GUILTY UK - Iuliana Tudos, 22, found dead in Finsbury Park, London, 24 Dec 2017

[dubmill]

Tell me: is the park open after dark, or do they shut it at sunset? If it's open, then you might actually have a regular pattern of locals going through it to get to and from their homes. Along with familiarity, this might have created a false sense of security to Juliana. However if the park is locked after dark then one needs to think about how she was found there. Is it easy to get into?

The Haringey Council information page about the park (http://www.haringey.gov.uk/librarie...-spaces/z-parks-and-open-spaces/finsbury-park) is vague on this point. It says: 'Opening and closing times of the park are dependent on season, but generally the park is open at dawn and locked when it gets dark.'

Unlike many municipal parks that are enclosed by metal railings, Finsbury Park is surrounded by fencing made of wooden slats or planks. Here and there the fence decays or is deliberately damaged, so even if the gates were locked it wouldn't be that hard to get in if you knew where there were gaps in the fence.

 

[Legally Bland]

The body of a young woman found dead in a north London park was reportedly discovered by devastated friends.

[...]

CCTV footage showed she was last seen on the outskirts of the park around 8.20pm on Christmas Eve.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/cri...ds-in-the-spot-she-was-attacked-a3728571.html

I guess they were searching for her.

 

[Whirring]

It's absolutely tragic.

 

[rachaellouise]

Absokutely floored by this, as I was in World's End in Camden celebrating on Christmas Eve.

Sent from my Lenovo TB-X103F using Tapatalk

 

[Distant Observer]

RSBM


You appear to know the area DistantObserver, is it local to you?

News reports say she was last seen at 8.00 pm Camden Road to get a bus home, then later plans for visiting friends to stay with them for Christmas. Would you know if this park area is close to her home in Upper Tollington ? TIA

When I first moved to London about 35 years ago I lived in Duckett Road in the Ladder as it is known. At the time Endymion Road and the north side of Finsbury Park had a dreadful reputation for gangs, drug-dealing etc. I remember being warned about walking there at night. Frequently I walked back at night from Manor House tube station but I'd never consider walking through the Park.

I still can't understand that even if she did take a short cut through the park why she would be in the top North East corner of the park. My feeling is that she was taken by car to where her body was found. There is an internal road which runs to within about 100 metres of the outbuilding. Obviously forensics will try to establish if she died at where her body was found. I think it is vital to find out if she boarded a bus that evening or if she was instead given a lift perhaps by a customer or someone she was acquainted with.

 

[Batmanryder]

Yes I live and work in Camden, Finsbury Park is a bad area during the day, nevermind after dark. I believe she was walking through or around the park as a shortcut home as the park is basically what separates where she lives and the bus stop/main road where if she had got a bus, she would've got off. The buses from Camden would take at most 15 minutes to get to Finsbury Park and it's all straight down one really long main road through Holloway. Hope this helps

 

[Al Ka]

Few things to recoup:

- Iuliana was 22 year old half Moldovan (former Russia) half Greek with family in Cyprus and Russia
- she was last seen by friends around 8 pm in Camden (finished her shift at the bar)
- last sighting of her caught on CCTV around 8.20 pm in proximity of Finsbury Park on Dec 24

- located by friends on Dec 27 inside of abandoned shed just next to the path in Fin. Park
- her belongings and some cloth are spread accross grass in vicinity of shed
- there is abandoned tent with purple suitcase within 100 yards
- and as per police

'There are items that are missing and unaccounted for which will form part of our inquiry. I can't confirm what those items are.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...en-friend-murdered-barmaid.html#ixzz52es64VsW

Sounds like it could have been mugging gone wrong, or at least that was part of the motive. Really tragic and sad case.

 

[claralara]

Such a sad story poor Iuliana, from what I've seen written about her she seemed like a very sweet person. Thinking of her family and friends and hoping the police catch the culprit asap.

 

[dubmill]

When I first moved to London about 35 years ago I lived in Duckett Road in the Ladder as it is known. At the time Endymion Road and the north side of Finsbury Park had a dreadful reputation for gangs, drug-dealing etc.

