A woman who was held at knifepoint outside her home in south London has told MailOnline how she has been subjected to an 18-month campaign of stalking and intimidation by her council tenant neighbour.
Gemma – not her real name – has reported multiple incidents concerning her upstairs neighbour and his associates to the police and the council, but bungling council bosses in Lewisham have done nothing to help.
She says she has frequently caught the man, thought to be in his 50s, following her whenever she leaves the house, banging on her front door and even filming her home on multiple occasions.
Meanwhile men with weapons regularly appear on her doorbell cam, lighter fluid has been poured over the entrance to her home and a meat cleaver left outside her door.
‘He’s making my life a living hell,’ Gemma, from Deptford, told MailOnline.
After reporting the incidents to police, she was advised to install a doorbell camera to capture footage of the harassment.
Since installing it, Gemma has captured disturbing incidents on her Ring doorbell, including a recent front door attack which saw her held at knife point as she returned home.
The Met Police has advised Lewisham Council to find alternative accommodation for Gemma due to fears for her safety, but housing officers refused to do so – even blaming police for ‘not providing enough evidence’ that Gemma is at risk.
The council instead offered her emergency accommodation under its homeless scheme – but this would have been only temporary, so Gemma opted to stay with her sister instead.
Chilling footage shows the victim of a knife attack walking down the steps towards her front door while carrying a backpack and a handbag
As she goes to find her door key, the knifeman appears behind her – having seemingly following her from the street
It is only after MailOnline contacted the council directly that any action was taken.
This is despite multiple occasions of men – who Gemma says are visitors to her upstairs neighbour – waiting outside her front door with weapons including knives and metal bars.
The men usually wear face coverings and, she says, bang on her door in apparent attempts to get in.
The incidents have become so regular that Gemma is now terrified to leave the house.
‘It’s horrible – I have to be so careful,’ Gemma told MailOnline.
‘There are constantly men coming down to my door, hanging around, waiting for me.
‘They follow me, walk past by door camera holding weapons like metal poles. I don’t know half of what these men look like and who they are, every time I walk out the house I’m at risk.
‘I’ve had to start staying at my sister’s when I work in the office. I don’t want them to know my routine.
‘I work full time, I’ve always been in work, but I have health problems. I have already lost one job since this started because the constant noise was so loud I couldn’t work from home.
‘The knife incident was to scare me. It was to tell me they can do what they like, when they like. They don’t care.’
Emails from the Met Police seen by MailOnline to Lewisham Council detail how she has been subject to death threats, had lighter fluid poured by her front door, and even a meat cleaver left on her doorstep.
Despite this, council officers responded that this did not meet the threshold for ‘threat to life’ required for emergency permanent rehousing.
The man, who is clad all in black with his face covered, then dashes down the stairs and grabs her from behind, before pointing a blade inches from her face
Both the Met and Victim Support have written to the council urgently to request Gemma is permanently moved out of the area – to no avail.
A Lewisham Council statement initially appeared to blame the Met Police for the council not rehoming Gemma.
They said: ‘Unfortunately, the Police have not provided enough evidence to support a permanent relocation for Gemma.’
But after being asked for clarity on this, a spokesperson later said her case will now be referred for permanent rehousing.
It comes after shocking footage showed how Gemma arrived home one day before being accosted by a tall, masked man brandishing a large knife.
He appeared to have been lying wait for her – as she walked down the steps to her door he immediately pounced and grabbed her from behind.
The man was seen pointing the knife just inches from Gemma’s face and appearing to threaten her.
Officers raced to the scene at around 7:15pm on 27 March just moments after the attacker fled the scene.
The Met Police has not yet made any arrests over the terrifying incident, with the masked attacker still at large.
The man, who has not been arrested, grabbed Gemma from behind while brandishing a knife in his right hand
He was dressed all in black, including a makeshift black balaclava
The force said in a statement: ‘At around 19:15hrs on Thursday, 27 March police received reports of an incident outside an address in Deptford.
‘A woman in her 40s was approached and threatened with a knife by a man outside her home address.
‘Officers attended the scene and spoke with the victim, who wasn’t injured.
‘At this time no arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing.’
Anyone with information is asked to call 101 or ‘X’@METCC and quote 6688/27MAR25.
A Lewisham Council spokesperson said, ‘We are aware of a serious incident reported by [Gemma] and are very sorry she had to experience this.
‘We have been working closely with the Police to progress [Gemma’s] application for permanent relocation, and are glad to say that with a Police referral, this case will be put forward to the Council’s Emergency Housing Panel to assess.
‘We are committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all our residents and are in contact with [Gemma] to offer ongoing support while this matter progresses.’
A Met Police spokesperson also told MailOnline: ‘Tackling violence remains a top priority for the Met, and we know that reducing knife crime requires the collective effort of policing, local partners, charities and our communities.
‘We are working hard to introduce preventative measures, including increasing visible police patrols to deter criminals and make officers more visibly available to members of the community.
‘By using data and technology we are building intelligence to identify high harm offenders and violent hotspots where we have been conducting weapon sweeps to remove weapons from our streets.’
