A MAN involved in a stand-off with police has been on the roof of a house in Waddon for more than seven hours.

Police have been trying to talk Joe Barnett down from the rooftop in Barrow Road since around 10.30am, when officers were called to reports of a burglary at the address. 

When they arrived, Mr Barnett ran upstairs and somehow managed to kick a hole in the roof before climbing outside.

The former Haling Manor High School pupil then started making threats and threw tiles at the police.

A large crowd gathered outside the house, where Mr Barnett's girlfriend is thought to live, as police cordoned off the area and called in a negotiator. London Ambulance Service and the fire brigade were also sent to the scene.

Mr Barnett hurled dozens of tiles from the roof, damaging a police car. Friends told the Advertiser he was just "looking for attention" and would eventually come down.

Attempts to end the stand-off have so far failed, though the situation became calmer at around 4pm when Mr Barnett was provided with a can of coke and a cigarette. He spent the next hour or so being supplied cigarettes via a makeshift hoist.

However, at around 5.30pm, he became agitated and once more started to throw tiles from the roof. He was still on the roof as of 6pm. 

According to his Facebook page, Mr Barnett has recently spent time in prison. His grandmother told the Advertiser that he had become upset because of the lack of support he had received during his time inside.

Unconfirmed reports from several witnesses stated that he is currently out on licence and panicked when the police arrived.

As well as hurling obscenities, he was heard to shout that he "might as well stay up here as I'm going back inside anyway".

A friend of Mr Barnett told the Advertiser: "He's just doing it for attention. If they [the police] let us talk to him, we would have him down in a few minutes, but they won't."

THE stand-off between police and a man on the roof of a house in Waddon has ended after getting on for nine hours.

Police had been trying to talk Joe Barnett down from the rooftop in Barrow Road since around 10.30am, when officers were called to reports of a burglary at the property.

After several hours, which Mr Barnett spent mostly throwing roof tiles at police and making various threats, he climbed through a hole in the roof at around 7pm, as firefighters climbed up to get him.

Mr Barnett was arrested inside the house - believed to be where his girlfriend lives - and put in a police van, before being driven from the scene.

A bizarre day in Barrow Road ended in suitably farcical fashion, when Mr Barnett's father arrived at the scene at around 6.30pm yelling repeatedly: 'Joe, it's your dad.'

At around this time, three vans full of police officers arrived at the scene while firefighters began to climb up the property - at which point Mr Barnett disappeared down a hole in the roof.

During his rooftop stay, Mr Barnett, a former Hailing Manor pupil, hurled dozens of tiles, damaging a police car, and appeared agitated - frequently shouting threats and obscenities. But friends told the Advertiser he was just "looking for attention".

At one, calmer point during the day he was being placated by cigarettes being supplied to him on the roof via a makeshift hoist, while he was also seen enjoying a can of coke.

According to his Facebook page, Mr Barnett has recently spent time in prison. His grandmother told the Advertiser that he had become upset because of the lack of support he had received during his time in jail.

IS THIS Croydon's most fertile chair?

An odd question maybe, but a butcher's shop celebrating its centenary could be behind its own mini-baby boom.

H Hartwell and Sons, in Brigstock Road, Thornton Heath, has been run by various generations of the Hartwell family ever since it opened on the very day war broke out a century ago.

For 25 years they have had a chair in the shop and many women who have sat on it have got pregnant shortly afterwards.

Robert Hartwell, the grandson of H Hartwell, now runs the shop.

He explained: "Over the years many ladies who have sat on the chair have ended up having babies, so I warn women customers not to sit on the chair unless they want to get pregnant.

"It's obviously got some magical powers."

The Hartwell family butchers, which opened in 1914, has run through seven generations of the family.

"When I was born they didn't say it's a little bouncing baby boy, they said it's a little bouncing baby butcher," Robert joked.

Robert's grandfather, Harold, was working in a butcher's when a builder called Mr Truett spotted him.

