Sacred Heart School Closed Due to Man on Roof |
|
Specialist negotiators have been talking to him since Monday
June 21, 2024 A girls’ school in Hammersmith has been closed to staff and pupils since the beginning of a week after a man took up residence on its main roof by Hammersmith Road. The police have sent specialist negotiators to the site to try and persuade the intruder at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic School to climb down. There is a large police presence at the location in front of the bus station. The headteacher Mrs O’Donovan has written to parents saying that the man ‘with mental health difficulties’ got access to the roof on Monday night. She continued, “The police assured me that the separate and completely self-contained Calder Building was safe and secure to use for public exams this morning and senior staff were on hand to direct students into that building only. No student had access to the main building.” Students sitting A Levels have now been told to meet at Bute Gardens Gate where they will be escorted by staff to St. Paul’s Girls’ School where they will take their exams. Other pupils at the comprehensive school which caters to 1,200 girls aged 11-18 are having to take classes remotely. A similar incident took place nearby near Kensington Olympia at the same time with a man climbing on the roof of houses on Russell Garden Mews and throwing items on the track requiring London Overground services to be suspended. This man came down on Tuesday, after the other man took up residence at Sacred Heart, and he has been admitted to hospital. Some parents are perplexed why the police are not forcing the man down given the amount of disruption that is being caused and the potential risk to pedestrians walking by on Hammersmith Road. A spokesperson for the Met said, “Officers remain in attendance and continue to engage with the man with the aim of bringing the situation to a safe conclusion”.
![]() |