A makeshift shrine to 15-year-old Alan Cartwright at the point where he was murdered continues to grow as the local community marks its respect to London’s latest knife crime victim and shows its defiance to his killers.
On Wednesday, police announced that three people have been arrested on suspicion of killing Alan, while those who knew him carry on adding their messages and mementoes at his burgeoning shrine.
Alan was killed on Friday while riding his bike along Caledonian Road, Islington, in what police described as a “senseless attack” which was caught on CCTV.
He managed to continue cycling for a few metres but collapsed and was pronounced dead outside Cally Pool. An area around the entrance to the pool is now littered with flowers, photographs of Alan, and mementoes of his passions for cycling, football and fizzy drinks.
It includes two mountain bikes painted white, Celtic football tops, bottles of milk and Lucozade, packets of Oreo biscuits and Haribos and other sweets that Alan liked. On the seat of one of the ghost bikes is a message scrawled in ballpoint pen from one of Alan’s classmates. “We miss and love you dearly,” it reads.
Even a sign showing the opening times of the pool is covered in graffiti expressing respect for Alan. And the parking meter outside has been transformed into a mini tomb adorned with a picture of Alan as a toddler and topped with three bottles of his favourite Irn Bru.
Nelson, who works in a charity shop on Caledonian Road said he used to watch Alan pull wheelies on his bike outside the shop. “I saw him last week on the bike they were trying to steal from him,” he said.
“I just came to pay my respects, he was a nice boy. It’s very sad, this has to stop,” he said in reference to a spate of gang-related murders in the area. “My son knew the other boy who crashed his motorbike being chased by the police in December. It’s all gangs and it has to stop – break them apart. People around here are scared for their children.”
Nelson said the shrine showed that residents in the area were presenting a united front. “This shows the community is together and they don’t like what the gangs are doing,” he said.
Marie-Clare, another resident paying her respects, said: “I’ve got a little boy and you think what’s the future for your child? It shows the mood of the people around here – everyone is shocked.”
A message on a potted rose laid by Donna said Alan was “taken too soon”.
She said: “He was a nice kid and he would have grown up to be great. He was polite, you could see how he was changing as he grew up.”
Her 15-year-old daughter, Abbie, said: “He was a bit of troublemaker when he was little, everyone knew Alan. When he grew up he started getting more respect and everyone made peace with him.”
Among the cards and tributes is a school exercise Alan completed shortly before his death labelled “my identity”.
In it he wrote: “I realise that now I am getting older but I still need to grow up a lot more. When I was younger I used to get into trouble a lot but not now.”
He discusses combating boredom on his estate by playing football in the park and going out on bikes with his mates.
It adds: “Once, we tried to get a shed but the police came round and told us to leave so there isn’t much to do because everything we do gets us in trouble.”
He also wrote about his hopes after joining the army cadets: “Maybe my education and army cadets can help [me] become more mature and stay out of trouble. This will make me my mum and dad very happy.”
Police said an 18-year-old man was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday after attending a north London police station.
A 17-year-old male and a 21-year-old man were also arrested on Wednesday morning at addresses in Camden.