He suggested Harold set up his own business and offered to do up an old shop for him in exchange for a lifetime's supply of free meat.

Harold agreed but hit trouble when he discovered that he needed to be married to start the business. So he married Rose, a girl who worked in a hat shop in Brigstock Road, and opened H Hartwell Butchers on the first day of the First World War: August 4, 1914.

Harold's son Roy started working in the shop when he left school at 19 and Robert started giving him a hand when he was just 13.

Now 63, he has worked in the shop, which has never changed hands, for 50 years.

There is one house in Carew Road that H Hartwell and Sons have been delivering meat to since their first day of business.

Robert said that his grandfather knocked on their front door that day to introduce himself and they ordered half a pound of pork chops, costing five old pence.

The same family stayed in the house, always ordering their meat from the same butcher's, until ten years ago.

The people who moved into the house have carried on ordering their meat from Robert until this day. "But they order lamb chops instead," he added.

Robert said the secret to the shop's success is their relationship with their customers.

He said: "We treat our customers as friends; we're on first name terms with everyone."

And he said it's his special recipe sausages that keep them coming back.

"I can't tell you the secret ingredients; they've been passed down through three generations of the family," he added.

THE new head of the estate's secondary school has said "no stone will be left unturned" in its efforts to improve its GCSE results.

Addington High's grades took a marked downturn this year – its first as an academy – but Martin Giles, who starts as head teacher on Monday, thinks the future is bright.

The school joined the Ravens Wood Learning Trust last year but suffered a fall of approximately 10 per cent of pupils achieving five A*s to Cs since last year's 49 per cent.

But Mr Giles, who joins from Harris Academy Morden where he was vice-principal, is aware of the task ahead.

"I will be instilling an unprecedented focus on standards of teaching, learning and progress at Addington High School," he said. "With my experience of senior leadership in the Harris Federation I am acutely aware of what needs to be done to raise outcomes and most importantly, how to do it quickly."

The school joined the Ravens Wood trust last June after years of poor results and accusations of bad behaviour from students. Despite the underwhelming results this year, Mr Giles said he was "deeply excited" for the future, adding: "No stone will be left unturned in our relentless drive to improve the school."

James Malloy, who finishes in his role as acting head after taking over from Tim Davies in February 2013, said this batch of pupils were a "lovely year group who worked really hard".

And despite the figures dropping, there were some successes.

Favour Amike was one of the school's high achievers with eight A*s and two Bs. She will go on to study maths, chemistry, physics and further maths, hopefully at Wallington Boys.

And Clayton Ryan is off to join Tooting and Mitcham football academy, having achieved six A to Cs.

A 26-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Adrian Young, who died after a fight on a Croydon estate on Tuesday. Jordan Glasgow of Silverdale, Sydenham will appear before Camberwell Magistrates Court today (Saturday). Mr Young, 24, was attacked in Cromwell Road at around 4.30pm on Tuesday by three men who chased him into nearby Whitehorse Road. The young father, also known as Andre, collapsed and was treated by paramedics at the roadside before being taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead later that evening. A post-mortem held at St George's mortuary on Wednesday gave the cause of death as a stab wound to the heart.

NEW designs for the redevelopment of the council's former Taberner House headquarters site - extending Queen's Gardens and doubling the number of affordable homes - have been revealed.

The rethink by applicant Croydon Council Urban Regeneration Vehicle (CCURV) – a partnership between the council and developers, John Laing – is a result of concerns raised by the Labour administration after it gained control of the authority in May.

Pre-planning application proposals will be presented to a meeting of the council's planning committee on Wednesday.

It is being stressed by planning officers that the new designs are at a very early stage and a lot of work still needs to be done by CCURV before a formal application is submitted.

The new design has been described by Councillor Alison Butler, the cabinet member for homes and regeneration, as "a significant improvement".

Original plans for a 420-home development in five blocks, the highest being 32-storeys was approved by the council in May.

