Aggressive person in the Peckham Rye park

The man approached me, my wife and my child in the Peckham Rye park in the silent area behind Japanese Garden as we were leaving the park.
First, he shouted ssomething at a group of teens approaching them from the back, when the teens diverted he switched to our family, he approached us from the back and shouted something agressively. I turned back to him and asked of he is alright.
He approached at a very close distance, smelled alcohol and started asking me about my bicycle. He was spitting, threw his plastic bottle away and was saying that he wants a lift and started asking me where are we heading to. I said we are heading home.
He then addressed my daughter with: ‘hey munchkin, I would play with you, not with your mommy and daddy around.
I was standing between my family and him, he was very close and was behaving threatening, e.g. he positioned his hand at the level of my face as if he was going to start drinking, I fo Krav Maga and know that this is not ideal. I was literally rrady to preventively attack him if he performs any other move towards me, I wasnt sure I was in position to counter if he would decide to attack.

He clearly looked at my bike and a phone in the phone holder, likely evaluating the chances of stealing one or another.

He then said something like: are you going to attack me bro? Not sure how he read my intent, but he seemed a bit sociopath, clearly feeling confident in such situation and sounded/looked really dangerous and angry, i noticed a scar on the right side of his skull, his ears looked a bit crooked like wrestlers ears get).

Luckily, he left us going through the bush and spooking some people strolling by.
I have paid attention to where he was going to to avoid going in the same direction with him.

He clearly targeted two people in the distant corner of the park (the one closer to the Herne Tavern). I have noticed two teens have stood up trying to go away, but then weirdly moved back. We went outside the park on the other side of the fence but I was worried about those teens and felt this is not good. When approaching the teens I gestured one of the teens to stand up and go away. The man made a crazy threatening eye contact following as we moved along. (Scary)
We were worried to leave as we saw those teens are clearly in trouble.
Luckily one the teens started crying and the other side something to a man and I think he just dismissed them, so they stood up and ran away.
The man started following me and my family. He was on the other side of the fence, but this doesn’t guarantee safety, so we sped up. We were lucky and the man seemed to not jump over the fence. We left as quick as possible.

This is the first time I faced such threat, the man was clearly out of his mind. He was clearly not just drunk, but aroused and clearly looking for a trouble. I am worried that he is one of the maniac/drug addict types, he clearly was looking for a victim there.
I also remember he mentioned he had a bike accident driving a bike before and broke his vertebra.

What should be my course of action? Whats the best way to report this to the police? What’s the best way to report this to the neighbourhood watch?

Thanks for your attention. Stay safe.

That sounds absolutely horrible, especially with your child there. I hope your child and wife are ok.

I think now best to call 101 and report it. If it happens again (hopefully not), I think that could be a call to 999 for an immediate response.

In a situation as you have described call 999. No question.

I’m sorry to hear this. Really frightening. Please do report it. Incidentally similar incidents have been reported in the East Dulwich Forum…

https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,2094004,page=1

… nearly a year ago.

The “aggressive beggar” seems quite cuddly compared to this character !

The mother of one of the teenagers has posted about the incident mentioned here
https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,2114482
truly scary and awful

999 call and no attendance despite it being racially aggravated and involving children. Makes you wonder what has to happen in order to get help these days.

For something like this, would suggest 999. If the police then don’t come, call 999 again and if necessary again.
A bit surprised the police didn’t attend, given that there seem to have been abusive threats against girls, and a sexualised inuendo about a young child in the presence of the mother.

it is both surprising and unsurprising. They probably had three even nastier incidents they had to prioritise. As we know, after many years of cuts it is a very thin blue line indeed. I think they really struggle to keep us safe these days. Not blaming them, they can only be in so many different places at once.

I went for a walk around Peckham Rye Park a couple of weeks ago, & did sit for a while in the Japanese garden. I’m glad I didn’t encounter him, as at the time there were two young girls sitting in there as well reading & another woman knitting, so he would have intimadated us all I think.
I’m glad you & your family are ok, & the teenagers involved. These things really shake you up.
Let’s hope with enough reporting the police are able to patrol & keep him away from the public.

I understand that and I think the police have an incredibly difficult job, particularly since a lot of new covid related offences have been created in the last year that need enforcement. But the problem is that, to some extent with the the Aggressive Beggar, and very much more so with this guy, there seems to be a strong element of pursuing vulnerable people and women on their own. Do we have to wait until something even more serious has happened? If this peckham rye guy carries out a serious sexual assault, his victim will have to live with that. Why does it feel as though we have to wait for that to happen before anything is done? The behaviour sounds predatory (although I appreciate what has been described is individual experiences and may not represent the whole situation) - it should be stopped now before it escalates.

I am merely speculating, and I am sure there is a lot of new covid related issues, but I also suspect there is a huge reduction in some other issues - no drunk fights in the evenings, no sporting matches to police, you would guess less general crime as more people at home. It would be interesting how it has panned out resource wise, but I suspect whether it is up or down they would still be stretched.

All that said in these instances I fully agree you would expect a rapid response (and let’s keep in mind the other thread is over a year old so perhaps the person was apprehended or moved on as there didn’t seem further reports, until now, if it is the same person).

There is a newer thread on the ED forum with posts from this week I think. If course it could be a different person!

If you read the post on the ED forum this week from the mother of one of the girls it IS the same person that is being spoken of.
It also appears he a year or so ago pushed a woman to the ground and attacked her causing her to lose her teeth.
This guy is obviously crazy and dangerous.
I feel for the two young girls-that experience has most likely made them scared to go out in their own neighbourhood and could leave them traumatised for quite some time.
I speak as someone who grew up in an area where there was a local person who used to chase children and start yelling at them I knew the road this person lived on and between the age of 10 and 12 used to walk way round the block home to avoid passing their house or maybe encountering them…50years later I still remember the fear they would strike in my heart.

It really should. However, I suspect that nothing very much will be done until someone gets hurt.

I agree wholeheartedly with you. That is really what Iwas trying to say in my comment. I was with the 2 young girls & the other woman in the Japanese garden & if he had come in there, it could have been hard to escape.
It really isn’t good enough, we should be able to go for a walk or sit in a park without the fear of being harrassed or even worse attacked.

I wonder if this is the same person reportedly arrested?

let us hope so.