The Chair of Ramsgate Town Council, Councillor Stephen Albon, has led calls for local agencies to come together following the recent death of a man in Ramsgate during a double stabbing incident last Sunday (August 23).
Cllr Albon secured an urgent meeting with Kent Police and local ward councillors to discuss community concerns and identify reassurance measures for residents.
The meeting, which took place on Thursday afternoon, followed concerns raised by Cllr Albon about the impact the incident had had on residents, businesses and visitors.
During discussions with Kent Police, Cllr Albon requested an increased police presence in the Harbour Street and Harbour Parade areas over the coming weekend to provide reassurance to the community.
Kent Police agreed that officers would carry out additional patrols in the area when operationally possible.
‘Tragic incident’
Cllr Albon said: “Our thoughts and condolences remain with the victims, their families and all those affected by this tragic incident.
“Following the incident, I called for an urgent meeting with Kent Police and local councillors because it was important that the community could see local organisations working together quickly and positively in response to what had happened.
“Residents, businesses and visitors need confidence that Ramsgate remains a safe place, and that concerns raised by the community are being heard.
“During the meeting, I asked for an increased police presence in Harbour Street and Harbour Parade over the weekend and I am pleased that Kent Police agreed to provide additional patrols where operationally possible.
“I would like to congratulate Kent Police on their swift response to the incident and the speed with which an arrest was made. I am grateful for their willingness to engage directly with councillors and provide reassurance to residents.
“This has been a very difficult and upsetting time for many people in our town, but Ramsgate is a strong community. We will continue to work closely with the police and our partners, and a further meeting has already been arranged for 15 September to review the situation and discuss any ongoing concerns.”
At the meeting of Ramsgate Town Council on 26 August councillors also observed a minute’s silence as a mark of respect.
Murder charge
Ramsgate dad Ashley Jones was stabbed in the early hours of Sunday (August 23) in an attack in Harbour Street.
The 52-year-old was taken to hospital but sadly pronounced dead.
A second man, aged 48, was also stabbed in Harbour Parade. He has since been released from hospital.
Kieran O’Rourke, aged 21, of Seafield Mews, Ramsgate has been charged with murder, causing grievous bodily harm with intent, attempted murder and possession of a bladed article in a public place.
He has been remanded in custody. A trial date has been scheduled for next April.
A vigil to remember Ashley will be held on Friday 4th September at 12pm in Ramsgate Town Centre.
Albon: a failure in making Ramsgate safer at RTC, and a failure at emptying our bins at TDC. I think it’s time for another career option, Steve!
Not much chance of that. I very much doubt there is any other career that would tolerate such woeful ineptitude.
He had a long career working at Thanet Council until they got shot of him.
He’s still there, in charge of rubbish. https://democracy.thanet.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=8680
He worked there as an officer for a long time too and was the main Union rep.
Why is the trial not for a further 8 months? Surely the bereaved deserve to see Justice meted out sooner?
Court system is busy, plenty of cases to been seen before one that only happened a week ago.
The councillor must think we are all stupid! Calling a meeting which will resolve absolutely nothing apart from justifying the claim for expenses to attend! In the real world, there will be more stabbings, and there is nothing he can do about it. Until, we have a completely different kind of democracy.
What can be done? As a country we’ve given up on law and order to a large extent. The council and police will get together , community groups will get involved , they’ll all profess sorrow and sympathy for those affected.
But no one will list the history of all those involved , whether they work, are they substance users etc etc. What the circumstances of an incident actually were, were those involved innocent bystanders or part of a tangled web . Instead it’ll all be tales of woe about peoples problems and how they’ve reacted in the heat of the moment.
We all know that basically problems revolve around benefit dependency, lack of work opportunities, drugs both consumption and supply. The criminal behaviours of those who fund their lifestyles via petty and not so petty crime. The criminal justice system has’nt the capcity to deal with it all. So there are those who do pretty much as they please with little fear of being caught , until in cases like this it all goes way too far.
