New Cross Fire

The New Cross house fire was a fire that occurred during a party at a house in New Cross, south-east London, in the early hours of Sunday, 18 January 1981. The blaze killed thirteen young people aged between 14 and 22, and one survivor committed suicide two years later.

No one has ever been charged in connection to the fire, which forensic science subsequently established was started from inside the house, either by accident or deliberately.

The party was a joint birthday celebration for Yvonne Ruddock (one of the victims of the fire) and Angela Jackson (who survived) and was held at No. 439, New Cross Road. It began on the evening of Saturday, 17 January 1981 and continued throughout the night and into the early hours of Sunday.

At the time, there was a fairly high degree of racial tension in the area and far-right groups including the National Front were active locally.

There had also been some early complaints from neighbours about excessive noise from the party.

The initial police suspicion was that the party had been fire-bombed, either as a revenge attack or in an attempt to stop the noise; there was also an alternative theory that a fight had broken out, from which the blaze emanated.

Subsequent forensic investigation found that the fire had started by an armchair inside the front-room of the property at 5:40am on Sunday morning and police ruled out the theory that a fight had taken place.

One week after the fire, on 25 January, a meeting was held at the Moonshot Club in New Cross, attended by over one thousand people. The meeting concluded with a march to the scene of the fire and a demonstration there, which blocked New Cross Road for several hours. The New Cross Massacre Action Committee was set up and organised weekly meetings in New Cross, which saw increasing participation as the police investigation announced that there was no evidence of arson and that the fire was believed to be accidental.

On 2 March the Action Committee organised a "Black People's Day of Action", when 20,000 people marched over a period of eight hours from Fordham Park to Hyde Park carrying placards including: "Thirteen Dead and Nothing Said", "No Police Cover-Up" and "Blood Ah Go Run If Justice No Come". One slogan read: "Dame Jill Knight Set The Fire Alight!" — an apparent reference to a controversial speech by Dame Jill Knight, a right-wing member of the ruling Conservative party, which was widely interpreted as condoning or even encouraging "direct action" against noisy parties.

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