Tottenham in focus: How I escaped the

London post-code war

George Cooper

Robyn Travis outside the Hackney Fields Estate

Robyn Travis grew up on the streets of Tottenham and Hackney, and soon
became embroiled in a vicious turf war between the two areas. Now he is
releasing a book, and hopes to encourage others to follow his example
Londons knife and gun crime problems have become a hot topic for the media
industry over the last decade. Films such as Kidulthood, Adulthood, Bullet
Boy and, most recently, the acclaimed channel four series Top Boy portray
the capitals streets as a sinister landscape of unremitting crime and violence.
Robyn Travis disagrees with all of them.

Im not trying to disrespect any of them, but none of them carries a positive
message like my book does, he says. They offer no explanation of youth
before the teenage years, the years when you learn that if someone hits you,
you hit them back to defend yourself.
That lesson does not come from gang mentality, it comes from the home, and
it comes from life on the street. These kids are not to go out and hit people
first, but to defend themselves. But that kind of behaviour can lead to
destruction.

The book Robyn Travis refers to is Prisoner to the Streets, due for release this
month. An account of the first 21 years of his life, it documents his
involvement in the escalating violence between the young men of
neighbouring estates in Hackney and Tottenham during the late 1990s and
early 2000s, violence dubbed by the media as Londons post-code war.

It may be a sensational term, but it accurately described a series of running

battles between the teenagers of Tottenham and Hackney. The rules were
simple: if you were from another part of London, you were the enemy. If you
strayed into enemy territory, you paid the price and the punishment was
dished out with a knife or a gun. It was a vicious, relentless turf war which to
this day has claimed hundreds of young lives.

Robyn grew up on the Tiverton Estate in Tottenham, before he moved with his
mother and older brother to the Holly Street estate in Hackney, and went to
school at neighbouring London Fields Primary. It was the loyalties he felt to
friends from all three parts of his life: Tottenham, Holly Street and London
Fields, which led him into Londons turf war.

As a teenager, Robyn stabbed and was stabbed. He was knifed in the head,
chest, leg and stomach. He had a gun held to his head, stood trail for and was
cleared of attempted murder, and spent six months in a Jamaican jail for
attempted drugs trafficking. Close friends died. Others went to prison. All, like
Robyn, were trapped by road life.

Prisoner to the Streets does more than document these events. In his book,
Robyn explores the motives behind his actions: loyalty to friends, loyalty to
family, and, fundamentally, loyalty to your area: reppin your endz. Where
other books and films dwell on the effects of the violence, Robyn seeks to
explain the reasons behind it. But never does he excuse it.

Post-code wars need to stop, thats why I wrote the book, to show people
that it is a way of life which doesnt make sense, he says. Ive seen it, lost
friends through it. Its not a nice place to be and I dont want anyone else to go
through the same experiences.
He readily admits that after being stabbed in the stomach almost fatally he
wanted to murder the boy responsible. Revenge consumed him for months
afterwards. It was only a combination of factors: the death of his nan, and the
murder of his close friend, Jadie, as well as time in a hellish Jamaican prison
cell, which convinced him to escape the streets.

On the day I meet him, Robyn, now 28, and father to a young family, is set to
return to Middlesex University, where he took a degree in criminology, to
deliver a talk on gang violence. The fact he is on crutches, after an operation
for a knee injury, does not stop him.

In recent years he has visited schools and worked with high-risk offenders in
Islington and Hackney. Over the next 12 months, he plans to visit as many
schools and youth facilities in the country as he can: all to keep other young
men from repeating his mistakes.

You cannot represent an area. You cant hate people you do not know. Its
about the myth of not liking someone because they are not from your area. Its
about trying to teach people who think the same way that I used to think. Its a
way of thinking which is not productive. Too many young people are learning
their lessons in prison.

Joining him for the talk is Mark Prince, whose 15-year-old son Kiyan was
stabbed to death outside the gates of his school in Edgware in 2006. Since
then, Mr Prince has become Britains most high-profile voice in the fight
against knife and gun crime.

Me and Mark do a lot of gang talks together, adds Robyn. We know we can
make a difference, but its hard for both of us. Ive seen him come close to
breaking down many times. For me, talking about the times Ive been stabbed,
the friends Ive lost, you cant pay me enough to talk about that, trust me.
Having to back over those episodes was emotionally draining. Certain things I
had run away from, I had to face them again.

Nevertheless, Prisoner to the Streets remains a message of hope: there is an

escape, says Robyn. But attitudes need to change, both on the streets and in
the government offices.

Territorial rivalry still claims lives in London. As recently as September 2011, a

teenager holding her 11-month son was injured by fire from a shotgun in
Queens Park. Police suggested the incident was gang-related: John Fearon
Walk, where the shots were fired, is in Westminster, but Brent, Kensington and
Chelsea are all nearby.

The riots of 2011 threw the issue of such violence into the spotlight
spectacularly. A Home Office report, entitled Ending gang and youth violence:
one year on, set out the response, and claimed good progress in a number of
areas. Last year, a law was passed meaning any 16 or 17-year-old found
carrying a knife will face a custodial sentence.

Robyn is unconvinced. Until the problem is tackled at its root, he says, and the
police and authorities attempt to understand the frustrations of those on the
streets, the problem will remain. This country is not set on prevention, it is set
on intervention. Youth workers of any background will say that this is not the
way to make a change. All they do is tick boxes.

These young people are smart. They feel a great sense of injustice. Instead of
talking to people who dont understand, they talk to people who understand
where they are coming from, until they are old enough and mature enough to
make sense of it and know how to defeat it. But some people never do defeat
it, but I hope my book helps them to see that there is another way.