Since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, more than 21,000 Afghan refugees have been resettled in the UK under several schemes designed to support those at-risk.

There is a huge effort by the public authorities to ensure those settling in North London receive the best start and ongoing support in their new lives.

The OpCourage Warm Welcome Afghan Service, provided by Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, ensures the mental health needs of these individuals are met in a holistic single point of access service.

In partnership with OpCourage Veteran’s Services across England, the Warm Welcome Service now provides assessment, support and advocacy for Afghan individuals. The service, officially launched on Monday 17 October, will also support people to find help for wider needs, such as housing, financial and social needs through connections with local councils, government departments and charities.

Kentish Town Forum have a fantastic line-up in the run up to Christmas.

Highlights include Wet Leg on 23 and 24 November, San Diego's Pierce the Veil on 2 and December and Idlewild on 17 December.

You can find out more details on their website.

For more information and to join please visit Camden Friends of the Earth

https://www.camdenfoe.org.uk/

A man who killed a delivery driver in Finsbury Park and fled to evade justice has finally been jailed for life.

Nathan Smith, 28 (10.09.93), of Marlborough Road, N19, was convicted of murdering 30-year-old Takieddine ‘Taki’ Boudhane.

The day after the murder, Smith fled the UK and initially travelled to Austria, where he remained in hiding for more than a year.

Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust has awarded a contract to the UK construction company Kier to deliver a new £17m community mental health facility at Lowther Road in Islington.

The project forms the first integrated community mental health facility in the Trust's St Pancras Transformation Programme.

Dr Vincent Kirchner, C&I Chief Medical Officer, said: “Improving the quality of our community facilities is a crucial part of our plans to help people with mental health problems to live well in their communities. The redevelopment of Lowther Road is an exciting opportunity.

"It will create a modern, welcoming space that will allow us to offer integrated services that address both mental health and physical health. Importantly it will also provide an enhanced working environment for our clinical teams.”

Four members of a gang who carried out knifepoint robberies across Camden and Islington have been sentenced.

Appearing at Wood Green Crown Court on Wednesday, 24 August, Abdurahman Haramein, 19, of Corbyn Street, Islington, was sentenced to four years detention.

The other three gang members received non custodial sentences.

A new 78-bed mental health hospital in Highgate is schedule to open in 2023, and construction is under way at the site just to the west of the Whittington Hospital off Dartmouth Park Hill.

The Camden & Islington NHS Trust admits some 2,500 mental health patients annually, so the new hospital, expected to cost some £70m, is much-needed.

The Trust has produced this video about the new facility. (Image: Camden & Islington NHS Foundation Trust.)

Officers from the Met's Central North command were outside HIghbury & Islington tube station on 7 March to speak with local people as part of their International Women's Day work.

The Met are also promoting a 'Walk and Talk' initiative, where women with concerns about safety and how London is policed can meet their local officers for an honest discussion.

Our 'In their own words' series also features a female officers rising up the ranks while working hard in Camden. You can read more about acting Sergeant Nicky O'Hara in our features section.

Police want to trace these three men following an armed robbery in Archway Road on the evening of Saturday, 6 November.

At least two of the men were armed with crowbars. They threatened the shopkeeper and assaulted him before stealing items including cash and cigarettes. They then ran from the shop and, unusually, boarded a tube at Highgate Underground Station to make their getaway.

The criminals are clearly quite brazen but not a little stupid. They'll be caught surely given TfL technology? If you know who they are, please call the Met on 101.

The ironically named Evans Innocent has been jailed for 21 years for a random attack on a woman in Islington and two earlier offences.

Innocent was sentenced at the Old Bailey on 21 October.

The victim of the Islington attack in April 2020 was taken to hospital with four stab wounds to her head, neck and left shoulder. Fortunately she survived.

Detective Constable Russell Harvey said: "This was a series of premeditated, unprovoked attacks without any warning or motive. Innocent went out looking to cause harm to people in the community and his actions were nothing short of horrific. Following his arrest, he attempted at every stage to hinder our investigation, even when cross examined in the box.

"Thanks to a dedicated investigation by Central North CID officers, he was quickly identified and linked to further offences by CCTV, Oyster card and phone data. “

Police in Islington have released an image of a man they want to trace in connection with an incident in the early hours of 25 July.

They are investigating reports that two women were sexually assaulted as they got out of a car, which they believed was a minicab, in Hornsey Street, N7. The street runs from Holloway Road to the area of Caledonian Road near to the tube station.

Anyone who recognises the man in the image is asked to call police on 101 quoting CAD 1441/25Jul.