enquired whose party had been facing see ds of confusion iion . The carrions Cross f r om t he Queen, it was. She was then Deptford manoeuvred with statements such of Fleet St and nor f rom Margare t seen to go into the a U-turn and spe d as ;f ight in party those associated Thatcher. The New area of the toilets. off down Mornington may have been the with ·it have shut Cross Tragedy has She carried two bag~. Road, cause for the fi r e , their b lood filled received no 'Official was approximately 2 3 or t hat it could p e ns , black death response for a Public years of age and was Amongst those who have been gate for them is of ·Enquiry , or a Natio lat e r seen outside as we r e inside t h e crashers. They were little or n o signi ·nal D~y of Mourning. the fire raged , A h ous e was Mr Leslie very quick to pub finance, Not even a simple white man""'"' also Morris, one of the lis h the standard Neither on e member note of sympathy. seen outside the buil- five or s o 'adults' police line that o f t h is Govt . nor one rli n" ":t. t .h P. t imP. of "1' i"hP nRrt.v . HP. there was no racial from t h e Oooo si·tion 13 DEAD AND 27 INJURED 7 Two Views Of a Tragedy The Following are extracts, firstly frpm wisdom that things will get better as time passes the service -delivered by the Rev. Cannon more conventional than wise? FIRE FUND Wil ired wood at the funeral service for So there is need for all of us openly and Yvonne' and Paul Ruddock. Secondly ·· by actively to declare where we stand in relation to Mrs Sybil Pheonix, at a press conference those who murder innocent people -- i=espective · The New Cross Fire Fund held on Thursday 11th February 1981. of whether these murderers are our neighbours, which was set up to relations, friends, kith or ldn. If we do not raise funds. for the vic Rev. W; Wood. come out openly against them, they will be proved tims of this tragedy at right in their assumptions that we are their the time of going to "-From time to ti.me, someone is murdered because partners in their evil actions. We must not be press the fund had rea he is representative of something that sone6iie afra1d," ched £900,000, else wanw to destroy. It would be unrealistic It is estimated that if we did not ask ourselves if these young Mrs •. S. Pbeonix. funeral expenses alone· people were .no·t murdered because someone wanted At a press conference held at the Moonshot Club are over £7,500.

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