Floral tributes in memory of a serial burglar that was left outside the house where he was stabbed to death by a startled homeowner have been torn down for the third time by vigilantes.
At about 9.30pm, a hooded man ripped about half of the bouquets down from a fence opposite the home of Richard Osborn-Brooks, where Henry Vincent was killed during a botched robbery on Wednesday.
When asked about stamping on the flowers and if he felt bad for the burglar’s family, he said: ‘I do actually. But I feel extra bad for Mr. Osborn. I am just going to dump the flowers somewhere.’
Police mounted on horseback have been brought in to keep the peace as locals fight a running battle over the controversial shrine, but no attempts have been made to stop the repeated toing and froing.
The traveler family of serial criminal Henry Vincent returned to the South London road to put the flowers back up for the third time at 5.30pm on Tuesday after they were repeatedly removed by furious locals.
Several women began fastening flowers to the fence opposite the home of the 78-year-old, which had been ripped down at 3.30pm, just an hour and a half before they were last reinstated by mourners.
Horse-mounted police officers have been patrolling in the road amid growing unrest in the street, but Scotland Yard told MailOnline that it could not intervene as no criminal activity was taking place.
9.30pm Tuesday: A local man arrives on the scene and removes about half of the floral tributes from the fence opposite the home where Henry Vincent died during a botched burglary
9.30pm Tuesday: Having ripped half of the tributes from the fence, the man then took them around the corner (left) before stamping on them (shown right)
9.30pm Tuesday: When asked about stamping on the flowers and if he felt bad for the burglar’s family, he said: ‘I do actually. But I feel extra bad for Mr Osborn. I am just going to dump the flowers somewhere’
9.30pm Tuesday: the hooded man ripped about half of the bouquets down from a fence opposite the home of Richard Osborn-Brooks, where Henry Vincent was killed during a botched robbery on Wednesday
6pm today: Police officers on horseback patrol the scene amid growing unrest in the street, with neighbours furiously pulling down tributes to the dead burglar left by relatives
5.45pm Tuesday: Relatives of Henry Vincent have returned to the scene on three occasions; firstly to put the floral tributes up and another two times in order to put them back up after they were ripped down by locals
5.30pm Tuesday: Loved ones of Henry Vincent returned once again this evening and started re-attaching tributes to the fence opposite the home of Richard Osborn-Brooks after they were dismantled overnight and again this afternoon
The force said it would need to receive a complaint from the owner of the fence on which the shrine was erected to take action.
One neighbor suggested the shrine was placed opposite the Osborn-Brooks’s home to ‘antagonise’ them.
She said: ‘He [Vincent] did not die here. He died in hospital. You should put it where he lived. They should not have a tribute to him here. It should have been at the burglar’s house.’ The tributes had been attached to a fence surrounding a property owned by 78-year-old Saverimuthu Augustine.
Mr. Augustine said: ‘When I heard they were on my fence, I was annoyed. I do not appreciate people putting them there.
‘If it was a normal person that is different but he went and burgled the house. That is against my principles. It could have been my house he burgled.’
Neighbour Theresa Webb, 43, said of the shrine: ‘It was inappropriate, poor taste really. You’re thinking, “how long will it be up there?” I’m relieved it’s down.’
Mr. Osborn-Brooks himself has been forced into hiding after receiving death threats following the confrontation.
Vincent, armed with a screwdriver, was stabbed during a confrontation with Mr. Osborn-Brooks as he tried to burgle his home last week while the pensioner’s wife, who has dementia, was on the property.
Mr. Osborn-Brooks was arrested on suspicion of murder – sparking a political outcry – but just two days later was told he would face no further action. That, in turn, sparked anger from Vincent’s family.
5.30pm Tuesday: One of the family members takes a cigarette break after reinstating the shrine to burglar Henry Vincent, who was killed in a struggle with homeowner Mr Osborn-Brooks
3.30pm Tuesday: A man wearing a hat hacks down the shrine for career criminal Henry Vincent, opposite the home of Richard Osborn-Brooks
3.30pm Tuesday: As he tore down the flowers, the man said he was ‘taking these s*** flowers down’ calling it an ‘insult’ to Mr Osborn-Brooks
3.30pm Tuesday: The man, who wore a beanie and did not give his name, added ‘these need burning’ as he ripped the flowers down
Vincent’s cousin, who gave her name as Elvina, said of pensioner Mr. Osborn-Brooks: ‘He’s a coward – he won’t come out when we’re here.
‘When other people die they put flowers, why can’t we? We’re not allowed because we’re gypsies. Henry was murdered, the man who did it should be tried. That’s all I’m going to say; now f**k off.’
Elvina vowed to keep coming back if the flowers are removed again. She added: ‘People paid for these flowers, so he must have been well-liked.’
The whole memorial has been torn down earlier at about 3.30pm by a man who said he was ‘taking these s*** flowers down’ calling it an ‘insult’ to Mr. Osborn-Brooks.