Whilst orders of magnitude worse than the events in ramsgate , you just need to look at the events in the north east to see how easily things escalate and that the police really don’t have the ability or will to keep an area civil.
The inane but on trend utterings of our councillors , police etc are’nt going to change anything until they are brutally honest and open about what goes on in thanet.
It would perhaps have helped if RTC had spent less money on stopping an airport and more money on security!
Law and order is’nt the town councils job, they’re never going to be able to make up for the states failure and policy in respect of criminal justice system.
Though certainly agree regarding manston , that should be allowed to suceed or fail as a result of the owners efforts or lack there of.
Though by now too much housing built or planned in the immediate area and as such i expect the airport won’t happen. Which is madness in an area with so few jobs.
Well said Grey area.
A good response to another small minded post from Checkers.
You mean the same RTC that are currently paying for security in Ramsgate? They obviously DO think it’s their job.
No, they are posturing to the public via poundshop policing. What they should be doing is getting all the loval businesses to record the antisocial behaviour and crime, add in the problems outside on the street, collate cctv of incidents, then start a coordinated camapign to police , tdc , parachute polly, et al.
The small businesses in the town are on their knees, people just don’t want to visit ramsgate, it’s got a terrible reputation. King street needs a coordinated effort from the housing department and building control to deal with the appalling housing that has attracted too many of lifes least desirable people. But it’s not a problem tdc want to deal with.
When i first moved to thanet i lived up by gas works , king street was the start of every night out, now it’s somewhere you’d not even consider walking through if there was a sensible alternative.
Ramsgates problem is too many of the people living there should be in prison. Only way you’ll deal with the problem is, get rid of the worst 20 for 5 years and remove the influence they have on the others.
Tinkering around the edges with plastic police is way too little far too late.
There are too many pedestrianised areas in Ramsgate. Think of nearby towns that are pretty much thriving: Broadstairs, Whitstable, Sandwich, Birchington… these are still largely pleasant town centres to visit, despite the traffic. Pedestrianised were once a good idea when they were policed and cleaned, but not anymore.
No , the problem is a total lack of police activity in respect of the rampant drug dealing and associated crime in the area. It underlies the majority of ramsgates problems. I appreciate its a sole destroying task for the police because the rest of the criminal justice system is toothless, but the dealers and petty criminals need disrupting if nothing else.
In terms of improving security, by what means? There’s already huge amounts of CCTV (or not so with companies like Amazon involved) but what good has achieved? Now we have images of everything AFTER the event and we’re living in an ever more Orwellian society.
Yes something needs to be done but its clear filming everything isn’t the answer.
I think on an average night there’s 8 police to cover the whole of Thanet. And a chunk of that time is likely taken up watching grainy footage of very little for hours, only after something bad has happened.
Still, great times if you own a surveillance camera operation.
Hopefully, the named (current) cllr can get it sorted out so that local council tax payers and visitors can all enjoy Ramsgate’s late-night entertainment area any hour of the day.
No one wants what happened to be repeated.
The photo above shows a building which was scaffolded in 2021 and its plastic wrapping, both in poor condition. I do know why the building is scaffolded RIP and respect to this loved gentleman.
The gate adjacent to the scaffold does its job by preventing vehicles during part of the day. Time for a change to a retractable bollard. Will improve the street scene so much.
Mr cllr, spend our cash on the street scene just make it look friendly. £15+k sent to a private fundraiser against a DCO. That cash would have paid for a retractable bollard and investigation of many other improvements.
So, Mr Cllr, what did the police say in the meeting? If not positive ban them from using Radford House car park for their spare cop car, although that car is now in the multi-story car park during renovations at Radford House.
Being old and h aving seen it all before, no point in alerting tc or rtc to issues just to receive a reply from someone who has just about scraped in with a low-level degree in gas lighting and they don’t have to be registered on gas safe site. Just saying, I’ve seen it all before
u ok hun? you know the world doesn’t revolve around your whims, right?