‘Murder' on troubled Sheffield estate no surprise to long-suffering residents

People in the area awoke on Sunday to the neighbourhood swarming with police, after a man with serious injuries was found ‘laid in the street’ shortly after 2am.

The 28-year-old victim was rushed to hospital but could not be saved despite the best efforts of medics, and a 30-year-old man was later arrested on suspicion of murder.

Police were still out in force in the area today with the investigation’s focus firmly trained on one of the Landsdowne estate’s low-rise blocks off Sharrow Lane.

A spider’s web of police tape could still be seen criss-crossing the estate while police officers stood guard and crime scene investigation officers dressed in white hazmat suits busied themselves inside one particular flat on the bottom floor of the block.

It was the second time in just a few months police had been called to the same block, after a shooting there in May left a 53-year-old man with non-life-threatening leg injuries.

Many in the area on Monday admitted that the block had long had a reputation for trouble, with people involved in the drug trade thought to be responsible for most of the violence.

One woman who was walking home after visiting the local Tesco Express store admitted it was not unusual to see police activity in the area.

The woman, who did not want to be named but said she lived at the nearby Leverton Gardens, said she believed the problems were ‘all drug-related’ but that you could keep yourself safe if you ‘knew where to walk’.

A resident of the block itself said it has been ‘a bit of a shock’ seeing police outside his bedroom window on Sunday morning, but that fighting in the block was commonplace.

And another man walking his dog on the grass outside the flats said the area was similar to many inner-city estates in Sheffield and around the country.

“It’s the same as any other housing like this near town,” he said.

“There are good people and not so good people. There are people who deal drugs and people who keep themselves to themselves.”

One woman said she had been under the impression things had been getting better in the flats over the last few months, but acknowledged there had often been serious incidents before that, including one in which residents had been seen chasing each other with machetes.

But there remains a belief in the area that the violence only affects those involved in the drug trade, and that most people other people had nothing to fear.

One young woman who lived on Club Garden Road said that while she had heard lots of bad things about the flats, she had never witnessed any violence herself.

“But it does make me feel uneasy,” she added.

“It’s very close.”

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a digital subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Nancy Fielder, editor.