Breeding ground for crime and drugs

Stonebridge, which includes the Churchend estate where Kayser Osman was stabbed to death, is one of the most notoriously dangerous areas of London.

The area just north of Harlesden, comprising a maze of shabby concrete estates - Stonebridge, St Raphael's and Churchend - is one of the poorest places in Britain and has become a breeding ground for violent crime and drug dealing.

In September last year more than 700 police officers raided the main precinct of the Stonebridge Estate where crack dealers were openly selling their wares. Guns, knives, large quantities of crack and other drugs were recovered and 22 people were arrested.

The area was also central to one of the most brutal gang wars in recent history when a feud between Yardie drug dealers escalated into little less than open warfare in 1999. At least four people died in tit-for-tat shootings.

The gang war took place after the murder of Dion Holmes in May 1999 outside Stonebridge's Bridge Park Community Centre. A gang from Brixton descended on the centre to take revenge but were confronted by members of the Lock City Crew, Yardie gangsters who used the centre as an arsenal.

A shoot-out "more reminiscent of the Wild West than north London," followed. One of the Brixton gang was shot through the heart and killed while two others were injured.

In January a man was shot in the head outside a community centre on the nearby St Raphael's Estate.

Millions of pounds in regeneration funding has been poured into the area in recent years to rebuild the various estates' grim housing stock and to try and shake off its dreadful reputation.

But so far little has changed.

Local crime figures