Westminster Cathedral turned into drug dealer haven with ‘cocaine sold on pews’

Shocked churchgoers say they have seen ‘brazen’ drug deals taking place inside Britain’s biggest Catholic church.

In recent months, 130-year-old Westminster Cathedral has been swarmed with dealers pushing a range of Class A drugs, including cocaine, heroin, and the synthetic drug known as ‘spice’.

One regular worshipper reported seeing substances sold from a pew during Mass last week, while the horrified congregation watched.

Another said that the safety and well-being of the majority had been sacrificed by a ‘minority of crooks’ and that, ‘without any help from the authorities, ironically, all we can do is pray.’

A private security officer hired to patrol the surrounding area, from Victoria Street to Pimlico, by the Thames, confirmed the revered Catholic church had become the site of drug deals.

‘There are deals going on inside the cathedral, in the pews and in the quiet side-chapels too,’ he said.

‘That’s simply because we have a presence on the streets now – along with Police Community Support Officers – which makes it more difficult to deal outside.’

Churchgoers have said they’re appalled at the ‘desecration’ of the religious site.

The proliferation of drugs in the area has also led to reports of violence and anti-social behaviour, including people defecating in the street, the Daily Mail reports.

The paper’s reporters spotted several drug dealers operating around the cathedral, with a number of sales being made every hour to a steady stream of buyers – the majority of whom appeared to be homeless and vulnerable.

Some took place in the church’s exterior alcoves on Ambrosden Street, little more than 30 feet from the main altar inside. Small packages were exchanged, with dealers and buyers typically facing the walls in an attempt to go unseen.

Data from Parliament’s public accounts committee, released earlier this year, found Westminster had more than 7,500 people with no fixed address – the second highest homelessness rate of all London boroughs.

Around 500 of those are thought to be sleeping rough.

Westminster also has a high concentration of homelessness shelters and charities. The cathedral is within 500 yards of five organisations working to combat homelessness, including Passage House – a centre with 37 beds.

The Daily Mail spoke to some homeless people near the church. Three said they had arrived from Eritrea six months ago and had been sleeping rough near Heathrow airport before.

One said drugs were being dealt ‘everywhere’ around the cathedral, and described a hidden corner to the rear of the church, on private property, as a particular hotspot.

Towards the end of the interview, the reporter was then offered ‘snow’ – the street name for cocaine, adding it was ‘easy to get round here’.

The cathedral has increased security measures in the area in response to the growing problem of drug dealing. Four guards now patrol its entrance and surroundings during opening hours.

Ethal Bram, 79, who attends Mass weekly, told the Mail she ‘wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest’ if drug deals were taking place inside the cathedral.

‘I’ve seen people walking up to the altar and shouting down the microphone,’ she said.

‘I’ve seen people walk in the church just aimlessly wandering. Not sure what they’re doing but again, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was drug-related. It is sad because it is a place of reverence.’

Martino Junior Jose, 53, is a cleaner at the cathedral. He echoed her worries, saying homeless people ‘gather[ed] in the church together’.

‘They have left messes in the toilet,’ he added. ‘I have had to ask security to remove the people. But what can you do? You cannot prohibit them from using the toilet, especially if you don’t catch [them doing] anything unlawful. It’s a public place, after all.’

Clare Rewcastle, 66, who lives in a mansion block overlooking the cathedral, said the drug problem had ‘hit like a truck’ and warned the ‘relevant services and authorities need to wake up’.

She said: ‘A lot of the problem goes back to the de-policing of the area over the past decade.

‘A number of police stations have closed down, including Belgravia and – of course – Scotland Yard [has been relocated].

‘Compared to the late 1990s, there has been virtually no visible policing in the area. This drugs problem started last year and exploded this summer.

‘Being next to the church, we have over the years been fairly tolerant of the odd vagrant looking for kindness around the cathedral door but this has hit like a truck and people are in the most appalling state of sickness, confusion and dying before our eyes.’

An employee of the neighbouring St Paul’s bookshop said she felt intimidated: ‘The quantity of homeless people around the church this year is the most I have ever seen.

‘I often see weird behaviour and it scares me. This is by far the worst I have seen it in my 19 years of working here.’

One private security officer told the Mail police had arrested three dealers on numerous occasions – and they were well-known to authorities. He claimed the court ‘let them out 48 hours later when they return to their old ways’.

The newspaper discovered just one set of legal proceedings pending for the offence of drug dealing around Westminster Cathedral.

Glen Bahadur, 63, was apprehended outside Clergy House, beside the cathedral, on May 16 this year for possession of cannabis and an offensive weapon – a knuckleduster.

A local Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) said a major issue was ‘the bigger players rarely carry drugs on them. They rely on others to do the petty dealing.’

Rachel Blake, the local Labour MP, chaired a meeting of residents on July 23 and followed up with an email to constituents, seen by the Daily Mail.

It read: ‘It is quite wrong that residents are having to live like this and that you should have to continue raising the matter with public bodies.’

She also promised to create an ‘action plan’ in consultation with Westminster City Council, the police and ‘local partners’.

Westminster Cathedral told Metro it ‘takes seriously any allegation of drug dealing within its premises and urges anyone who witnesses such activity to report it immediately to our security team or the police’.

However, it remains adamant that ‘our team has received no direct reports of drug-dealing inside the cathedral’.

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