Police have made no arrests one month after a brutal attack on a woman, possibly involving a hammer, outside Harris Academy School in Bermondsey, on Valentine’s Day morning.
Concerned residents attending a London Bridge and West Bermondsey police meeting on Thursday, March 2, were disappointed to discover the attending officers had no knowledge of the incident.
A Met Police spokesperson has said leads are being pursued and, following the News’ enquiries, released a description of the assailant, who is still at large.
The suspect is described as a 5’7” black male of average build, in his mid-twenties with short afro hair, wearing dark clothing and a dark backpack.
Police were called to the scene on Southwark Park Road at around 9.30am on February 14, after a woman had been attacked while walking her dog.
Rumours spread that the woman had been struck with a hammer and, while police said a hammer had been found nearby, they could not confirm whether it had been used in the attack.
In a statement, a Met Police spokesperson said: “Evidence has been gathered in the form of witness accounts and a hammer that was found nearby. It is not yet confirmed that this hammer was used in the commission of this offence.”
Police said they did not believe the suspect and the victim were known to one another and the woman is understood to have recovered from her injuries.
The attack took place while Harris Academy was closed for half term and did not involve anyone from the school but has nonetheless prompted worry among parents.
Fears were stoked after residents reported seeing a man, who matched the attacker’s description, brandishing a saw on a nearby road the day after the attack
Residents told the News that police, called following the sighting, conducted house-to-house enquiries but, strangely, the Met Police had no record of this.
A Bermondsey mum previously said she was suffering from worry and anxiety that her child “will be attacked or killed while walking to and from school”.
On Thursday, March 2, concerned residents attended a safer neighbourhood meeting led by the London Bridge and West Bermondsey ward police officers.
Although the incident took place in South Bermondsey ward rather than London Bridge and West Bermondsey, attendees were still disappointed to find the officers running the session knew nothing of the attack.
A Bermondsey mum, who did not wish to be named, said on Wednesday, March 15: “I haven’t heard anything [from the police] it’s all gone deadly quiet – nothing… it doesn’t bode well.”
Another meeting led by the Met’s Safer Neighbourhood Team for South Bermondsey, where the attack took place, is scheduled for 6pm to 7pm, on March 22, at St Anne’s Church on Thorburn Square.
Concerned residents are expected to attend and ask about the progress of the investigation.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the police on 101 quoting reference 1982/14FEB23