Murder in Notting Hill [Paperback]

Murder in Notting Hill is a fine record of a tragic time in London's multi-ethnic history - in this instance, the very beginning of the racial melting pot in one of the world's 21st century iconic cities.

There is no indication of how long it took the author to join the dots in his quest to find the killer of one West Indian migrant in the late 1950's, but it is obvious on the page that this was a painstaking piece of investigative journalism that followed the characters residing in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea at the time to their very graves.

As with all history, it is difficult to tell when one age is ending and another beginning, but the age of multi-cultural Britain that began with West Indian migration at the end of the Second World War is superbly captured by Olden, as indeed, is the reaction of white working class people to the new arrivals. Out of these dynamics of a new world order in London, Olden expertly takes us through the mood of the times - from the fascists marching to keep Britain white, to the changing world of post-war Britain. And with the scene so well set out, we are introduced to the world of the characters in a London of blues dances, Teddy Boys and the gathering storms of racial intolerance that ultimately led to the death of Kelso Cochrane.

We learn too of the collusion of law enforcement and the press in hindering the murder investigation and travel through a list of characters - from the streets to the centre of political power - who feared a speedy resolution to the question of who killed the West Indian might have led to deep social unrest. And with expert forensic investigation, Olden lifts the lid on 50 years of silence to give us a brilliant glimpse into people's motivations.

Moreover, if the measure of honest writing is to be empathetic to all humanity regardless of whether they are the murdered or the suspects, Murder In Notting Hill is true to its characters in this non-fiction piece. The pursuit of the original suspects is done beautifully by the author's close and sympathetic contact with survivors of both families, now scattered across England and the Caribbean, and now gnarled by age, regret and the need for truth as death beckons. One of the suspects makes endless cups of tea for the author, and in this setting, Olden is able to illicit poignant insights like "When I go, I hope I've done something good in this world...I've kept my sons out of prison..."

This was a wonderful read of a time that gave birth to the Race Relations Act in Britain, it is a book that goes well beneath the surface to explore a fascinating time which pegged itself to the murder of a young man, and by the time you reach the end, you will long for more. Furthermore, Europe in 2011 would do well to heed the dangers of racial intolerance so elegantly portrayed in Olden's book.

This is certainly one for the Christmas bookshelf and the school curriculum.

This is first and foremost a gripping and tragic story of an innocent man who was senselessly murdered. The author has obviously spent a long time assiduously researching his topic. The lead up to the murder and the subsequent commentary on the various suspects are treated in chronological order but expertly woven into this are the complicated feelings that were present at the time between the different groups living in the area. The author does not attempt to make things fit into easily discernible pockets and gives a real sense of the conflicting feelings people had in this time of great change in the area.

The author captures the strength of the feeling of a large proportion of the populace when he states that the funeral procession stretched one mile back. Shortly after this he recounts how a black man was arrested by three policeman for distributing anti-racist literature and subsequently quotes the Special Branch description of him as "a prominent coloured communist." This narrow minded reaction of the police is later set within the context of the fear of the time - where it must be remembered, that if a white man were to hang for this murder the civil unrest that was already great would move to a new level.
The pressure on the police to quell civil unrest quickly and their short sighted hope of turning off the tap of the alleged motive of racism for the murder gave fuel to the influence of Oswald Moseley that appeared to stifle some peoples acceptance of change.

A balanced and fascinating read that gives a vivid picture of the conflicting feelings in Notting Hill in the late 50s and indeed compares some of these very same attitudes in a different context to the comparatively recent Stephen Lawrence murder. The author does not waver in his drive to find a motive for this murder that is over 40 years old, as the pool of witnesses beconmes ever smaller over time, and ultimately to find the person who was responsible.

Why was the murder of the Antiguan carpenter, Kelso Cochrane, in Notting Hill in May 1959 never solved, despite the identity of the perpetrator apparently being 'the worst-kept secret in Notting Hill'? Mark Olden has exhaustively researched all the available sources in order to reconstruct the circumstances of the victim's death, and to arrive at a conclusion concerning the person responsible for the murder.
Within hours of the murder being committed, the Sunday Express had been tipped off, enabling the newspaper to run the story on its front page.This led to a time-consuming internal police inquiry running in parallel with the murder investigation.
The murder occurred less than a year after the tumultuous riots that had shaken and scarred the Notting Hill neighbourhood. The notorious Fascist leader Oswald Mosley and other right wing extremists were very active int the area at the time, fermenting racial hatred. In the General Election that took place in the aftermath of the murder, however, Mosley was resoundingly rejected by the local electorate.
A number of local youths were held for questioning by the police, but all were released without charge. Although the modern-day forensic techniques were not available to the police back then, opportunities were missed and there were some flagrantly flawed events which should never have been allowed to happen during the course of the investigation.
Was it expedient,though, for the police to hope that the case would gradually fade from the forefront of people's memories? If a white man had been convicted and, in the era of Capital Punishment, been sentenced to hang, this could have precipitated far more serious disorder amongst the white community than had been the case the previous year. The West Indian community's perception of the murder investigation was of being regarded as second class citizens; the belief was that more stringent efforts would have been made had it been a white victim.
As well as being a meticulous and painstaking investigation into this tragic unsolved murder, the book also serves as a very valuable social history of mid-20th Century Notting Dale, the largely-vanished working class area which was home to the chief suspects in the case. Olden brilliantly evokes post-war Notting Dale, highlighting just how run-down and impoverished this particular area was. It was a tough, tight-knit and uncompromising community: locals would fight amongst themselves but, paradoxically, were also fiercely loyal to each other; outsiders were regarded with hostility and suspicion; as even interlopers from the neighbouring districts of Shepherds Bush (to the West) and Paddington (to the East)found out.
Therefore, when the post-Windrush immigrants from the Caribbean arrived in the 'Mother Country', and began to settle in significant numbers in Notting Hill, the local indigenous population saw their established way of life as being under threat; prejudices became more entrenched and hostilities consequently heightened, boiling over into the attacks on innocent West Indians which developed into the riots of 1958, and culminated in the senseless murder of Kelso Cochrane.
Olden also tracks down and interviews several former Notting Dale residents who had either been held as suspects, or tangentially involved, as young men. Ageing now and invariably in deteriorating health, they are prepared after all this time to discuss the events of that infamous night. They all claim to know who murdered Kelso Cochrane, but stop short of naming him.However, the suspected perpetrator is named by a lady who shared a household with him for many years; he being the long-term live-in boyfriend of her mother, from whom she claims to have extracted a confession.
This is a very welcome, lucid and important analysis of a tragic event, the response to it proving a catalyst for the cosmopolitan and tolerant Notting Hill that emerged out of the abyss.