It was me, the BBC phoned me at 7.15am Sunday to ask if I was near it - I didn't know what they were talking about!

I did about 5-6 interviews on the trot, 4 TV and some radio. They asked me questions about the area and whether I was shocked... !

I told them that it was a complete shock, this is a quiet, residential area apart from the ambulance noise from the hospital down the road and there was no gang culture that I knew of. We have noise and groups of kids running down the road when the local secondary school kicks out, but nothing that would make you afraid to go out. The one word that everyone was avoiding yesterday was Race. The one word that's being bandied about today and totally blown out of proportion is Race. The boy was black. So are about 65% of the kids around here... the odds are that if a crime is committed or a child hurt in an accident, the victim is going to be black. I didn't think then, and I still don't think that his being black is the issue.

The issue is a young boy was stabbed to death in a street near my home, an area that has had it's share of crime (the crack house next door and the marijuanna farm across the road) but had never been violent before. It's the second knife crime that I'm aware of in this area in 2 months. The previous was a fight near Limpit's school that ended in a minor stabbing. The school whose pupils were involved in that fight, today held a minute silence near where Adam was killed. Perhaps that, rather than the telling off from the headmaster, will discourage them from fighting in the future.

At the moment, there is a 'smear campaign' going on, making this area out to be rife with knife and gang crime - particularly from a 'Rev W Lamptey' who states he works with young people in this area. He may work exclusively with black children, or in a different part of the borough because no-one I've spoken to, or indeed, the Anglican vicar of this area, knows who he is. He certainly doesn't work with any youth group connected with the two schools in the area that we know of.

As for my interviews - I can only state that although I did say those things, the interview I caught on TV was segmented and out of sequence, giving a much more negative impression that that I was trying to give. If you'd asked me 2 years ago about the area I live in, I would have said it was quiet and peaceful and a good place to live. Now I'm not so sure.

I can appreciate the humour against me - it's quite a respite after the total crapfest that has been our last 7 days, but it should stop now.. if you want to make fun of me, PM me.

LTS