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 Silla Carron is congratulated by Carol Voderman at the Pride of Britain awards |
TV awards night salutes Silla, scourge of estate drug dealers
Campaigner meets Home Secretary after issuing challenge at prize ceremony
SILLA Carron – the campaigner who lead the fightback against drug dealers on her Camden Town estate – had a showdown with Home Secretary John Reid after landing a prestigious Pride of Britain award.
Unlike any elected politician, she appeared to win pledges from Mr Reid that the government would re-visit drug policies, improve police work and push for tougher sentencing.
True to character, Ms Carron did not beat around the bush, telling Mr Reid that his advisers were “talking out of their rear end” when they ruled that khat, a greenleaf drug favoured by Somali men, was safe.
She was named ‘Neighbour of the Year’ at a glittering ceremony at London Television on the South Centre Bank on Monday, sharing the stage with TV presenters Noel Edmunds and Carol Vorderman.
It was as she collected the award – organised by the Daily Mirror – that she spotted Mr Reid in the audience and demanded a meeting.
The pair met at the House of Commons on Tuesday as Ms Carron badgered the Home Secretary again.
She said: “Can you get magistrates to get real and stop letting people off or giving them soft sentences?” Ms Carron also told him not to class all teenagers as “yobs” and to make sure police are on the patrol rather than filling out forms in offices.
Mr Reid told her that he would “slash paperwork” for police and demand tough sentences.
He said: “It (soft sentencing) lets the victim down and lets the offender off. We have got to get best practice in this.”
On the subject of khat, Mr Reid said: “You’ve told me there is a social impact. We will look at it again.”
The awards ceremony was also attended Prime Minister Tony Blair, pop stars Girls Aloud and rock legend Rod Stewart. As part of filming for the event, Ms Carron, 58, a big Liverpool fan, was set-up with a surprise meeting with the club’s captain Steven Gerrard last week.
The glamour of the occasion and celebrity hook-ups was a sharp contrast to her gritty story of tackling drug dealers on her home Clarence Way Estate.
She decided it was time for action when she saw a heroin addict injecting himself in the groin as she walked her grand-daughter to her nearby primary school six years ago.
Ms Carron vowed to get police and council chiefs to help – and hasn’t stopped shouting since. High-profile politicians including Michael Howard, David Davies and Oliver Letwin have visited the estate. It is that dogged campaign that landed her on stage on Monday night, accepting the Pride of Britain award.
Ms Carron said: “People say that I did it all single-handedly. I don’t like that. I just made sure I didn’t go away. You have to stand up for yourselves. Since I started, more people have got involved. If lots of people shout together – it will makes a loud sound.”
She worked with the New Journal in 2003 to organise a petition which successfully persuaded the Home Office to increase police manpower in Camden. Part of the campaign was a grisly diary of life on the estate – printed in this newspaper – documenting how drug addicts had taken over the play areas.
Ms Carron added: “We still have a problem on the estate. It comes in dribs and drabs. There is a big problem with displacement. If there isn’t a problem here, it has moved over to the next estate. It switches about. I told John Reid that.”
Her work has been against the backdrops of hate-mail and threats – an addict chucked excrement at her door.
She said: “I have had someone push me a couple of times. Once a drug addict told me he wanted to kill me and I just told him to get in line. I was just tired of hearing people say ‘it’s nothing to do with me’. Someone has to do something or things don’t change.”
Ms Carron’s daughter Vicki said: “I don’t know how she does it really. She’s such a little thing but she’s not intimidated by anyone.”
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