Tributes to dead burglar torn down by angry locals
TRIBUTES to an intruder who died in a botched burglary after a struggle with a pensioner have been torn down and branded “in poor taste”.
Burst balloons, soiled cards and ruined flowers lined the pavement outside the south-east London home of Richard Osborn-Brooks (78), who stabbed Henry Vincent last Wednesday.
Family and friends of the 37-year-old erected the shrine opposite the pensioner’s home in South Park Crescent, Hither Green, on Monday — but within hours it had been dismantled.
Video emerged online showing a man pulling the floral tributes down from fences.
Resident Theresa Webb (43) said of the shrine: “It was inappropriate, poor taste really.
“You’re thinking: ‘How long will it be up there?’ I’m relieved it’s down. There was 101 bouquets down there.”
Saverimuthu Augustine (78) said he was “annoyed” that some flowers had been attached to fences around his house.
He said: “I don’t appreciate it. If it’s a normal person it’s different, but he went and burgled a house — it could have been my house.”
Vincent’s alleged accomplice Billy Jeeves (28) is being sought over the failed burglary, Scotland Yard said.
Mr Osborn-Brooks was arrested on suspicion of murder, but was told on Friday that no action would be taken.