I moved to Harringay in 1998 but I live over towards St Ann's Road. Only in the last year or so I became interested in the Endymion Road area when I read about its past as a hotspot of prostitution, with links to the unsolved 1960s Hammersmith Murders (two of the victims frequented Endymion Road). That stretch of road leading round the side of the park and over the railway bridge into Stroud Green is quite lonely and would have been ideal for kerb-crawling, and later drug dealing as you say.

Although that was all in the past and has nothing to do with this case, I wonder if there will be serious questions asked about Haringey Council's management of the park, in that it is clearly not being secured at night, despite what it says on the council website. That gives people an opportunity to lurk in there and do things like this.

 

[Distant Observer]

A lot of information has come out from the police overnight. According to the Telegraph, it is understood that Iuliana entered the park from the Green Lanes entrance along the New River Path. This is backed up by the cctv sighting of her at 8.20pm on the 'periphery' of the park. This explains a lot. Her route through the park would have been shorter although she would have stayed on the bus for longer as the no 29 turned left at Manor House. However it was also a much more dangerous route to take. She would have taken the path in the North East corner of the park along the New River along the edge of the playing field and past the outhouse where her body was found. This explains why the police now believe she was attacked close to where her body was found. Also if she was taking this route regularly it would explain why her friends knew to look for her in this North East corner of the park.

This map is very helpful. http://www.haringey.gov.uk/librarie...-spaces/z-parks-and-open-spaces/finsbury-park

Her route would have taken her from Green Lanes in the North East corner to where the road goes underneath the railway bridge on the west side of the Park. Maybe quite a pleasant walk during the day but at night it would be extremely risky.

I really hope the police can find some dna evidence or a witness with some useful information.

 

[Distant Observer]

This is the Telegraph article which includes the information as to where on the periphery of the Park Iuliana was seen on cctv.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...-london-park-may-have-killed-homeless-person/

It also has the chilling comment. The park and the surrounding area, a known hotspot for thefts and violent crime, is commonly used by homeless people as a place to sleep. It really is shocking that an area notorious for drug-dealing, prostitution, gangs and violent crime 35-40 years ago is still a known 'hotspot'.

 

[Distant Observer]

Another interesting quote from the Telegraph article. “We are forensically examining her property as there are some items missing from her and that also forms part of our investigation, but it is so sensitive we can’t give any further details at this stage." It says 'missing from her' not 'missing' or 'missing from her bag'. It is taken for granted that any money she had and her mobile phone will have been taken however this seems to suggest that other items perhaps of a more personal nature have been taken. She had a lip stud in her photographs and unusual ear rings. The police seem to be suggesting that her killer went further than just taking the usual items a mugger might take.

I really hope the police find this evil individual as quickly as possible.

 

[jessie]

@ Distant Observer Her route Maybe quite a pleasant walk during the day but at night it would be extremely risky.
[/I][/I]

I trust all our WSers in that area (and anyone else of course) keep themselves safe. Hard to understand why this Park and surrounding area have been allowed to become such a disreputable and dangerous "hotspot".
From the maps posted it appears to be a residential area and this makes me even more angry.

It is a Park FGS, families with children probably live nearby and use the park's facilities. A welcome green space in the urban environment.
From what I have now read about it I wouldn't wish to enter the park in the daytime. Surely the perimeters should be secure, gates locked and public access prevented during darkness. Unfortunately it often takes such a tragedy to happen before the authorities take action.

This is all so sad, poor Juliana.

 

[Distant Observer]

Finsbury Park is absolutely fine during the day time. This piece in the Daily Mirror has a video showing the crime scene which shows how beautiful it is with the sun shining.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/-woman-murdered-finsbury-park-11772180

 

[Elainera]

What a tragic case. Poor Juliana! I used to live in the area in the 1990s and visited Finsbury Park often during the day, never felt uncomfortable there. Seems the darkness draws the shady characters in. Did Juliana know this? How long had she been in London?

I hope the homeless population mentioned to be sleeping rough in the park will be able to help. They should have seen or heard something?

 

[dubmill]

What a tragic case. Poor Juliana! I used to live in the area in the 1990s and visited Finsbury Park often during the day, never felt uncomfortable there. Seems the darkness draws the shady characters in. Did Juliana know this? How long had she been in London?

The Camden New Journal has an article in which it says she came to London four years ago. Her friend and former flatmate Sonny Webb says they often used to take a shortcut through the park at night.

