Doors which could have saved Arsema Dawit broken for months

Security doors that could have saved stabbed schoolgirl Arsema Dawit were left in disrepair for months after failures by council bosses.

The broken doors meant that anyone could walk off the street into the block where the former choirgirl was knifed to death in a lift on Monday.

Residents in Matheson Lang Gardens, near Waterloo Station, had fought for at least three months to get the system fixed amid fears for their safety.

New ground-floor security doors were installed last Friday but only made operational yesterday - three days after Arsema's death.

Residents today accused Lambeth council of leaving the block unprotected and allowing the killer to strike.

Many had complained after a string of security breaches including:

Youths from other estates using the block to take drugs.

Vandals daubing walls with graffiti and starting fires.

Louts defecating in the building.

Couples having sex on the floor outside tenants' front doors.

Homeless people sleeping in corridors.

Farah Carver, a catering manager, said: "For months anyone has been able to get in here. I complained so many times but the council just ignored us."

The 43-year-old mother of two added: "They finally locked them yesterday - which was too late for this poor girl."

Evening Standard has seen emails illustrating one resident's three-month battle with town hall chiefs.

Stuart Simpson, an internal control officer with investment bank Calyon Credit Agricole CIB, demanded the problem be fixed to protect him, his girlfriend and other residents.

Mr Simpson, 30, said the council had ignored his concerns and accused them of negligence, while other residents claimed the doors had not been functioning properly for up to a year.

Retired cab driver George Flaxman, 84, said: "The council told me they were going to fix the doors and the intercom system but it took them ages. They finally got them sorted only after this happened."

Arsema, 15, was stabbed up to 10 times as she made her way home from the Harris Academy in Bermondsey. Her body was discovered by a neighbour in the block where she lived with her family.

Her mother, Tsehainesh Medhani, has accused police of failing to act on several claims that the girl was being harassed.

Local Liberal Democrat councillor Peter Truesdale said the council had also failed to take measures that could have prevented her death.

He said: "If the doors had been working, they would have closed behind her and no one would have been able to follow her in. If the system had been working it may have saved her life."

It has also emerged that a key witness has still not been interviewed by detectives despite finding the schoolgirl's body.

Monica Badu, who lives in the same block, was with her six-year-old son Ezekiel, another neighbour and their nine-year-old daughter when she discovered Arsema's body in a lift just yards from her home. But four days after the killing, officers have still not asked her to give a statement.

The mother-of-three said: "Police have spoken to other people but not me. They came just to take my details. I told them I was there. They did not seem interested. It is an example of them not doing their job."

An Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation will now examine Arsema's family's claims that they repeatedly complained about her being harassed and allegedly assaulted in the weeks before her killing.

Thomas Nugusse, 21, a student from Ilford, has been charged with Arsema's murder. He has been remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on 21 August.