Inside 'warzone-like' East London housing estate where drug-dealers and ... trends now
Residents living on a 'warzone-like' estate have described how drug dealers and prostitutes have invaded their community leaving them feeling like prisoners in their own homes.
The Little Ilford estate in Newham, East London, is home to pensioners and families with young children, and is a short walk away from two stations on the new Elizabeth Line.
But residents say the estate has deteriorated dramatically in recent years and disgusting sights of used needles, human excrement, and blood-stained rags are now a near-daily occurrence.
Elderly tenants who have called the estate home for more than 30 years say things have never been this bad and that they're scared someone may die before problems are resolved.
Drug paraphernalia litters the communal areas of the Little Ilford estate in Newham
Rough sleepers have began to occupy spaces inside the tower block
A damaged door inside one of the tower blocks at the Little Ilford estate in Newham
Calvin Terry, who has lived on the Little Ilford estate for around 30 years
They complain that police take forever to arrive when they're called, or simply don't turn up at all.
Residents say drug users who behave like 'zombies' use crack and heroin in communal areas of their tower blocks, which have become like 'prisons'.
Dealers even break into storage sheds on the estate and use them to run their drug operations.
'We've had enough,' Calvin Terry, who has lived on the estate for around 30 years, said.
'This is our home. We shouldn't have to live like this.
'We have homeless people living in the shed area, leaving it like a pigsty, urinating everywhere...
'They use our building as a toilet. It's not fair.'
Little Ilford - also known as the Warrior Square estate - sits on the border between the boroughs of Redbridge and Newham between two stations on the Elizabeth Line - London's latest transport link which cost nearly £19 billion to construct.
Immediately outside the estate is a huge sign that reads: 'Welcome to Newham, London, a place where people choose to live, work and stay.'
The irony the sign has come to represent is not lost on residents living on the estate.
'We have prostitutes on the corner who fight all night. It's like a war zone,' 69-year-old Mr Terry claimed.
Residents say drug users who behave like 'zombies' use crack and heroin in communal areas of their tower blocks, which have become like 'prisons'
Locals complain that police take forever to arrive when they're called, or simply don't turn up
Residents said their pleas for help have gone unanswered by both the police and the council
'They use our building as a brothel. They come in here and defecate and have sex and use drugs.
'The staircase is full of needles and used condoms.
'We have children here, working people, OAPs - a nice crowd. But everyone's scared.
'We do as much as we can to get evidence but it's dangerous. When you film these people, they don't like it.'
The Met Police said tackling the problems was 'among our top ward priorities'.
However, residents said their pleas for help have long gone unanswered by both the police and the local council.
Mr Terry said he'd witnessed intermittent trouble on the estate during his near three-decade tenure, but never to this extent.
'It's like living in a prison,' he said. 'We're afraid in our own homes. Nobody wants to go outside after dark.
'People have been asked to get out of the building but they threaten to stab people.
'I'm terrified that eventually, someone will get hurt.'
Another resident, who has lived in Charlbury House on the estate for two decades, agreed that the situation had now become 'scary'.
Mr Terry said he'd witnessed intermittent trouble on the estate during his near three-decade tenure, but never to this extent
One resident filmed a man on the floor of the shed area, packing drug paraphernalia including lots of syringes into a backpack, whilst another said they discovered a couple using drugs
'I've walked out the back and seen prostitution in full effect,' said the male resident, who gave his name as Max.
'There are times when it spikes but recently it really has been quite nasty.
'We've had groups of people squatting, defecating, injecting drugs, drinking. You find urine on the stairs, by the bin rooms, the exits...
'On a daily basis I'm blocking people from coming in and they're trying to push past me.
'There's so much activity that it's scary. Honestly, it's bloody scary.'
Another resident, who gave