'Sonny Webb, who lived in the same house as Ms Tudos in Upper Tollington Park until earlier this year, said: “When I was living next to her we would travel back together from Camden and we would always walk through the park for a shortcut.”

“When you’ve done it thousands of times you assume nothing will happen. But it’s pitch black and you can’t see."'

http://camdennewjournal.com/article...n-finsbury-park-where-caring-barmaid-attacked

 

[Lit Up]

The park and the surrounding area, a known hotspot for thefts and violent crime, is commonly used by homeless people as a place to sleep. It really is shocking that an area notorious for drug-dealing, prostitution, gangs and violent crime 35-40 years ago is still a known 'hotspot'.

Finsbury Park really is an unreformable hellhole. As a lifelong Londoner, this area is the only place where I still feel unsafe after dark. It was once very grand around Finsbury Park, with huge Victorian mansions all along Seven Sisters Road opposite the park. At some point (after the war?) these huge houses became converted into "hotels" and bed and breakfasts, which to this day are basically euphemisms for probation houses, sheltered accommodation and homeless hostels. They are NOT places where anybody would choose to live. Juliana was probably living in this area because the rent was cheap but it was still a short ride into Camden. But it never, ever gets better. I was in the park today, riding on my bicycle - and immediately a vagrant with a crazy look in his eye is stalking me with his gaze as soon as I cycle past him. To think he could be the killer...

This area recently had the attack by the man who hired a van and drove into a bunch of Muslims as some kind of "revenge", then of course many years earlier Abu Hamza was preaching his flavour of hatred on the streets... past the railway bridges (opposite where the "revenge" attack occurred is a huge church with posters on outside advertising their miracle water... Finsbury Park really is one of those places where you try to avoid, full of all shades of the bizarre but not in a good or charming way. Although, as with most parts of London, some gentrification has occurred around Stroud Green where you get big houses for cheaper than other parts of North London and some middle class families moving in who can't afford a house and garden elsewhere on the Victoria Line. However given they're all a million quid plus, it doesn't seem like a wise buy, given who the neighbours are. I'd never raise children there, nor would I let my daughter live there even if she was in her mid 20s!

 

[Lit Up]

The Camden New Journal has an article in which it says she came to London four years ago. Her friend and former flatmate Sonny Webb says they often used to take a shortcut through the park at night.

'Sonny Webb, who lived in the same house as Ms Tudos in Upper Tollington Park until earlier this year, said: “When I was living next to her we would travel back together from Camden and we would always walk through the park for a shortcut.”

“When you’ve done it thousands of times you assume nothing will happen. But it’s pitch black and you can’t see."'

http://camdennewjournal.com/article...n-finsbury-park-where-caring-barmaid-attacked

Yeah that's what I said earlier, if you're familiar with the route you will do it if there is a significant convenience, the more often you do it the more familiar it is and the less dangerous it seems. Kind of makes me think twice about taking a shortcut from now on though...

 

[Legally Bland]

It's been a while since I left London and I don't know Finsbury Park that well, but...

...I'll just have to throw in Rowan's. Probably the world's most intimidating bowling alley.

Not that I think there is a connection.

 

[Distant Observer]

According to her 'best friend', Krystyna Rymarczyk she had only just started using the Park as a short cut. “I know she used to avoid going through Finsbury Park when it was dark, but on the last three or four occasions she had started using it as a shortcut home.
“There were always people about, especially around 8pm, so maybe she felt more confident using it."
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/8...red-barmaid-finsbury-park-fundraising-funeral

The problem is the people who frequent the park at night are not the same people who use the park by day. At night you might expect to be accosted by all sorts of people asking for money, offering to sell you drugs, propositioning you for sex. If she had thought about buying a small amount of cannabis then I'm sure it would have been on offer. She was going to have Christmas lunch the next day with friends. She had gone home to get some things. Those friends knew exactly where in the park to look for her despite her best friend saying she'd only just started using the Park as a short cut. There is however some contradiction in the stories of her friends. Her former flatmate Sonny Webb said she had used the shortcut through the Park thousands of times and called for better street lighting as it is pitch black at night.

Maybe someone in the Park that night did see what happened but fear is making them say nothing. Iuliana has already tragically lost her life after being stabbed. Let's hope the Police can persuade some witness to overcome their fear and come forward with information.