This Photographer Documented Every Murder Site in London for Two Years
Jonathan Barnes, 20, died two days after being shot in the head during a bungled robbery in Addiscombe Croydon. Barnes and Daniel Tesfay, 25, tried to rob a man of fake Rolex watches at his home, but during the robbery a fight ensued and Barnes was shot by his accomplice. Tesfay was charged and found guilty of murder. Tesfay was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 30 years before parole.
Michael Dye, Wembley, September 6, 2011. Michael Dye, 44, died after being attacked outside Wembley stadium on the night of the Euro 2012 qualifying match between England and Wales. Dye suffered head injuries and died in the hospital. The accused, Ian Mytton, 41, told police that he thought Dye was 'aggressive in his looking at him.' A postmortem gave the cause of death as blunt trauma to the back of the head. Mytton was charged with murder and convicted of manslaughter.
Sashana Roberts, Cricklewood, September 12, 2011. Sashana Roberts, 24, was stabbed to death at her family home in Cricklewood. Her body was found in the bath and a postmortem later gave the cause of death as multiple stab wounds. Her former partner , Ezekiel Foster, 42, stabbed her 11 times with a kitchen knife in front of her children aged 3 and 11 months. Ezekiel was charged and convicted of murder.
Negus McClean, Edmonton, April 10, 2011. Negus McLean, 15, was stabbed to death in Edmonton after being chased by around seven young men riding bicycles and wearing hooded jumpers and facemasks. Negus was then beaten with metal poles before being stabbed in the thigh and chest with such force that the blade snapped off in his body. He was found injured in Westminster Road and died after being taken to hospital. Four young men were charged and convicted of the murder.
Kunaliny Alagaratnam & Santhirapathy Tharmalingam, Deptford, February 4, 2011. Kunaliny Alagaratnam 42 and Santhirapathy Tharmalingam, 59, died in a fire on the 16th floor of a tower block in Deptford. Sandra Clarke, 50, started the blaze in her own flat using lighter fuel after a dispute over her rent arrears. Alagaratnam and Tharmalingam, who were in a neighbouring flat, died of smoke inhalation during a fire in which 50 firefighters were involved. Sandra Clarke was charged and found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 16 years.
Anthony Whitefield, Loughton, February 6, 2011. Anthony Whitefield, 47, was murdered and dismembered sometime between February 6 and March 31 2011. Mr. Whitefield's severed arms were found in Roding Lake while the torso and legs were found in other locations. Whitefield's head has not been found. Douglas Binet, 54, was arrested and found guilty of the murder. After being found guilty, Binet was asked by the court to reveal the location of Whitefield's head and he refused.
Seydou Diarrassouba, Oxford Street, December 26, 2011. Seydou Diarrassouba, 18, was stabbed to death in Oxford Street during the sales on Boxing Day 2011. Diarrassouba suffered two knife wounds to the chest after being attacked near a shoe store. He collapsed near Bond Street station and was pronounced dead at the scene. A postmortem revealed the cause of death was a stab wound to the heart. Two men were charged with murder but were cleared of the charge after they successfully claimed self defense.
Colin Hammond, Fulham, October 25, 2012. Colin Hammond, 65, was stabbed to death in Fulham High Street on October 25, 2012. Police and paramedics were called to the scene and Hammond was pronounced dead at the scene. A postmortem later gave the cause of death as a single knife wound. A 27 year-old man was arrested nearby and charged with murder. The accused is due to stand trial after time of publication.
Tia Sharp, New Addington, August 3, 2012. Tia Sharp, 12, was found dead at her grandmother's home in New Addington. Sharp had been reported missing by her family seven days earlier. It took police four visits to the house before finding Sharp's body in the loft. Stuart Hazell, 37, the partner of Sharp's grandmother, was charged with murder. The court heard Hazell allegedly sexually assaulted Sharp before killing her. Hazell pleaded guilty to murder. Hazell was jailed for life with a minimum of 38 years.
