Hither Green 'burglar' stabbing: Man, 78, arrested

[AlterEgo]

A shrine to the dead burglar has been set up outside the house whilst the victim has had to go into hiding under police protection.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/shrine-dead-burglar-near-house-12332787

Dreadful people. Hope a few more of their kin get caught burgling by someone who’s had enough of their crap.

 

[Bromley boy]

A shrine to the dead burglar has been set up outside the house whilst the victim has had to go into hiding under police protection.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/shrine-dead-burglar-near-house-12332787

These people are vermin, just like the dead burglar. No other way to describe them.

Tributes have all been swiftly removed by the local community (it’s close to where I live and I’d drive down myself with a bin liner if not).

 

[Domh245]

All of the tributes taken down, apart from a teddy bear left by his children. Also interesting to see that Mr Vincent is "understood to be from the travelling community" - don't know if that'd been mentioned.

 

[AlterEgo]

All of the tributes taken down, apart from a teddy bear left by his children. Also interesting to see that Mr Vincent is "understood to be from the travelling community" - don't know if that'd been mentioned.

It was mentioned upthread but the newspapers didn't report it for a couple of days, perhaps because these things are hard to verify.

The forum rules prevent me from expressing my view about Travellers.

 

[Darandio]

The forum rules prevent me from expressing my view about Travellers.

Very much the same here. I grew up in a town that had an extensive permanent travellers site and went to school with quite a few that i've now seen mentioned over and over again in the local papers. Allotment arson, one man had 150 of his racing pigeons beheaded in one night, houses and vehicles firebombed and the skulls of rival families taken from graves to name but a few.

 

[Tetchytyke]

These people are vermin, just like the dead burglar. No other way to describe them.

Absolutely. It's trolling, nothing more and nothing less.

And again, the forum rules also prevent me expressing my opinion about travellers.

 

[Antman]

These people are vermin, just like the dead burglar. No other way to describe them.

Tributes have all been swiftly removed by the local community (it’s close to where I live and I’d drive down myself with a bin liner if not).

They'll probably be on the Jeremy Kyle show soon!

 

[Domh245]

Current top story on the BBC is that the tributes have all been reattached by some of the family. Local residents are also saying that they are beginning to feel intimidated...

 

[Geezertronic]

It seems normal to honour stupidity these days. I see the family are playing the victim card. Maybe they should concern themselves with finding Billy Jeeves since he left his mate for dead

 

[Darandio]

I see the family are playing the victim card. Maybe they should concern themselves with finding Billy Jeeves since he left his mate for dead

Find him? I'd be very surprised if it wasn't them hiding him.

 

[Monty]

Current top story on the BBC is that the tributes have all been reattached by some of the family. Local residents are also saying that they are beginning to feel intimidated...

The whole thing stinks as a campaign of intimidation and fear, even the 'letter' from his kids is a bit suspect, the BBC has images of them and from something that came from children it looks remarkably well written with no drawings you normally see when a child is trying to express their grief.

I get it this guy was a father and his family need to grieve but this whole 'shrine' feels like its meant to punish Mr Osborne-Brooks rather than actually remembering a loved one.

 

[Darandio]

I get it this guy was a father and his family need to grieve but this whole 'shrine' feels like its meant to punish Mr Osborne-Brooks rather than actually remembering a loved one.

It's purely intimidation against him and the nearby residents who rallied around him in the aftermath, they now want him dead plain and simple. God knows where they are going to put him, he certainly cannot ever go home again. With his picture also plastered all over newspapers and the internet, you can bet no matter where they put him they will have people looking for him from all corners of the country.

 

[yorkie]

They know there is no effective punishment to deal with them. They're a total disgrace and have no shame whatsoever.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-43710526

Mr Vincent's cousin Phoebe Smith, 34, said whoever had torn down the flowers "should be ashamed of themselves".

No, Phoebe Smith, they should be proud of themselves. You and your family are scumbags who should be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves.

 

[AlterEgo]

The whole thing stinks as a campaign of intimidation and fear, even the 'letter' from his kids is a bit suspect, the BBC has images of them and from something that came from children it looks remarkably well written with no drawings you normally see when a child is trying to express their grief.

I get it this guy was a father and his family need to grieve but this whole 'shrine' feels like its meant to punish Mr Osborne-Brooks rather than actually remembering a loved one.

I think it is more about intimidating the rest of the neighbourhood, which, we'd do well to remember, the family had been terrorising with repeat burglaries over the past months.

