Way of life in Camberwell Green

In the past five years 79-year-old Georgina Ireland has had her purse snatched four times, been burgled once and been the victim of a bogus caller.

"At least I haven't been beaten up by muggers," said the pensioner, of Camberwell Green. "Crime around here is very bad but you can't live your life in fear."

Around the corner in Camberwell Church Street, every bare space of wall is covered in grafitti. At most shop doorways, alcoholics or drug addicts sit.

Mohammed Zafar's store, London Food and Wine, has been burgled four times this year. He and his staff are regularly threatened.

Mr Zafar, 45, said: "We have four cameras in here and they still come in. They can kill you and not care."

Four weeks ago, an addict came in and tried to withdraw cash from a dispenser using a stolen card. "We started arguing," said Mr Zafar. "He produced a knife and said he was going to stab me. He ran out of the shop. But he picked up two empty bottles and came back and threw them at me. One cut my head open."

At Dover House, a mansion block in nearby Myatt Fields, at least 22 people have been driven out of the property because of crime. Eighty per cent of people living in the 27 flats have been mugged, assaulted or threatened since September 1999.