The new scheme also envisages 420 homes but the number of blocks will be reduced to four.

It is planned to drop the original six-storey block from the scheme, allowing a reconfiguration of Queen's Gardens providing 9,654 sq metres of accessible public space, an increase of just over 1,000 sq metres on the approved scheme.

To allow for the homes which disappear from the block, the preliminary idea is to increase the height of the two nine-storey blocks to ten and 15 storeys and the 13-storey block to 16 storeys.

No changes are planned for the 32-storey building, although the committee report says CCURV is anxious to use the pre-application process to help push for early delivery of the tower, which will provide all private rented homes. The existing development would have contained 15 per cent affordable housing.

The revised scheme would involve the applicant "aiming to provide" 30 per cent affordable housing across the site, in line with the Labour council's policy.

The committee report indicates this total will still be "subject to financial viability testing".

Cllr Butler said: "While these new designs will still need to go through the planning process and be properly assessed, we are confident they represent a significant improvement.

"We also hope the new proposals double the amount of much needed affordable housing in the scheme, which is a major part of the regeneration Croydon is set to see in the coming years."

She added: "These new designs will save Queen's Gardens and ensure that the new development offers a larger amount of green space.

"These important changes to the designs mean this open space can now be retained and enjoyed by all members of the community."

LATE collections from about 250 postboxes across Croydon are to be scrapped as part of Royal Mail "efficiency measures".

Notices were placed on the boxes last week informing the public that post would only be collected from them once a day, at 9am on weekdays and 7am on weekends, from September 19.

Some residents have reacted angrily to the notices, which they say would leave people unable to reply to urgent post the same day, and leave the elderly and disabled worse off.

Charles King, chairman of East Coulsdon Residents' Association, noticed boxes across the south of the borough had the notices attached last week.

He said the proposals would leave parts of the borough "cut off" and was dismayed at the cuts shortly after the privatisation of the service.

"We're in Greater London, not the Outer Hebrides. What happened to this commitment to keep a first class postal service?" he said.

"I think the next thing is they'll be saying in a year's time 'those boxes are hardly used so we're going to take them away'.

"This is the first step towards that.

"Around 20 per cent of people don't have access to the internet and it's difficult for the elderly and disabled to get to another box further away.

"If they just said there's going to be one collection in the evening, say at 6pm, that might be ok as it would give you time to reply, but to only have one in the morning makes it impossible."

A spokesman for Royal Mail confirmed the boxes will move to the "collection on delivery" arrangements – where the postman delivering mail also collects from boxes – because a "significant decline" in the number of letters posted means the boxes no longer cover their costs.

He said: "We would like to reassure all our customers that we will retain a high level of access to late collection posting facilities (4pm or later). Clear signposting will be provided for customers on the relevant postboxes indicating where their nearest late posting box is.

"Existing postboxes further than half-a-mile from a late posting facility are not included as part of these changes. In Croydon, around 250 post boxes will move to the new collection on delivery arrangement across the CR0 to CR8 postcode sectors."

A MAN involved in nine hour rooftop stand-off with police on Friday is to appear before magistrates in Croydon on Monday charged with a variety of offences. John Barnett, 26, was arrested by police after coming down from the roof of a house in Barrow Road, Waddon at around 7pm yesterday. He had been on the roof since 10.30am when police were called to the house after reports of a burglary at the property. His rooftop escapade ended when he climbed through a hole in the roof as firefighters climbed up to get him. He was arrested inside the house, believed to be where his girlfriend lived. A police spokeswoman said tonight (Saturday) that unemployed John Barnett of no fixed abode would appear before Croydon magistrates on Monday charged with burglary, criminal damage to five vehicles, including three police vehicles, criminal damage to the roofs of four terraced houses and affray.

A PEDESTRIAN is in a critical condition in hospital after being involved in a collision with a car in Whitehorse Lane, South Norwood in the early hours of this morning (Sunday). A police spokesman said the man received serious head injuries in the accident which took place at around 3.15am. Whitehorse Lane was closed in both directions between its junctions with Whitworth Road and Park Road after the accident while police carried out investigations. The road reopened just before 10am.