While I respect the rule of law and have posted in this thread asking for people to respect the due process, it was always pretty clear to me the resident was unlikely to be guilty of murder.

I am however pleased he stuck the bugger's own screwdriver in him in self-defence. Have that, scum.

The Traveller family are welcome to have their own memorial for their dead burglar, but not in the street where a law-abiding citizen gave him what he was due.

 

[Up_Tilt_390]

Okay, I've been keeping off this thread because the original case was a burglar getting stabbed. It seems (though I haven't read stories completely) that the one being burgled acted in self-defence and stabbed him with his own screwdriver. Now you can argue about the morality or legality of that all you want, but that's not why I am posting this. What really has done my box in is these people putting up a shrine for someone who was actually described as a career criminal. The kind of people who commit crimes and/or cause trouble, then immediately play victim when they suffer the consequences of their actions as if they have genuinely suffered from uncalled hardships, are among my most hated kind of people, and believe me when I say I have a VERY large list of the kinds of people I hate.

I get that the family is grieving since they lost a member of their own, but that doesn't change the fact that this burglar was what he was. On a separate but related note, I genuinely don't like, and in fact I hate, this idea of people being glorified in death. Whenever someone is murdered or dies on the news, you only ever hear messages of how everyone loved them and how they were such good people and didn't deserve what happened to the poor chaps. You never hear someone say something like "oh I'm delighted the scumbag's dead, he had it coming for a long time. My only distraught is how it never happened sooner". Obviously that's an extreme example, and even to me it seems somewhat disrespectful, but the cold hard truth doesn't care about feelings of grief. Hence I don't care about people taking down that shrine in Hither Green.

 

[yorkie]

I get that the family is grieving since they lost a member of their own, but that doesn't change the fact that this burglar was what he was.

They're very proud of the fact he was a career burglar. It's a massive shock to the family, because they are used to getting away with this sort of thing with impunity
and this time he didn't get away with it. They won't accept that, because it goes against everything they know. They don't have the same morals as us.

 

[Geezertronic]

On a separate but related note, I genuinely don't like, and in fact I hate, this idea of people being glorified in death. Whenever someone is murdered or dies on the news, you only ever hear messages of how everyone loved them and how they were such good people and didn't deserve what happened to the poor chaps. You never hear someone say something like "oh I'm delighted the scumbag's dead, he had it coming for a long time. My only distraught is how it never happened sooner". Obviously that's an extreme example, and even to me it seems somewhat disrespectful, but the cold hard truth doesn't care about feelings of grief. Hence I don't care about people taking down that shrine in Hither Green.

It's the same round where I live. Bloke nicks a motorbike, dies whilst evading capture, shrine goes up glorifying him. Makes me sick

They don't have the same morals as us.

The scum of society never do have any morals.

 

[Cowley]

They're very proud of the fact he was a career burglar. It's a massive shock to the family, because they are used to getting away with this sort of thing with impunity
and this time he didn't get away with it. They won't accept that, because it goes against everything they know. They don't have the same morals as us.

It’s very hard to feel any kind of sympathy (although I do for his children. They didn’t choose their parents).
I’m sure the people around him would’ve known and quite probably wished him good luck as he skulked out the door at eleven o’clock at night to carry on his ‘career’ of threatening vulnerable pensioners with violence while burgling them...
There’s no way the family or his friends should be allowed to make a shrine near the scene of the crime (and by crime, I don’t mean what the poor guy did to protect his property, who didn’t ask for any of this).

The public removing the shrine is an opportunity to show what they really feel about the lowlife that believe they can walk into their neighbourhood and take whatever they want.

 

[Up_Tilt_390]

They're very proud of the fact he was a career burglar. It's a massive shock to the family, because they are used to getting away with this sort of thing with impunity
and this time he didn't get away with it. They won't accept that, because it goes against everything they know. They don't have the same morals as us.

I didn't think I could possibly hate them any more already. But then I've known families of a similar nature who either appease, ignore, or even encourage these kinds of acts.

It's the same round where I live. Bloke nicks a motorbike, dies whilst evading capture, shrine goes up glorifying him. Makes me sick

I can only hope that the person got their motorbike back...

 

[Darandio]

New quotes appearing from the family as part of the ongoing page on the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-43710526

"I don't know what's wrong with these people [who took them down]. "He wasn't a murderer, he wasn't a rapist, they're putting [sic] him as a monster."

I guess that makes what he was doing okay then.

