Why has Westfield ‘become a gangland’ with thousands of crimes reported each year?

A video of a teenager throwing a heavy chair over a balcony in Westfield Stratford has left Londoners shocked.

Not only did it only narrowly miss four shoppers walking below, the boys appeared almost shameless as they laughed at its landing.

Police confirmed yesterday two boys from Hackney aged 14 and 16 had been charged with criminal damage with intent to endanger life – but this type of behaviour has almost become the norm.

Metro found 3,374 crimes were reported in and around the centre last year, ranging from shoplifting to assault, according to the Metropolitan Police.

Just two weeks ago, footage shows a security guard being knocked out outside of the centre, with a 21-year-old man arrested on suspicion of actual bodily harm.

‘Lawless’ behaviour at Westfield Stratford

In January, four teenagers were arrested after a machete fight broke out outside Westfield Stratford.

Back in 2018, a trainee doctor named Grace Spence Green was left paralysed after a man who dove off of the top floor landed on her.

Amsumana Sillah Trawally admitted causing grievous bodily harm and was jailed for four years.

Others have since flocked to share their stories of ‘lawless’ behaviour in the iconic shopping centre.

Chris Stanton, who lives in the area, told Metro: ‘You see this kind of behaviour all over Stratford, and it is getting worse by the day. There are parts of Stratford which resemble gangland Mexico.

‘I will try and avoid the more open areas of the centre when walking through – you have no choice but to be vigilant.’

Former employees have revealed just how unsafe they felt just getting to and from work.

One woman who worked at a store in Stratford Westfield, said: ‘I am a female, five feet tall and I worked there in my early 20s.

‘Two women who worked with me have been attacked on their way home and my workplace was constantly sending emails to stay vigilant and try to travel in pairs.

‘Even the men I worked with stopped walking me home because they felt unsafe.

‘I spent so much money on Ubers and taxis, which is ridiculous when I lived 20 minutes walk away. Once I decided to take the night bus home, and my handbag was stolen.’

‘It feels like gangland Mexico’

But why is crime so prevalent there, especially compared to its counterpart in Shepherd’s Bush.

Mike Neville, ex-Met detective and founding ‘super-recogniser’, had one of his 20 units stationed just round the corner from the building.

He said gang culture in east London, coupled with Westfield offering a warm and dry environment, makes it a hotbed for crime.

He told Metro: ‘The last time I was there, I went shopping with my wife and when we walked two men were in a full on fight, and everyone just walked on, clearly used to it.

‘Westfield offers a place for gangs to meet up, be warm and also has lots of nice shops where they can steal things.’

And the figures show this to be true. Last year, crimes in the centre were at their lowest over the summer, with 218 reports in June compared to 376 in November – when it gets darker and colder.

Criminals are also well aware that there is little consequence to their actions in the building, despite spending thousands on their CCTV systems.

Genetec Security Center helped equip the building with 1,200 cameras from Axis Communications, covering 177,000 metre-squared of retail floor space.

The process was streamlined to make sure finding thieves and preventing crimes was as easy as possible, and two ‘Mission Controls’ have also been installed.

Mike said: ‘There are plenty of qualityCCTV cameras in there, and the place is well lit, so there should be no problem tracking these people down.

‘But they know they can get away with it because there are never any convictions.’

Metro has contacted Westfield for comment.

In the past year, shoplifting offences – which makes up the majority of Westfield’s crimes-in London rose by nearly half to hit 55,860 offences.

But only 3,462 of the crimes were solved, leaving shoplifters feeling as if they are ‘invincible’.

Mike said: ‘Back when I was an officer and running the super-recognisers, we were identifying around 60% of people caught on camera, but now this has dropped.

‘Once you get away with a crime once, you start to forget about the cameras – there is no preventative system.’

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