Estate shocked by boy's shooting

12:31pm Thursday 15th February 2007

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Residents of a North Clapham estate were shocked by the shooting of a 15-year-old yesterday afternoon.

People living in Fenwick Place described the estate as usually being fairly peaceful' following the killing of Billy Cox.

Billy was shot dead in his home at around 3.40pm yesterday. Reports suggest his 12-year-old sister found his body.

Rumours were circulating the estate that young men had burst into Billy's house two days earlier and beat him up.

Teresa Barry, 64, who has lived on the estate for 40 years, said: "I don't know where this has all come from - I was gobsmacked."

"I know there are supposedly drugs going around but I've never seen any trouble.

"A lot of the people who live here are elderly. The young people hanging about here about tend to come from elsewhere.

"I could walk through the estate at 11pm and I still wouldn't be afraid."

Billy had been enrolled at Ernest Bevin College in Tooting but had been taught in Kennington for the past six weeks. He was in training to enter the construction industry.

A 19-year-old girl who went to Kings Avenue Primary School in Lambeth with Billy said: "He was a lovely boy and was no harm at school. He wouldn't have said boo to a goose."

But the girl, who did not want to be named, said Billy had fallen in with the wrong crowd.

"Some of that crowd were threatening," she said. "But Billy never was."

Billy is survived by his mother, Kim, father, Tom, and his sister.

• To leave a tribute for Billy or a message of support for his family click here.