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| NEWS | BY DAN CARRIER |
 Victims Mr and Mrs Robinson  Flowers outside the couple’s home |
Bouquets left by a cherry tree on a grass verge by the neatly-kept home of Dr Derek Robinson and his wife Jean were the only signs of the tragedy. But friends and neighbours of the well-liked couple were struggling to come to terms with the horrific killings. Pippa Rothenberg, secretary of the Holly Lodge Estate Committee and a friend of the couple, told the New Journal: “Derek was sitting in my kitchen on Tuesday night. He had come round with a bottle of wine for a meeting. He was a steady voice on the committee – he thought things through. He was a man of reason.” Dr Robinson, 75, and his wife, Jean, 69, were discovered in their home in Makepeace Avenue on Friday morning by a decorator who had let himself in to carry out work in their front room. The couple were found in the hallway, where they had been stabbed and their throats cut. The decorator disturbed the murderer – he chased him out of the house, but the suspect escaped over the back garden fence into Langbourne Avenue. Police later arrested a man in connection with the killings. Although Dr Robinson, a paeditrician who moved to Highgate five years ago, was working voluntarily for the Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture and Unicef, he had become involved in life on Holly Lodge. Mrs Rothenberg said: “On Friday we had to help find the Robinson’s two daughters. Things like that are extremely difficult to take in.” Marie-Jeanne Walker, vice-chair of Holly Lodge Community Association, echoed Mrs Rothenberg’s thoughts. “Jean drove an elderly neighbour to the centre once a week, to enjoy lunch and bingo,” she said. “Derek helped out at the Christmas dinner for pensioners. He was always on hand to listen and advise as staff grappled with issues of youth and law and order. “Derek was gentle, humorous and kind and he helped us to think through the issues around Asbos‚ to go for police funding for sports activities for young people and so on. Jean gave great pleasure to many as a member of a choir which performed all over the country.” For neighbours in Makepeace Avenue, the murders have left them feeling uncomfortable. Tim Leach – who lives next door and whose flowers had a card attached saying ‘sorry for making so much noise’ – believes he heard the killings. He said: “There was some shouting at about 8am. I assumed it was the decorators, because he was having his place done up. I went back to sleep. The next thing I knew the police were here.” “I used to disturb them with my goings on, but they were nice about it. It seems so random. That’s what’s so nasty – it could have been any of us.” Father Andrew Meldrum, vicar at St Anne’s Church in Highgate West Hill, said neighbours had turned to him for support. He said: “I have been counselling parishioners. People are very distressed. We are doing all we can to help – people feel vulnerable in their own homes.” Others found themselves unwittingly involved in the police investigation. Ronald Velden, who lives in Langbourne Avenue, has watched forensic police officers scour his street looking for a possible murder weapon. “It’s probably sitting somewhere on our road,” he said. The randomness of the attack has left him shaken. “Those poor people were unlucky. It seems there was no reason the murderer went to their house. That’s chilling. “My son missed running into the suspect by five minutes. He left for work at 8.10 – and they say the killer had run past five minutes earlier.” A doctor who helped children DR Derek Robinson, who was murdered along his wife on Friday, was a leading authority on the ageing process of adolescents – and helped teenage refugees who the Home Office suspected were adults masquerading as youngsters. Dr Robinson worked as a volunteer with the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture as an expert witness to help people seeking political asylum. Andrew Hogg, from the Foundation, said: “To the young refugees in question, independent evidence of the fact that they could be under 18 meant they could remain in Britain, receiving support, at least until they reached adulthood. “In some cases it meant an immediate release from detention, where they had been placed by immigration officials who believed that they were really young adults lying about their age.” Dr Robinson argued it was impossible to discover a teenager’s age without regularly measuring their growth. “It included an examination of each case, and then a re-examination six months later to see how the body had changed,” said Mr Hogg. Sheila Melzak, principal adolescent psychotherapist at the Medical Foundation said: “Dr Robinson’s work was crucial – it literally meant the difference between freedom, and being locked up on an immigration officer’s whim. “He was clear about the complexities of age assessment, saying anything remotely accurate could not be rushed, but had to be done over a period of time. He was also good at dealing with other youngsters who had been tortured, or had witnessed it. “He had a holistic approach and was alert to the mental state of those he examined, and good at spotting the vulnerable.” Another Medical Foundation paediatrician, Dr Pat Wallace, said: “I knew him since we were junior doctors together. He was a kind man and that came through in his work.” Mr Robinson was a music teacher. She had sung in choirs, appearing at York Minster when the couple lived in the north. She taught in schools and ran after hours music clubs. They leave behind two daughters. Man in court over killings A 24-year-old man appeared in Highbury Magistrates’ Court on Monday charged with the murder of Dr Derek Robinson and his wife Jean. Daniel Julian Gonzalez is accused of stabbing the couple early on Friday morning. Gonzalez, of Woking, Surrey, spoke only to confirm his name. He was not required to enter a plea. The suspect is also due to appear at Highbury Magistrates Court today (Thursday) charged with the murders of Marie Harding, 73, in Sussex, and Kevin Malloy, 46, in Tottenham, who both died last week; and an attempted murder and burglary with GBH in Frobisher Road, Haringey. |
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