Matthias Poleon

Unsolved Murders

Age: 27

Sex: male

Date: 17 Jun 2021

Place: Bedford Hill, Balham, London

Matthias Poleon was shot inside the doorway to his home in Bedford Hill, Balham, on 17 June 2021.

He died from a gunshot-wound to the chest.

He was shot by two masked assailants who then fled in a hatchback car, heading towards Balham town centre.

The police were called to the scene at about 10.50pm. Matthias Poleon was the taken to hospital for treatment but died soon after at 11.36pm.

The police said:

Matthias was leaving his home address when he was set upon without warning by at two suspects wearing facemasks who fired at him and and then fled the scene in a silver hatchback vehicle, possibly a Peugeot, or a VW Golf, in the direction of Balham town centre.

Two men were arrested in January and March 2022 on suspicion of conspiracy to murder but there are no known charges.

The police said that they thought that it had been busy around where the shooting took place and they appealed for people that had been there to come forward.

They police said that they were interested in tracing the silver or grey coloured Volkswagen Golf car that was seen in the area around the time of the shooting which they thought had been used as the gataway car and appealed for anyone that had any CCTV or footage of it to come forward. They also released a CCTV image of the car that they believed to be the getaway car.

They said:

Matthias was at his front door when he was shot. Friends and members of the public rushed to help him, as his killers fled the scene in a VW Golf that we believe to be the vehicle pictured.

A neighbour that lived nearby said:

I heard two pops that made my dog jump up. I came out and looked up the street, but didn't see anything. All I heard was two shots. The dog was very animated by the sound.

She went on to say that it wasn't the first time that something bad had happened there, noting that three or for years earlier there had been a drive-by shooting and two years earlier an acid attack and stabbing. She also said:

There's a lot of movement in and out and lots of noise issues. It's a housing association property. There's high turnover. At one point two summers ago they had an illegal nightclub there. The music was really loud. It is a source of deep disquiet and discomfort. Somebody last night said it was a halfway house.

It was reported that following his murder, police forensic staff were concentrating their efforts on the driveway of a residential address, believed by neighbours to be a halfway house run by a housing association.

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