Police issue jewellery thief suspect sketch

Police have issued this sketch of a man wanted in connection with a jellewery heist on February 3rd. Jewels worth nearly £1million were stolen at knifepoint from Haynes Jewellers, Castle Court, St Michael’s Alley, near Cornhill in the raid.

DI Edelle Michaels from City of London Police who is leading the investigation said: “Witnesses have provided a clear description of one of the robbers and someone will recognise the man in the picture we’ve released today. He is suspected of involvement in a violent and frightening robbery and it’s important that anyone with information on his identity contact us.”

Police now know three men were involved in the robbery. All 3 were dressed like workmen with their faces partially covered, one in fluorescent jacket and trousers. The men took a taxi from close to the scene of the robbery to Tower Hill, where two of the gang left the cab. The third suspect stayed in the taxi and was dropped on Hackney Road at Bethnal Green.

Anyone with information about the robbery or the suspects, or who has information about the whereabouts of the jewellery stolen should contact City of London Police on 020 7601 2222, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111

City Lights Turned On For Christmas

The City of London’s Christmas lights were switched on last night at a star studded event on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral. Big name acts such as the reformed Spandau Ballet, Little Boots, Farryl Smith and Scouting for Girls performed for crowds gathered at the Wren-designed cathedral.

The event was coordinated with Oxford St and Regent St switch on ceremonies, and sponsored by Disney’s new version of A Christmas Carol.  Stars of the movie turned on the lights at each of the three locations: Bob Hoskins at St Paul’s Cathedral, Colin Firth at Regent Street, and Jim Carrey at Oxford Street.

Couldn’t make it? Here’s a couple of Youtube videos from the event posted by paulmuchmore…

City school sex scandal

The case of Helen Goddard, the teacher accused of a lesbian affair with an underage pupil at a prestigious City girls school for Girls, came to court yesterday and she entered a plea of guilty to six counts of sexual activity with the girl between February and July this year. The maximum sentence available is 14 years though this seems unlikely, particularly as the child has expressed an intention to renew the relationship when she becomes 16 and is supported in this by her parents.

Slightly bizarrely the the judge has rules that the school cannot be named, not that the Telegraph seems bothered by that, despite the fact the school’s name was spread across the newspapers several weeks ago when the case first broke so it seems a little late for that now.

Sentencing will take place on September 21st

Rain, rain, go away.

If you trudged into the office in the rain this morning you, like me, might be wondering where the “Barbeque Summer” that the Met Office was promising back in April. Given our typically British fascination for weather the news seemed to visibly lift the faces of glum office workers and provide visions of summer frolics, happy garden parties, the delightful scent of family barbecues and lazing in pub gardens on sunny Sunday afternoons. In June we could have believed it was true with the blazing, sunny days and assorted Government health warnings so let’s just remind ourselves of that glowing press release that the Met Office put out on April 30th (not 1st) shall we?

The coming summer is ‘odds on for a barbecue summer’, according to long-range forecasts. Summer temperatures across the UK are likely to be warmer than average and rainfall near or below average for the three months of summer.

Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office, Ewen McCallum, said: “After two disappointingly-wet summers, the signs are much more promising this year. We can expect times when temperatures will be above 30 °C, something we hardly saw at all last year.”

Although the forecast is for a drier and warmer summer than average it does not rule out the chances of seeing some heavy downpours at times. However, a repeat of the wet summers of 2007 and 2008 is unlikely.

Well, they were right in that we’d get some “times” where temperatures were over 30 degrees as Wisley recorded a high of 31.8 degrees in June but saying he would “not rule out” some heavy downpours seems a serious underestimation in hindsight as some areas received twice their average rainfall, even in sunny June. You could probably sum up that forecast as “It might be hot, then it might not” and that “Barbecue Summer” was cooked up by some gormless intern in their press office but everyone will remember reading the “Barbecue Summer” quote in the news with, perhaps, some simmering resentment.

The BBC News website has also had enough and taken the Met Office to task:
The Met Office also says temperatures have been around or above normal, and that the end of August might be better again. It did indeed stress at the time of the summer forecast in April that the odds of a scorching summer were 65%. It explains that it coined the phrase “barbecue summer” to help journalists’ headlines. But this has come back to bite the organisation because many people do not feel like they have been enjoying a “good” summer, especially compared with previous searing years.

Indeed. According to the mean temperatures 2006 was the warmest July going and on current form this one won’t compare though with predictions like that perhaps they could get a job in the City…

Is the wet summer affecting your holiday plans?

Met Office Summer Forecast - 30th April 2009
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2009/pr20090430.html

BBC News - Met Office Cools Summer Forecast
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8173533.stm

Mean Temperatures for July to 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8127386.stm

Google News articles on “Barbecue Summer” (via bit.ly)
http://bit.ly/kNogk

City of London Board Game Launched for Charity

A new board game called “City of London” has been launched in aid of Lord Mayor’s Appeal Charities. In it, your aim is to become the Lord Mayor of London, and to do that you secure ward seats, win elections, become a Freeman and more before getting to the top job at the Mansion House.