David Petch, New Addington, April 14, 2012. David Petch, 55, died four days after being assaulted outside his home in New Addington. Police and paramedics were called to Wayside on April 14, 2012, and found the victim suffering from serious head injuries. Petch suffered a brain hemorrhage and died in hospital. Detectives launched a murder investigation and charged two people with murder. The case continues at time of publication.
Marcus Innocent, Woolwich, November 19, 2012. Marcus Innocent, 35, was shot dead near his home in Woolwich on November 19, 2012. A postmortem later gave the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the stomach. Detectives believe he was attacked by up to 20 people who were spotted gathering behind a parade of shops. Twelve men have been charged with murder and the trial is due to start after the time of publication.
Mahad Mohammed, Battersea, June 22, 2011. Mahad Mohammed, 20, was stabbed to death near Pennethorne House in Battersea. He was found injured and pronounced dead at the scene. Four men were arrested. The prosecution case was that Mohammed's death was linked to drug dealing and that two of the accused were members of the Stick'em Up Kids (SUK) gang based in Battersea. Two men were found guilty of murder, while the other two were found guilty of manslaughter.
Isaiah Bovell, Clapham, April 14, 2011. Isaiah Bovell, 21, was shot dead trying to break into a flat on April 14, 2011. Isaiah's body was found dead on a grassy area from a gunshot wound to the head. Police forced entry into the flat and found Raymond Andes, 39. When asked why he hadn't opened the door, he said: "I was just smoking my last fag". Andes was found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 10 years.
Luke Fitzpatrick, Dollis Hill, May 19, 2012. Luke Fitzpatrick, 25, was stabbed to death in Dollis Hill. Luke and his father had been among a crowd watching the Champions League final on TV at a pub. An altercation started inside the bar before spilling outside. Both Luke and his father were stabbed a short distance away. Two people were convicted of murder and jailed for life. A third man was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Regina & Rolls Say, Borough, February 13, 2011. Rolls Say, 10 and his sister Regina, 8, were stabbed to death by their father on February 13, 2011. Their throats had been cut and Rolls had suffered a head injury. They had also suffered knife wounds as they attempted to defend themselves. Jean Francis Say, 62, was arrested at the scene and charged with two counts of murder. Say admitted to the murder of both children. He was jailed for life with a minimum of 30 years before parole.
For two whole years, photographer Antonio Olmos visited and made pictures at every murder site in the greater London area. All told, he shot 210 scenes between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2012, and 79 of those photos are featured in his new book, The Landscape of Murder.
The point of the project was to shine a spotlight on each death. Too often, Olmos says, murders go unacknowledged by the public unless someone famous is involved or there is some kind of extenuating circumstances.
“Most murders that take place rarely make the news, and if they do occupy the news [it’s] for a fleeting time,” he says. “My aim is to give memory to what are mostly forgotten events.”
Instead, he was motivated to investigate after learning about the murder of Jitka Nahodilová, who was stabbed to death in her house by her boyfriend on January 1, 2011. For Olmos, Nahodilová’s death hit home because she was murdered in a nearby house that was oddly similar to his. When he walked around the neighborhood and asked people about it, most residents knew nothing about the murder, which only made him want to know more.
“No one seemed to be paying attention, so I started paying attention,” Olmos says.
Olmos was also inspired by what he perceived as a bias in media coverage. News programs seemed to report disproportionately on gang violence by young minorities. When he started digging, he found out that domestic violence, like Nahodilová’s death, actually accounted for more total murders than those associated with gangs.
“What I found out is that in London, you are more at risk of being murdered by your partner than you are by a gang,” he says.
Olmos followed the murders as they were posted on the police website. He then waited a couple days after a murder took place to show up on the scene. The point of waiting, he says, was to make images that capture how quickly murder scenes return to normal. In some of his photos it’s still obvious something happened. In others, there are subtle clues like a small bloodstain. In others, you would never know something happened.
“I’m not hitting you over the head, but you if you look at the photos together, you get the idea of what I’m doing,” he says.
Olmos says his ultimate goal is to humanize the victims. He hopes that viewers understand that while London does not have a high murder rate, people are still frequently losing their lives. Even though the murder sites are cleaned up quickly, that doesn’t mean the people who died there should be forgotten just as fast.