11 January 201521 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Immigrant children still being detained, figures show

source: The Independent
published: 8 January 2015

More than 600 children, the majority under 12 years old, have been put in detention under immigration rules in the four years since the Government claimed to have ended the controversial practice.

A new analysis of Home Office statistics by The Independent also reveals that the number of children being held increased from 127 in 2011 to 228 in 2013 – an 80 per cent rise. This is despite Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg stating in December 2010: “We are ending the shameful practice that last year alone saw over 1,000 children – 1,000 innocent children – imprisoned.”

19 December 201420 December 2022 4WardEverUK

George Stinney Jr: Black 14-year-old boy exonerated 70 years after he was executed

source: The Independent
published: 19 December 2014

George Stinney Jr became the youngest person to be executed in the US in the 20th century when he was sent to the electric chair in 1944, but more than 70 years after his death his conviction has been overturned.

Circuit Judge Carmen Mullen said the speed with which the state meted out justice against the boy was shocking and extremely unfair, and that his case was one of “great injustice” in her ruling exonerating Stinney Jr.

31 August 201420 December 2022 4WardEverUK

‘Police were spying rather than looking for killers’

source: The Guardian
published: 27 August 2014

Sukhdev Reel puts her hand to her chest and pulls her blouse tight around her. “I don’t want to use the word naked, but I just sort of feel …” Across the desk, her daughter Tish watches her carefully. “Stripped of your dignity a bit?” she suggests. Sukhdev nods. “Who was watching me? All I can see is eyes. I can’t get rid of them,” she says, her voice rising to a high, shaky hiccup.

It’s been that way since last month, when the Reel family were summoned to a meeting with Derbyshire police officers working on Operation Herne, the internal inquiry set up to investigate allegations surrounding the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), the now disbanded Scotland Yard undercover unit.