FRFI 176 December 2003 / January 2004
Roger Sylvester
On 3 October a packed coroners’ court at St Pancras, north London, heard the jury foreman deliver its verdict that Roger Sylvester, a 30-year-old black man, had been unlawfully killed while in police custody.
Roger’s father Rupert told FRFI: ‘We feel pleased with the verdict, it’s been a long and hard struggle but we finally got the result that was what we believed all along. For four and a half years we weren’t even able to get a death certificate’. He went on to say ‘The atmosphere in the court was often electrifying and often family members broke down, but now we know how Roger died’. Rupert and Sheila, Roger’s mother, have risked bankruptcy in their fight for justice due to legal costs.
Regular readers will know the background to Roger’s death, as we have covered the case from the start. On the evening of 11 January 1999 Roger was arrested outside his home in Tottenham by eight officers and taken to St Ann’s Hospital under the Mental Health Act. At the hospital he was restrained in the prone position by six cops. Roger died a week later due to brain damage resulting from a cardiac arrest.
The jury noted that he was held in the same position for 20 minutes and that no attempt was made to alter it. In their view he was held down for too long and they noted there was a lack of medical attention.
The state has bent over backwards to protect its uniformed thugs. The Metropolitan Police Complaints Bureau began an initial investigation. Following complaints from the family, Essex police took over the investigation. In October 1999 they handed a report to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). In November 2000 the CPS announced that no officers would be prosecuted. In 2001 the family challenged this in the High Court but were told by Lord Chief Justice Woolf to wait for the inquest.
The inquest verdict has forced the state to take a step back. The eight officers have been suspended and the CPS has announced it will review the case.
James Ashley
In a case that is unbelievable, the Chief Constable of Sussex has had to travel to Liverpool to apologise to the family of Jim Ashley, who was shot dead in his bed by Sussex police in 1998. The cop who shot him was acquitted at the Old Bailey after the judge Mrs Justice Rafferty ordered the jury to acquit on the grounds that as the whole force was incompetent an individual officer should not take the blame. That means a cop can break into your home in the early hours, shoot you in your bed and walk free.
The Ashley family is still demanding a public inquiry.
Sherman Thomas
Brixton police wrongly suspected black teenager Sherman Thomas of stealing a moped. As Sherman stood on the pavement an officer deliberately drove his patrol car at him, knocking him through a brick wall. The young man had been offered a job as a professional basketball player; his leg was broken and he has been crippled. The CPS has refused to bring criminal charges against the officer and until recently the Metropolitan Police refused to bring disciplinary charges.
The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) has now intervened, instructing the Met to suspend and discipline the officer. The charge he now faces has a maximum penalty of 13 days’ loss of pay.
The local community in Brixton over the last couple of years has demonstrated against police brutality, which has obviously had an effect on the PCA. However it is outrageous that a cop can deliberately maim an innocent teenager and face such a paltry penalty. FRFI supports the family’s calls for a full inquiry into deaths in custody and police brutality.
Paul Yorke
On 3 November a 38-year-old black man, Paul Yorke, died in Heathrow police station. He had been arrested the previous day for ‘being a prohibited person’, having apparently been banned from entering the airport. According to the police, between his arrest on the Sunday night and death in the early hours of the Monday morning, Paul was seen by a forensic medical examiner on at least three occasions and was deemed fit for detention. However, at 7am the police called an ambulance, after he was found to have collapsed in his cell. He was taken to Hillingdon hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Police Complaints Authority and the Directorate of Professional Standards are investigating Paul Yorke’s death. His sister has instructed a solicitor to represent her at the inquest and is trying to get to the bottom of how and why Paul died.
According to the Institute of Race Relations, this is the second such Heathrow police station death. In October 1997, a 67-year-old homeless woman, Melponieni Hagemis, who had been sleeping rough at the airport, was also found dead at Heathrow police station.
Mikey Powell
On 7 September, West Midlands police deliberately ran down 38-year-old Mikey Powell outside his home in Lozells, Birmingham, then attacked him with their batons, beating him to the floor and spraying CS gas in his face. He was taken to Thornhill Road police station, and from there to City Hospital where it is claimed that he died, although relatives suspect he was dead by the time he arrived at the police station.
Mikey’s mother had called the police, hoping that they could help to calm down her son who was out-
side the home in a distressed state, having lost his keys and smashed a window.
On 15 November 500 protesters marched to Thornhill Road police station, demanding justice.
Jim Wills
To contact the campaign tel 07740 083 915
or e-mail: [email protected]
website: mysite.freeserve.com/mikeypowell_friends
