13 dead...n
Magdalene Edwards remembers the sound of the screams and the smell of the thick smoke as it billowed through the house. She was a three-months-pregnant teenager when she survived a notorious blaze in South London by jumping from a second-storey window.
Forty years on from the New Cross Fire, the memories haunt Magdalene, who says she is still suffering and searching for answers.
Speaking about the ordeal for the first time, the 56-year-old mum says: “Everytime the anniversary comes around I don’t feel good at all.
“I survived because I managed to jump out of the window and I am still haunted at the scene of all these young people panicking when we realised we were going to die.
“Survivors are suffering from PTSD but we’ve been told to ‘move on and get over it’.”
The night was a birthday celebration for 16-year-old Yvonne Ruddock and 18-year-old Angela Jackson at the Ruddock family home – 439 New Cross Road in South London.
But early on January 18, 1981, 13 black partygoers – including Magdalene’s stepsister Roseline Henry – were killed when the fire ripped through the three-storey Victorian house.
The blaze, believed to have been set by racist thugs, is one of the biggest tragedies the black British community has faced. Fury over the police
I heard the screaming and I was asking for my sister
MAGDALENE ON THE HORROR
SURVIVOR Magdalene
investigation when partygoers began to be treated as arson suspects, led to a 20,000-strong protest through London and is also thought to be one of the catalysts for the Brixton uprising in April 1981.
The tragedy was an issue raised in Oscarwinning director Steve McQueen’s recent film Alex Wheatle, starring Sheyi Cole, about the writer who was sentenced to jail after the uprising.
Magdalene, 16 at the time, recalls not feeling well when she popped over to visit Roseline.
“We were very close and had a great relationship. She begged me to go because it was her boyfriend that was playing at the party.
“She said, ‘If you don’t go my mum will not let me go’. I would spoil her fun if I didn’t go.”
Reluctantly, Magdalene agreed and they set off with Roseline’s boyfriend and Magdalene’s brother Stephen.
The house was packed with around 200 people and the party was in full swing.
Magdalene and Roseline danced on the second floor, others partied on the third floor and people spilled out to chat on the narrow staircase.
“There was a party atmosphere, it was filled with young people laughing and dancing. They were playing lovers rock and everyone was singing. It was a lovely party vibe.
“At around 4am, someone came in and said there’s a small fire in the kitchen and everyone has to leave,” Magdalene recalls.
“I assumed it was a kitchen fire and the party was over. He closed the door but when we opened the door to leave all we could see was thick black smoke and we realised we needed to get out.”
As the gravity of the situation sunk in, people started to panic. “You could hear the screams and scrambling,” she says. “The only way to escape was to jump through the window on the first floor. People started climbing over each other. Roseline said she was going back for her boyfriend. That was the last time we saw her alive.”
Fearing for her life, Magdalene jumped and landed on the basement level. When she looked up at the window, smoke billowing out, she hoped she might see her sister close behind.
“I could hear the screaming and I remember asking for my sister,” she says tearfully.
It wasn’t until she was checked over at a hospital that Magdalene was told she was pregnant with daughter Rosalyn, named after Roseline, and who is now 39.
“I remember thinking, ‘God please don’t forsake me’ when I jumped. My faith has carried me whatever I have experienced in life.”
The youngest victim was Andrew Gooding, 14. Host Yvonne died as did her brother Paul, 22.
The disaster claimed a 14th victim two years later when 20-year-old Anthony Berbeck took his own life in 1983 because of what an inquest judge called “trauma brought on by the fire”.
Initially the police said they thought the party may have been firebombed. The racist far-right through
National Front was popular in parts of London at the time. But when no arrests were made, survivors claimed officers started treating them as suspects – and the community became angry.
The New Cross Massacre Action Committee was founded by the late Darcus Howe and John La Rose.
It organised The Black People’s Day of Action march and 20,000 people took to the streets of London on March 2. Chants on the day included
“13 dead and nothing said”. Magdalene was too poorly to attend but Oleander Agbetu, a friend of Roseline’s, went along. Oleander was supposed to go to the party but it clashed with a family bash.
“This is one of the most tragic, unsolved mysteries of all time,” the 58-year-old says.
“I’m not saying it’s a racist attack but the way the police handled it was racist. Families were treated as suspects and they weren’t interested in finding the perpetrators. If it was a group of white young people who had perished in a fire like this they would have found out who was behind it. We were not taken seriously as a community.”
David Reid lost school friend Owen Thompson in the tragedy and went to the march.
“People were saying it was the National Front that started the fire,” he says. “It made sense – National Front supporters would call us n ****** , spat at us and threw rubbish as we walked. That was the norm in the 70s and 80s. There were no-go areas for black people in London. The only time there was a sense of safety was when we were in church, a youth club or our parties and dances. “The march was the biggest gathering of black people we had seen besides the Notting Hill Carnival. Black people came from all over the country to ensure our voices were heard.” The demonstration was largely peaceful but there was some violence.
David adds: “As black people we suffered years and years of being racially abused, attacked, arrested by the police and beaten up for no reason and I’m afraid all the frustrations came out – it was a peaceful march until then.”
There have been two inquests – in April 1981 and in February 2004 – which both returned open verdicts. Toyin Agbetu, of Ligali, a human rights organisation that challenges the misrepresentation of black people, culture and history in the British media, believes the Black Lives Matter protests show grievances felt by black people are still current today.
“Some of the issues then are still going,” he says. “Our young are still treated like suspects even when they are the victims and they are continuously having to prove their innocence.”
As the anniversary approaches on Monday, Magdalene admits: “I’m not in the best place on that day. I’ll stay at home and I’ll say a prayer. It’s just too raw and it is raw to this day.”
The Metropolitan Police say they “thoroughly investigated the circumstances” of the fire and reviews and inquiries have been carried out. New information “will be thoroughly assessed”.