The man, who wore a beanie and did not give his name, added: ‘These need burning.’
Henry Vincent, 37, entered the property of Mr. Osborn-Brooks with an accomplice in the early hours of Wednesday.
Police believe he forced the elderly homeowner into his kitchen armed with a screwdriver, where a struggle ensued and the intruder suffered a stab wound.
He fled the property on South Park Crescent in Hither Green, south-east London, at around 12.45am, and collapsed on neighboring Further Green Road.
3.30pm Tuesday: The man cut down the flowers that had been left by relatives of career criminal Henry Vincent
3.30pm Tuesday: The flowers were ripped down by the man wearing a beanie hat and carrying a pair of scissors
3.30pm Tuesday: The man removes the shrine after it was put back up by relatives and friends of Henry Vincent around 2pm
2.10pm Tuesday: The shrine had been rebuilt earlier today by relatives and friends of robber Henry Vincent after it was vandalised last night
2.10pm Tuesday: One of the women who had put the flowers back up after they were ripped down last night talks with police today
Mr. Osborn-Brooks was initially arrested on suspicion of murder but was told by police he would face no further action.
Scotland Yard officers are still hunting 28-year-old Billy Jeeves, who is wanted on suspicion of aggravated burglary in connection with the incident.
Earlier on Tuesday, Elvina Lee called whoever pulled the tributes down ‘scum’ and labeled Mr. Osborn-Brooks a ‘murderer’ and a ‘lowlife’.
She said: ‘He’s got no remorse, there is no remorse there, have you ever heard that man say – not for Henry but for his mum and dad and his little girls – “I’m sorry for his kids”.’
Mr. Vincent’s family also blasted the vigilante who pulled down the shrine for him outside Mr. Osborn-Brooks’ south-east London home, calling him a ‘sick little man’‘.
Last night an ‘infuriated’ man filmed himself tearing down flowers, cards and balloons left for the career criminal outside Mr. Osborn-Brooks’ house and said: ‘He was a piece of s*** who deserved what he got’.
But this afternoon Vincent’s family and friends returned to the fence to tie bouquets, cards and balloons after they were ripped down.
2.10pm Tuesday: A shrine for a burglar stabbed to death by a pensioner was rebuilt by family today after it was torn down overnight
2.10pm Tuesday: Vincent’s family told MailOnline today that the people who tore it down are ‘scum’ as they also called for Richard Osborn-Brooks to apologise
Tuesday morning: A shrine erected in memory of a burglar killed by the homeowner he was trying to rob was torn down by furious locals overnight
1am Tuesday: A vigilante drove to Hither Green, south-east London, before tearing down flowers and dumping the bunches in his boot calling them ‘trash’ (pictured left to right)
3pm Monday: Relatives of Vincent arrive at the scene to put up floral tributes opposite the home where he was killed as he tried to rob a pensioner and his disabled wife
3pm Monday: Several women erected the shrine to Henry Vincent on a wooden fence opposite the house where he was stabbed – tributes that last night were ripped down
Mr Osborn-Brooks (pictured left) was arrested on suspicion of Henry Vincent’s (right) murder after he stabbed him with the screwdriver he used to break into his house. The pensioner was later released without charge, but is still being kept under police guard over safety concerns
Elvina Lee, who said she was Vincent’s first cousin, told MailOnline: ‘This is the best place for these flowers to be. I don’t know what’s wrong with these people (who dismantled them)…I think they’re scum.
Discussing Vincent, she said: ‘He was like a brother to me, he loved his family and his three babies. He wasn’t a murderer, he wasn’t a rapist, they’re putting (sic) him as a monster. Murderer? The murderer is over there.’
Henry Vincent’s aunt was one of the seven women who put up the shrine and speaking at her home in St Paul’s Cray, near Orpington, Kent today said: ‘In Lewisham, there are burglaries every five minutes and I don’t see anybody else getting condemned.
‘He’s got three little daughters, they have done nothing to the world. They are innocent, like him here (she points to a small boy).
‘They are even condemning them, it’s not fair. Why rip all his flowers down? Why do that?
His auntie added: ‘We didn’t go and put anything on the old man’s house we put it across the road where he died.
‘From where he went to where he died, we did not go near the old man’s house, we don’t want to know about the old man, to me, do you want the truth? He’s no f***ing pushover.
‘There is none there mate, there is none there. This flower business has got to stop.’
She: ‘They shouldn’t have been there, fair enough, but somebody has actually died here and they have left a family of three little daughters.
‘How would you like it if your daughter’s crying for her dad? You’re the uncle sitting there watching it and they are calling the children scum.
‘These children go to school, they can go to college, what is wrong we these people?
‘They are children and grieving for their dad and he was a good dad to them.’
Another family member said people tearing down the flowers was ‘terrible’.
She added: ‘Yes they’ve gone there to get a bit of money and they had no rights to be in the old man’s place and I will say that…the old man did have rights to stick up for himself but he’s done a murder, he has murdered him’.