As part of a week of action carried out by Merton’s Safer Neighbourhood teams, working alongside the council’s anti-social behaviour team and Safer Merton, the Metropolitan Police conducted a series of events including bike marking and a listening exercise in Mitcham Town Centre. 

The police also organised a weapons sweep of Morden Hall Park, with the support of the National Trust who own the 125-acre site. Specialist officers from across the capital were enthusiastically joined by young members of the Merton Volunteer Police Cadets. 

Teams searched within the park, focusing on areas around entrances, as well as searching along the tram tracks that border the park on its north-east side. It was here an axe was found which had been carefully and apparently deliberately buried in the ground just outside the park by Phipps Bridge station 

Sergeant Mark Sanna, a youth engagement officer, said: “This a great reminder that shows why operations such as this cannot be understated. This is a frightening weapon that has purely been stashed for one purpose and one purpose only, and today we have safely removed it from circulation.” 

Councillor Eleanor Stringer, Cabinet Member for Civic Pride, said: “It was a privilege to be able to accompany the police – and cadets – on their operation as it really showed me just how much of their work is unseen but as equally important as their frontline duties. 

“We will continue to work hand in hand with the police to ensure that the borough maintains its reputation as one of the safest in the capital.”