Exeter park puts locals on edge amid violence and drug use

On a sunny day in May, Exe Street appears to be the perfect place to live. It’s got the historic Iron Bridge at one end, the River Exe at the other and a tranquil green space in the form of St Bartholomew’s Cemetery, all while being just a few minutes’ walk from the city centre.

Yet, by night, the place transforms completely as the cemetery, with long grass and heavy tree cover, becomes shrouded in darkness. This has unfortunately been the scene of a number of serious incidents, including a woman having been sexually assaulted as she walked through Exeter after a night out in the early hours of the morning in June 2022. Cosmin-Nicolae Vasioiu, 47, was found guilty of rape earlier this month and is currently awaiting sentence.

On June 18, residents of Exe Street woke up to police tape across the already rather imposing entrance gates to the cemetery and they say the sight of police officers has become all too familiar.

“Over the course of a year, I’ve witnessed a violent assault, a violent sexual assault and we’ve had police at our door probably about six times requesting our ring doorbell video footage,” says Anna Hutchinson who has lived in the area for a year.

“For residents here, I think you’re pretty safe but it can give you a sense of unease with the activities that do happen in the cemetery and on the road in general.

“I don’t personally feel unsafe but I feel like there might be more vulnerable people around who could probably benefit from additional precautions.”

Despite its proximity to the city centre, Exe Street is largely residential in nature and doesn’t benefit from the same CCTV coverage. There was the sense among residents that the area doesn’t just need to be better monitored but that it has been made too easy for people to hide among the foliage.

Anna said: “I don’t understand, for example, why there isn’t just a general camera at the bottom of the street rather than relying on residents’ footage.

“[Lighting] in the park would be a bit better or even just in the park because if somebody’s in there and they want to be able to get out, it’s probably not that easy to see. Better maintenance of the landscaping in there because you can’t really see who’s in there and it’s all very overgrown.

“More beats too. A week after any incident happens, the police just disappear.”

Phil Breading has lived on Exe Street for three years and says that there has been a growing sense of unease in the area in recent months. Even though he doesn’t feel especially vulnerable, he still arms himself with a powerful torch when walking his dog after dark but says that some women avoid it altogether.

He said: “I do go out there late at night because I’ve got the dog but I know none of the lady dogwalkers walk out there at night. That’s worrying because we have had a couple of attacks here so it’s always in my mind and there’s plenty of places to hide, especially in darkness so I’ve got a super powerful torch that I take out with me.

“I didn’t feel unsafe until about three or four months ago and then I just felt really uneasy walking around there either very early in the morning or very late at night.

“Especially when you see headlines like ‘dogwalker finds body in local cemetery’. You don’t know what you’re going to find in there.”

Fortunately, no bodies have actually been found in St Bartholomew’s Cemetery. Nonetheless, Phil claims that there are activities that go on in the cemetery that are cause for concern, including drug use. He says he fears that this may lead people to behave erratically and put others at risk.

He said: “You do get a lot of people up there who probably shouldn’t be doing what they’re doing and it does add a feeling of lack of safety. Also, it’s one of the few places where people can deal drugs without there being CCTV.

“I’m a large, heavy-set bloke although I do know that there are some real hardcore druggies who get their rage and that worries me because they don’t go down with a hit. My dog is too cute to rescue me.

“Most of the time, people stay up the top, just above the Catacombs. You hear a lot of wailing and screaming and shouting sometimes but it’s very rare that it’s down here. People tend to stay away from the streetlights.”

Like everyone we spoke to, Phil highlighted the tree cover and tall grass as a concern for residents, which may prompt him to ask the Council to cut it back. He says “it wouldn’t need a lot” to deter drug use and violence.

He said: “Lights, CCTV, regular patrols. It wouldn’t need a lot to put people off. There’s so much cover that people have so I’m going to ask the Council if they’ll clear away some of the foliage because there’s 6ft high nettles over there, you could get some nutter hiding in those.”

Another resident, who would prefer to stay anonymous, says he even commented on the overgrowth the day before the sexual assault in June last year. He said: “It’s very overgrown, it never used to be like that. The funny thing is, when the lady was assaulted, the actual day before I said to my partner how overgrown it was and said ‘something bad is going to happen in there’.”

Having lived in the area for around 25 years, he says such incidents have sadly become “part and parcel” of the area, referencing an incident in 2013 in which a woman was stabbed in the neck with a pair of scissors in the cemetery. A local man was jailed for life after being found guilty of attempted murder, following a five year stalking campaign of the woman.

The Exe Street resident continued: “Because of where I work I’m used to violence and things like that.

“There was a lady who was assaulted. It’s part and parcel, a few years ago there was a lady stabbed in the neck with scissors in the Catacombs. Then you always get druggies.

“There’s a lot of drug use round here. They meet up in the cemetery. Three years ago there was a guy syringing his groin out the back.

“There’s a cut through and drunks go down there all hours of the night. That’s why I used to do night shifts.

“If I had a choice I wouldn’t live here. It’s really noisy with druggies and drunks, constantly smelling cannabis up the street.”

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