THE horrific axe murder of Brian Messitt in Eton Avenue came just two weeks after a warning that the Swiss Cottage needed greater police protection.
Tory Councillor Andrew Mennear warned a full council meeting that residents were worried that the area had become a blossoming crime hotspot.
The Swiss Cottage electoral ward is due to get a Safer Neighbourhoods police programme which will see officers stationed in the area.
Labour’s Community Safety boss Councillor Anna Stewart insisted that the new measures showed the area was not being overlooked.
But residents and opposition councillors are worried new policing plan will not go far enough.
Only last month, murder squad detectives were called to nearby Finchley Road where a man was murdered in a late night street assault. No suspects have been charged.
And Yard specialists were in the area last May when a man was killed in a frenzied knife attack in Harben Road, a five-minute walk from the latest murder scene.
Residents say they are also living in fear of muggings and street attacks, as well as booming vehicle crime.