Multiple choice questions about the Square Mile need to be answered in order to progress through the game, with the 25 wards, the Old Bailey and the Guildhall all featuring on the attractive board.

The Lord Mayor’s two charities that will benefit from the sale of the game are St John Ambulance London (Prince of Wales’s) District and The Lord’s Taverners.

Designed for 2-4 players aged 10 and above, ‘City of London’ is available at the special price of £25.00 if ordered in advance via www.lordmayorshow.org and collected from The Mansion House, or at the retail price of £29.99, post free. It’s also available from Guildhall’s Library and Art Gallery shops, St Paul’s Cathedral shop and, from August, at John Lewis and Peter Jones in London.

Ian Pay, The Lord Mayor’s Appeal Director says, ‘We think that ‘City of London’ is the perfect gift for anyone interested in the City of London or who professes to be an expert on the ‘Square Mile’. It’s also a great way of supporting two hugely worthwhile charities, discovering facts about the City and having fun at the same time.’

City school abuse scandal

It seems like there may have been the wrong kind of sex in the City as the papers have been humming with the news that the City of London School for Girls has been rocked by the allegations of an inappropriate relationship between a 26-year old teacher and an under-16 year old pupil. The woman was apparently arrested on Monday and has been suspended pending further investigations although that point seems somewhat procedural as the school heads into the summer holidays.

Today’s Daily Mail has named the teacher concerned:
“Helen Goddard, 26, a trumpeter known as ‘the jazz lady’ by her pupils at the £13,000-a-year City of London School for Girls, was arrested on Monday and released on police bail”

Whilst the investigation is yet to determine exactly what went on I’m sure the school will be hoping that it’s robust response to the allegations will allay the fears of parents and also demonstrate to the various City institutions that support it that they have handled the situations well.

The school has 700 pupils aged from 7 to 18 and has been on its Barbican site since 1969 and is a very highly-rated school indeed which has top-rated examination performances and has had agony aunt Claire Rayner, TV presenter Claudia Winkleman and singer and musician Dido as pupils in the past.

There’s some confusion over exactly when the school started as their own website has the confusing sentence:
“Founded by a City merchant, William Ward in 1881 City of London School for Girls opened in Carmelite Street in 1894”

Eh? The Time quotes the 1881 date but the school seems to consider its birth year as being 1894 though as they recently celebrated their 110th birthday in 2004-2005.

City of London School for Girls
http://www.clsg.org.uk/

Stunt Rider Jumps Tower Bridge

Renowned stunt rider, Robbie Maddison, achieved a first last week when he performed a spectacular backward flip across a partially closed Tower Bridge. The Australian FMX legend got an upside down view of the iconic bridge and the Thames below as he made the jump across. See for yourself in this video below:

Friday Round-up

Earlier in the week I brought you the police request to identify the man who jumped from the building near Bank and since then the press has been full of the tragic story of Anjool “Jools” Malde who had been asked by Deutsche Bank to leave work early last Friday while they investigated an “IT matter”. The general consensus seems to be that the fear of losing his job may have driven him to it although there are witness statements suggesting that he seemed fine only a couple of hours beforehand., and today the Daily Mail has suggested that the whole situation could have been caused by an internet prank that went wrong. Exactly what could have caused him to take his own life hopefully the coroner will discover.

It seems like the Metropolitan Police have been stung by events where Police officers and PCSOs have asked members of the public to delete photos from their cameras and the Met have responded with an official policy stating that all photography is permitted and that police should be involved if there is enough evidence to suspect a link to terrorist activity:
“Members of the public and the media do not need a permit to film or photograph in public places and police have no power to stop them filming or photographing incidents or police personnel.”

In my coverage of the G20 riots back in May I had no queries from police about my taking photos, even at the times when I was in between police lines, but I know some photographers did. With all my previous photos online (see Flickr gallery to the right) myself and thecity.co.uk owner Rob have been bantering about what kind of photo I’d have to take to get myself arrested but it seems as though the Met have taken that particular form of excitement away now.

Lastly I’d recommend you have a look at Leadenhall Market’s upcoming Jazz Festival, called “Sax in the City”, particularly the evening event on the 30th
July featuring Steve Gregory, former sax player for George Michael (”Careless Whisper” anyone?), Van Morrison and Georgie Fame amongst many others. I played guitar with Steve a few times in different bands over the years and more recently he played at my birthday party while I sang Sinatra numbers, though you’ll no doubt be pleased to know that I won’t be reprising those at the market… they couldn’t afford me

Police Guidance to Photograpers
http://www.met.police.uk/about/photography.htm

Leadenhall Market - Sax in the City
http://www.leadenhallmarket.co.uk

Nomura To Leave Wharf for the City?

Speculation has been rife that Japanese bank, Nomura, is to leave Canary Wharf and move to a prestigious new development in the City of London next year.

The large firm has apparently signed an agreement to take the new Watermark Place development on the north bank of the River Thames. The new 12 storey building is next to Cannon Street station and has replaced the former BT building, Mondial House.

The move would be a boost for the City in its ongoing rivalry with upstart Canary Wharf to be home to leading financial institutions.

Nomura has a London workforce of about 4000, with many of them having been recruited from Lehman Brothers following their collapse last year.