 

[Up_Tilt_390]

New quotes appearing from the family as part of the ongoing page on the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-43710526

"I don't know what's wrong with these people [who took them down]. "He wasn't a murderer, he wasn't a rapist, they're putting [sic] him as a monster."

I guess that makes what he was doing okay then.

Everyone currently on the the forums right now reading the quote from the family...

Spoiler

For those who can't watch the video, it's basically a bunch of people doing a facepalm...

 

[Crossover]

I heard on the news on Radio 2 at 19:00 that the "shrine" had been dismantled for a second time

 

[bramling]

I heard on the news on Radio 2 at 19:00 that the "shrine" had been dismantled for a second time

Good.

 

[Antman]

I think it's about time the police stepped in and prevented anybody setting up another ridiculous shrine, surely it can be deemed an action likely to cause a breach of the peace?

 

[Harbornite]

And again, the forum rules also prevent me expressing my opinion about travellers.

Same.

I'm reminded of that POS train robber Ronnie Biggs and the following he had; because of people like that, I've learned not to underestimate the depths of human stupidity and general scummyness.

As for this traveller, he and his family are trash and the more that end up like him, the better.

 

[Busaholic]

I'm fast approaching 70 and, for a few years, lived in Hither Green and then for a few more years a couple of miles away, so this particularly resonates with me. I also worked for the Probation Service for some of this period, though not in S.E. London.

This is a tragic situation: tragic that someone has died, obviously, but perhaps even more tragic for a 78 year old whose life will never be the same again, regardless of whether he is ever prosecuted.
.

It may be bad form to quote one's own previous post, and in many ways I'd much rather not be doing so, but I'm doing so because I had a sinking feeling about all this from the first reports. By complete coincidence, on Saturday I met after a gap of some years someone, now retired, who had worked for the Probation Service in S.E. London, mainly in Bromley/Orpington, and she confirmed for me what I had suspected, that there has long been what might be called an 'extended family' ( in the loose sense of that term) of 'travellers', making every use of the privileges/exemption accorded both in law and by default/practice to those so designated, in the area straddling the border between London and Kent in the Orpington/Swanley/Meopham area, taking advantage of the fact that police/court/Probation jurisdictions changed at the border. Without speaking of the specific individual killed, she told me that in this group of acquaintances/family there would be many who sought 'revenge', no matter how unjustified to any rational person, on the householder and, indeed, anyone who publically supported him or impeded their efforts to memorialise the burglar as they saw fit. In many ways, their lives are lived as must be those of some in Sicily and New Jersey of a different ethnic background. Now, far be it for me to suggest that as in Sicily and NJ there may be some in law enforcement who, for whatever reason (and personal fear may well come into it) choose to turn a blind eye at the very least to some of the activities of this amorphous group, but they do seem to live charmed lives, even if some of them disappear for comparatively small amounts of time into the prison system. Others (and including the man who died) seem able to escape justice even when they are named as 'wanted', aided by unregistered (or falsely registered) cars and vans, and 'settlements' which the police either do not, or choose not to, have access.

 

[Geezertronic]

Did anyone see the discussion they were having on this on Good Morning Britain this morning. I saw it with subtitles when I was in the gym (it's true, I was in the gym ) and I've not seen the video yet but a quick Google shows the following on The Express website

https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/t...aps-debate-floral-tributes-Hither-Green-watch

Eamonn Holmes SNAPS at Hither Green flowers for burglar ‘That’s what cemeteries are for!'

Dr Pam Spurr seemed to be defending the "Shrine", be interesting to see the video

 

[Bromley boy]

In saying “you can choose not to look” Pam Spur (whoever the hell she is) totally misses the point.

No one would have a problem with the family making floral tributes or remembering the burglar however they wish. Choosing to put these tributes up next to his victim’s house in a deliberate attempt at trolling/intimidation is the problem.

 

[Geezertronic]

Mourners of Henry Vincent 'not to be intimidated,' says Met

What about the innocent members of the street or the innocent home owner forced into this situation by the criminal intent of others? Makes me sick... the police are part of the problem if they are saying that. Sir Craig Mackey (Met deputy commissioner,) - you are a disgrace

 

[AlterEgo]

What about the innocent members of the street or the innocent home owner forced into this situation by the criminal intent of others? Makes me sick... the police are part of the problem if they are saying that. Sir Craig Mackey (Met deputy commissioner,) - you are a disgrace

The police should prevent the Travellers from intimidating the local community.

I'm pleased some hard blokes are making a stand in Hither Green. I would be out there cutting the flowers down as well.