A COULSDON couple who were married 65 years ago this weekend say "travel, talking and hobbies" have helped keep them together.

Pat and Ian King, who celebrate their anniversary on Saturday, said their marriage has been "mostly very happy indeed".

"If there's any secret to it, we both like to do our own things and come together at the end of the day to talk about it," said Ian.

Pat added: "Somebody said to me the other day, '65 years, how are you still talking?' And I said I've never stopped talking and he's never replied."

Ian, who turns 90 next week, still likes to keep fit playing tennis, a game he took up 30 years ago. He said: "I took it up along with racquetball when I retired and still play at some rather low level. I wouldn't pay much money to come and watch though!"

The couple met on a steam train while commuting to London after being introduced by one of Ian's friends in 1948.

"I liked the look of him because he was still wearing a great coat with epaulets, so I knew he was an officer, and things took off from there," said Pat, 86.

Ian served as a Commando in the Royal Marines during the Second World War, having joined in 1942, taking part in the closing battles of the war, including crossing the Rhine.

"I was going to be sent to Hong Kong, to recapture it from the Japanese, but of course the A-bomb ended the war," he said.

The couple were married in Caterham the year after they met, but didn't have a fancy wedding.

"It was a bit Spartan – it was a very austere wedding because they were austere times," said Pat.

"Our families were not particularly well to do. There wasn't a lot of money to spend on a fancy wedding."

But they made up for it with a romantic honeymoon to Perpignan in France.

"The people there more or less feted on us because it was just after the liberation; they shook our hands and said thank you, it was quite something," said Pat.

They eventually settled in Coulsdon 50 years ago and have lived in the same home ever since.

They're now set to celebrate with a trip to Prague and a party, which will be attended by their three children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A GROUP of Kung Fu students have been on a trip of a lifetime after the Chinese government invited them to stay.

The children from Kung Fu Schools in Croydon spent an all-expenses paid week in Beijing at the end of July, after the invitation from the educational arm of the Chinese government, the Confucius Institute.

Kung Fu Schools, based at the Capital Business Centre, in Carlton Road, South Croydon, works with the Confucius Institute and is the only martial arts school in London to be recognised by them.

The children were taken to see all the sights and Kung Fu Schools head instructor Alan Paterson said that the highlight of the trip was going to see the Great Wall of China.

He said: "The kids loved it. They have seen so much of the Karate Kid film and so to actually stand on it - they were amazed by the size and skill of it."

The group were also given privileged access to the giant pandas at Beijing Zoo and were able to get up close to the animals with the zoo guards.

They even found time to practise their Kung Fu on the roof of their hotel in Beijing.

Mr Paterson added: "The kids must have affected them because they've invited us back to Shanghai next year.

"As an instructor to be invited by the Chinese government was quite daunting.

"For myself and the other instructors we feel very honoured to be invited to take the kids and represent Croydon and the UK.

"We got such a warm reception and they couldn't do enough for us."

CRYSTAL Palace manager Neil Warnock praised his predecessor Tony Pulis for leaving him with a squad full of "character and determination" after the late fightback at Newcastle.

The Eagles earned a point in a thrilling encounter thanks to Wilfried Zaha's fairytale injury time equaliser in his first game back at the club.

And Warnock was full of praise for his players - and despite admitting he'd like to add as many as four new faces before the transfer deadline passes tomorrow, he seems pretty happy with the squad he's inherited.

He said: "They're just a great bunch, I'm absolutely chuffed with their attitude. 

"I usually have to build a squad like this but Tony must have done a fabulous job because they've got so much character and determination and they can play a bit as well."

On the game, which Palace led twice before slipping to 3-2 down until Zaha's 95th minute leveller, Warnock said: "I felt at half time that we'd been disappointing in the final third. We'd rushed a little bit and I thought we could be better in that area, which we were second half.

