The Croydon Guardian launched an appeal for cash to readers to raise money for a life-saving operation for a three-year-old Serena Souissi from a rare form of cancer.

Tory Steve O’Connell was elected Croydon and Sutton’s new London Assembly member after securing a 44.08 per cent majority with 76,477 votes.

Mayday Hospital was branded the worst in London by a patient survey concerning the quality of treatment recieved at London’s hospitals . Patients were asked a total of 50 questions about admissions, wards, doctors, nurses and treatment. The London Road facility came out bottom.

Councillor Steve O’Connell pledged to get rid of his guzzling 4x4 by October after his appointment to the environment committee in the Greater London Assembly.

Centrale shopping centre launched the capital’s first Child-Safe scheme. The initiative provides children with free wristbands on which parents or guardians can write contact numbers in case a child is lost.

Croydon Council came under attack from civil liberties group, ‘Liberty’ for using anti-terror legislation to fight petty crime. The council had told the guardian it had used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers six times.

Convicted criminals meant to be on community service spent their time drinking beer, smoking marijuana and visiting McDonalds, it was revealed. Photos handed to the Croydon Guardian showed the group leaving Windmill Park three hours early, and unpainted railings they were meant to restore. Observers said the offenders had been coming for six months and the work at the park had hardly started.

South Norwood’s drug squad raided a cannabis factory in Thornton Heath and discovered more than 1,000 “skunk” plants growing in four specially-equipped rooms. The plants, which were hidden in the four-bedroom house for two months, had a street value of £500,000.

A schoolgirl was stabbed in the leg in Thornton Heath. The 16-year-old was making her way to school at 10am when she had an argument with three girls outside Betfred bookmakers in Thornton Road. The following day a drive-by shooting in Norbury left a man critically ill.