Please be aware of an incident that happened on Monday 2 October along the woodland walk. Here are the details as received from the police:
At approximately 6.15pm a female member of Blacksun staff, one of Fulham Palace's office tenants, was walking through the woodland walk on her way out from work. She was speaking on her phone and was approached from behind by a male who snatched the bag she was carrying off her shoulder. During this she dropped her phone and when she stood up after picking it up she saw another male who was holding a knife. Neither male spoke to the lady at all and both ran off, with nothing further happening. They ran off in the direction of Putney Bridge. The woman was unhurt but was shaken and upset. Her bag, with laptop and other items, was stolen.
The description given of the men is limited – they were both black, wearing black hoodies pulled up over their heads. One of the black hoodies had white writing on the front.
This is a serious and upsetting incident to happen in our gardens. I have spoken with the police and they visited again on Tuesday to see the woman that this happened to.
The advice they have given us is that we should not panic, they are not aware of other incidents of this nature happening in the area and this appears to be an opportunistic incident. However, it is being treated seriously and we must all be aware of our surroundings and how we are conducting ourselves.
They have advised that with the weather turning and the days getting shorter that we do not walk out alone. That we do not have valuables on show, that we all keep our eyes and ears open so we can focus on who and what is around us. They recommend that phones, laptops, tablets should be out of sight and we do not have earphones in or up loud that we cannot hear what is going on around us.
They also recommend that we walk out of the site in pairs, especially when it is getting to dusk or darker. If dark, do not use the route through the garden, exit the site via the driveway and take the longer route around to Fulham Palace Road and Putney Bridge.
This is an unusual incident to have happened at the palace. The police have reiterated that this is an incident that could happen anywhere, they believe it to be opportunistic and it is unfortunate that it has happened here this time.
We are mindful of the area and times that we live, work and volunteer in. We take this seriously and want everyone to be safe. We ask all to please heed the advice given and follow the advice the police have given.
In terms of security we do not plan to extend our lighting nor our cctv at present. The nature of the site is that it does have some vulnerabilities. We are not able to provide lighting and cctv to all areas of our site and it would not be appropriate to do so given what our site is. We will continue to review and seek advice from the police, in the meantime please do follow the advice given.
The police and parks police are doing additional patrols through the garden.
If anyone is concerned and would like to speak with me I would be happy to do so, please let me know.
Thanks
Arlene
Arlene Fraser
General Manager
Telephone: 020 7610 7163
Mobile: 07557 433327
Email: arlene.fraser@fulhampalace.org