"They were poor goals to concede but I can't fault the effort."

And Warnock also explained his approach too getting Zaha back firing and form - it's all about smiling.

"If he enjoys himself and relaxes and plays with a smile on his face he'll be a threat anywhere," he said.

FORMER Whitgift School pupil Jason Roy has been called up by England for next weekend's T20 international against India.

The Surrey batsman has been in prime form this summer, especially in the shorter format of the game, and will hope to feature in the one-off international at Edgbaston on September 7.

Hard-hitting opener Roy, 24, hit 677 runs at an average of 48 as Surrey made the semi-finals of this season's T20 blast competition.

A LUNCH club for elderly people is being forced to move as its South Norwood base could be demolished.

The Pop-in Lunch Club, run by South Norwood and Woodside Community Association, will be moving to a new SE25 base towards the turn of this year.

Karen Jewitt, former councillor for Woodside, runs the lunch club and was told its current home at the United Reformed Church hall in Cobden Road may not be there next year.

Ms Jewitt, who is now Labour councillor for Thornton Heath, said: "Well, the church is falling down really but I think it is a bit bad that they didn't come to us and give us any consultation or anything, especially as we've been here a long time.

"We'll move to another location in South Norwood, there shouldn't be too many problems. I think I have already sorted a new location and the service will keep going, so no one should be worried."

The club provides hot, home-cooked lunches to senior citizens up to three times a week, helping some who struggle to cook and some who just want somewhere to socialise.

IT IS never dull following the fortunes of Crystal Palace Football Club.

Administration, near-relegation, promotion, relegation, more administration, another promotion – it is the proverbial rollercoaster of emotions.

Not to mention the merry-go-round of managers warming the Selhurst Park dugout in recent times. This week a former fans' favourite, Neil Warnock, climbed back aboard the carousel for his second stint in charge.

The reaction to this wily old campaigner's appointment hasn't been wholly positive – scepticsm and, in some cases, confusion would seem to be the overriding emotions from most Eagles fans.

There are two reasons for this; firstly, when Warnock left Palace four years ago the club was in a pretty perilous state – in danger of going out of the Championship and, more to the point, going out of business.

Also, some would suggest Warnock isn't the sexiest appointment Steve Parish could have made. A muck-and-bullets boss from the old school, but not a manager to get you on the edge of your seat.

But we've been here before. Ten months ago Palace appointed a traditional, not so exotic, manager to little acclaim, and that didn't turn out so badly, did it?

If Neil Warnock does half as well as Tony Pulis – and plays decent football with a rampaging Wilfried Zaha on the flanks – the fans will be more than happy.

Plus, he's a decent man who clearly still has a great affinity with this club.

We wish him well.

CRYSTAL Palace are set to sign Tottenham defender Zeki Fryers.

It is understood Neil Warnock has made the Spurs left-back his number one target to fill what has become a problem position for Palace, who allowed both Dean Moxey and Jonny Parr to leave in the summer.

Fryers, who started his career at Man Utd, has fallen down the pecking order at White Hart Lane, with Danny Rose signing a new contract and Ben Davies recently joining from Swansea.

It is understood the 21-year-old will sign for Palace on a permanent deal.

A man charged with the murder of 24-year-old Adrian Young from Croydon has been remanded in custody following his appearance at the Old Bailey. Jordan Glasgow, 26, of Silverdale, Sydenham was charged on Friday August 29 with the Mr Young's murder. He appeared today (Tuesday) at the Old Bailey and was remanded in custody to appear at the same court on the November 11 for a plea and case management hearing. Mr Young, 24, was attacked in Cromwell Road, West Crydon at around 4.30pm last Tuesday (August 26) by three men who chased him into nearby Whitehorse Road. The young father, also known as Andre, collapsed and was treated by paramedics at the roadside before being taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead later that evening. A post-mortem held at St George's mortuary gave the cause of death as a stab wound to the heart.