Divided London: The No-Go Area

John Hedges, 35, is a PhD student who teaches creative writing at Wandsworth Prison. A year ago he bought a one-bedroom flat in North London in the road dubbed 'murder mile'.

'I lose count,' Hedges confesses. 'I think there were four people killed on Lower Clapton Road last year. There were definitely two people murdered in a drive-by shooting.'

If he's not keeping up with the body count, Hedges admits that it's hard to avoid the evidence of crime.

'The crack addicts hold up the local newsagent quite a lot, just to get coins out of the till. I go jogging along the River Lea and twice I have seen police fishing bodies out of the water. I don't know whether they had been murdered or were just drunks who fell in.'

Despite this, he insists that he does not feel threatened. 'Sometimes I check over my shoulder if I'm walking down the Lower Clapton Road at night, but I don't avoid it. Maybe I would if I were a woman, but I'm a pretty big guy and no one has ever tried to mug me or anything. It seems a lot of the crime is drug-related and if you're not involved in that, it's not going to affect you.'

He admits that security is a concern, but balks at the idea of living in a gated community.

'When I first moved in, I was worried about security because my flat is in the basement. But what's great is that the next-door neighbours, who are a retired working-class couple, own the whole house. They really look out for you and that is the best security you are ever going to get. And anyway, I haven't got that much worth nicking. Nobody is going to want my old video player.'

And crime or not, John likes the area. 'There is a strange mixture of people, which I like. Walthamstow Marshes are lovely and I love the river, despite the bodies. There's a caf? and a rowing club. It's like Oxford.'