Wandsworth Guardian is taking a look back at some of its most read stories of 2017.
We have reviewed some of the highs and lows that have occurred over the past 12 months with the stories our readers have clicked on the most.
Here is a month-by-month rundown of what has been read you, our Wandsworth Guardian readers, this year with a selection for each.
January:
1. ‘Pedestrian dies after being hit by lorry in Battersea’
A pedestrian died after he was struck by a lorry at the junction of Battersea Park Road and Cabul Road.
Police were called to the incident at around 10.28am on January 26 but the man, in his 70s, was pronounced dead a short while later.
2. ’21-year-old man stabbed to death in Tooting named as Kyle Maher’
3. ‘Man in critical condition following crash between car and motorcycle in Roehampton Lane’
4. ‘Harris Academy Battersea tops London school performance tables and third in England’
5. ‘Post office owner on Battersea Park Road witnessed last moments of man’s life after lorry crash’
February:
1. ‘Missing Clapham schoolgirl found ‘safe and well’’
A 16-year-old girl who went missing from her home in Clapham ‘returned home, safe and well’.
Anar Rostamzod Mansour was found after being last seen in Streatham at approximately 7.40am on February 7.
2. ‘Italian gastro pub shut after ‘accumulation’ of raw sewage and fly infestation’
3. ‘Procession of bikers ‘causing chaos’ in Putney as they gather for a funeral’
4. ‘Tooting Market wins Best Small Indoor Market at awards ceremony’
5. ‘Man ‘slashed with knife across leg’ by Tooting Broadway Station’
March:
1. ‘Murder investigation launched after Malachi Brooks stabbed to death in Battersea’
A murder investigation was launched after a 21-year-old man was stabbed to death in a ‘brutal’ attack.
Police were called to the incident at around 1.10am in Surrey Lane on March 28.
The victim, Malachi Brooks, was described as ‘well-liked’ and an ‘outgoing’ person.
3. ‘Police search for hit-and-run driver who left two women injured outside Wandsworth pub’
4. ‘Battersea Quarter restaurant owner fined after food covered in ‘mouse urine and faeces’’
5. ‘’I’ve just witnessed a cyclist f***ing someone in the trees’’
April:
1. ’21-year-old ‘stabbed in the head’ with screwdriver before motorbike is stolen in Tooting’
A man was allegedly stabbed in the head with a screwdriver before his motorcycle was stolen by a gang of men.
The 21-year-old, who did not wish to be identified, said he was with his friends in Barringer Square, near Tooting Common, before being approached by men with knives, belts and metal bars.
His mother said: “One boy put a knife to my son’s throat while another stabbed him in the forehead with a screwdriver and took his bike.”
2. ‘Man in his 20s dies at scene of stabbing in Melody Road, Wandsworth’
3. ‘Battersea stabbing: arrest made in Surrey Lane murder of Malachi Brooks’
4. ‘Man stabbed in buttocks in unprovoked Wandsworth knife attack’
May:
1. ‘Update: teen stabbed in daylight attack near Battersea’
A pile of cut-up clothes were reportedly found on the ground after a teenager was stabbed near Battersea.
The victim, believed to be an 18-year-old man, was knifed near the junction of Wandsworth Road and Thessaly Road on May 12.
He was later taken to hospital in east London.
2. ‘Ex-Ashcroft Technology Academy Putney principal charged with historical sex offences’
3. ‘Man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after woman stabbed in Battersea’
June:
1. ‘Police helicopters and cars chase suspect through Wandsworth streets in early hours’
Police helicopters and cars were involved in a chase through Wandsworth’s streets on a night in June.
Officers were searching for a suspect driving through SW18 in the early hours of June 18.
A Met Police spokesman said a van made off and police lost sight of the vehicle after signalling for it to stop.
3. ‘WATCH: Man arrested after ‘threatening police with knife and throwing bottles’ from balcony’
5. ‘Police carry out controlled explosion outside US Embassy in Wandsworth’
July:
1. ‘Body found at rear of Southside Shopping Centre’
A body was found behind Southside Shopping Centre on a July morning.
Police were called at 8.56am on July 7 where a man was found dead at the scene.
The death was not treated as suspicious.
3. ’17 charged with drugs raids in south London’
4. ‘Man ‘wielding an axe’ on the loose in Streatham after being followed from Clapham’
5. ‘Balham restaurant Café Chic shut down for running illegal nightclub’
August:
1. ‘Man arrested over Putney Bridge jogger who ‘pushed’ woman into path of oncoming bus’
The man arrested after allegedly ‘pushing’ a woman into the path of an oncoming bus in Putney Bridge was identified as American investment banker Eric Bellquist.
He was arrested by police on August 10 in connection with the incident which occurred on May 5.
However, he was later released by the Met Police pending no further investigation.
2. ‘Tooting named in world’s top 10 ‘coolest neighbourhoods to visit’ by Lonely Planet’
3. ‘Two people trapped and 10 injured after double-decker bus crashes into shop in Battersea’
4. ‘Arrest made after hunt for jogger who ‘pushed’ woman into path of bus on Putney Bridge’
5. ‘The best and worst GP surgeries in Wandsworth revealed’
September:
1. ‘Murder investigation launched after badly burned body found in Southfields’
A murder investigation was launched by police after a badly burned body was found in the back garden of a Southfields home.
Police said they discovered it at an address in Wimbledon Park Road on September 20, which was later identified as French nanny Sophie Lionnet.
Sabrina Kouider, 34, and Ouissem Medouni, 40, are currently awaiting trial as they are accused of her murder alongside charges of perverting the course of justice.
2. ‘Putney JD Wetherspoon branch closes after 24 years’
3. ‘Two men arrested in connection with murder of Malachi Brooks’
4. ‘Elderly man ‘robbed at knifepoint by four thieves on mopeds’ in Tooting’
5. ‘Man injured after stabbing in Balham Hill’
October:
1. ‘Elderly woman dies after crash with a lorry in Wandsworth’
An elderly woman died after being involved in a crash with a lorry in Wandsworth on an October afternoon.
The pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene in Buckhold Road, at the junction with Wandsworth High Street, at around 12.16pm on October 6.
She was said to have suffered both head and leg injuries.
2. ‘Motorcyclist dies after Battersea Bridge crash’
3. ‘TfL ‘appalled’ after bus driver caught rowing with disabled man in Earlsfield’
4. ‘Fire rips through rear of three-storey building in Tooting’
November:
1. ‘Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason returns to Battersea Power Station’
Pink Floyd drummer and founder Nick Mason made a rare public appearance when he revisited Battersea Power station on a November evening.
He was back at the scene of where the band’s ‘Animals’ album was released 40 years ago last month in 1977 on November 7.
It commemorated the anniversary of it, which included an inflatable pig.
2. ‘Flanagan’s pub in Battersea to be demolished in ‘betrayal of local history’’
3. ‘Boy, 14, arrested for this 18-inch knife in Tooting’
4. ‘Fire damages sheltered housing block in Battersea – as it happened’
December:
1. ‘Starbucks falls victim to Battersea-Clapham curse – again’
Starbucks was the latest to fall victim to the Battersea, not Clapham, curse after this faff.
On a poster in the window of a closed outlet the chain said its branch was in Northcote, Clapham, and not Battersea.
The error sparked a response from people on social media.
2. ‘Jalied: Wandsworth teenager caught with cocaine and heroin in Balham’
3. ‘Aldi has plans for a new store in Balham’
4. ‘Battersea drug dealers get 11 years in jail after police raid’
5. ‘Tulse Hill: Woman visiting Wandsworth ‘left to die’ in quadruple hit-and-run’
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