30 April 201420 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Man died in Druids Heath tower block death plunge as police knocked at door

source: Birmingham Mail
published: 28 April 2014

A man who plunged to his death from a tower block while trying to escape arrest messaged his girlfriend minutes before, telling her: “Feds at the door. I’m spooked.”

After sending the alert, Demetre Fraser was found at the foot of Moor House in Druids Heath. He had plummeted from the 11th floor.

A jury at Birmingham Coroner’s Court found the 21-year-old, originally from the Peckham area of London, fell from the balcony of the flat and later died of multiple injuries at the QE Hospital.

They recorded: “Demetre wanted to avoid arrest and tried to exit the flat using the balcony which resulted in a fall, causing multiple injuries which led to his death.”

3 April 201420 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Another preventable death in immigration detention

source: IRR News
punlished: 1 April 2014

On Sunday 30 March, Christine Case a 40-year-old Jamaican woman died at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre near Bedford.

According to reports in the press, Christine Case was heard calling for help and had complained of chest pains shortly before she suffered a heart attack. The emergency services were called around 8am but she was pronounced dead at Yarl’s Wood at 8.47am. The centre, run by Serco on behalf of the UK Border Agency holds up to 405 women and their families and its healthcare is contracted out to Serco Healthcare.

Continue reading

9 January 201419 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Mark Duggan family reacts with fury to inquest verdict of lawful killing

originally by: The Guardian
published: 8 January 2014

The family of Mark Duggan, whose death sparked the worst riots in modern British history, reacted with fury when an inquest jury ruled on Wednesday that police acted lawfully when they shot him, even though he had not been carrying a gun when he was killed.

By a majority of eight to two, the jury ruled that the 2011 shooting was lawful. The jury said they were sure, by the same eight-to-two majority, that Duggan did not have a weapon in his hands when police surrounded him. By a majority, the jury concluded he “threw” the gun from a cab he was travelling in when armed officers forced it to stop.