Thank you to everyone who turned up to my support demonstration at Manchester Crown Court on 22 May, especially those who went on to write about the experience, and not forgetting those who couldn’t attend but helped organise. I was sorry not to be able to see you all, but it seems my appearing by video-link was no mistake.
The judge gave an order at the previous hearing that I be produced in person following HMP Full Sutton staff having assaulted me prior to the video-link, then refusing to leave the room to allow for a private legal conference pre-hearing with my barrister, resulting in nothing of substance being achievable. It seems that no intention of enforcing this order every existed, and it was simply made for the sake of appearances to a courtroom packed with supporters. Wakefield’s Head of Security claims they applied to Manchester Crown Court on 12 May to be able to ignore this order and received confirmation that they could do so on 19 May, yet nobody told either my legal team or me until I lodged an internal complaint at the prison for its failure to produce me. Supporters in the court will recall the judge cutting me off when I questioned my attendance – and now they know why.
So the judge gave another order, this time that I must be produced for the dismissal hearing on 14 August. Let’s see if I am there. I do hope that as many of you as possible will be there to make some noise, hopefully before they cut the link this time though! I have to warn you though, don’t be shocked by my appearance. I haven’t been allowed out to cut my hair since January with them breaking one set of my clippers and refusing to issue the other. All of this is because of a couple of spurious allegations against me of common assault and witness intimidation made by a Manchester prison officer. The CPS had agreed not to proceed with the assault charge but the officer – represented by one-time esteemed prisoners’ advocate Hugh Southey of Matrix Chambers – took a judicial review to get the charge reinstated.
Ever since I was proven to have been acting in self-defence against prison officers at HMP Frankland in 2010 I have been held in isolation within England’s version of the US Supermax torture units, which is the Close Supervision Centre (CSC). I am currently allocated to the Exceptional Risk Unit within the CSC and the charges emanating from these false allegations are being used to attempt to defend this increase in oppression by labelling me as one of the eight most dangerous prisoners in the country, which is a prerequisite to being here. The last person to progress from this unit, Fred Lowe, did so in a body bag, having died of age-related illnesses after many years here, so please show up at Manchester Crown Court on 14 August to make sure the same fate does not happen to me.
Thank you in advance for all of your support.
KEVAN THAKRAR A4907AE
HMP WAKEFIELD, 5 Love Lane
Wakefield, WF2 9AG
