Places features

I was the first reporter on the scene when the Meadowell riots broke out – and I had no idea what I was walking into.

Barbara Henderson

This was an area I knew well – and yet I was walking into an almost unrecognisable landscape. Much of the estate was in darkness.

The brightest lights came from the buildings which were ablaze – and among the felled trees, bricks, canisters and other debris roamed groups of young people who were angry and volatile.

Residents' anger

The first thing people told me was also proclaimed on a huge banner: “This is for Dale and Colin.”

They were talking about the two young car thieves who had been killed, just days earlier, in a police chase.

There was fury about the manner of their deaths and the pair seemed to have become heroes in the eyes of many young Meadowell people.

Clearly, however, social problems and criminality were already rife – the two deaths merely lit the touch paper.

Physical attack

I was physically attacked by a group of youths who, mistakenly, thought I may have taped them saying something incriminating – and my heavy-duty tape recorder was smashed up.

Yet afterwards, as I picked myself up and scrabbled on the dark ground for any remaining strands of tape, I was helped by a woman who took me into her home and gave me a cup of tea .

Given the intimidating atmosphere on the estate that night, it seemed overwhelming that some people were still able to demonstrate a basic human kindness.

I’ve been able to walk around the estate since and discover, of course, that most people are like this – and the violence that happened was a terrible aberration.

Horrific night

As a reporter, I expect to walk into all kinds of different situations, but I admit that I have never felt as vulnerable as I did that night.

I remember being most comforted by a hard-bitten newspaper hack who I’d known for many years, who admitted that when he’d seen what was happening, he was physically sick.

The causes and the aftermath have been picked over time and again. I like to think that, for me, it was a one-off event that I’ll never have to witness again.