7 December 201016 December 2022 4WardEverUK

No10 Security refused deaths in custody letter

all credits: David ‘Panda’ Mery
published: 30th October 2010

The United Families and Friends Campaign UFFC, a coalition of families and friends of those who have died in the custody of police, prison and psychiatric hospital officials, organised a procession to Downing Street to give a letter to the Prime Minister. The police refused to let Samantha Rigg-David in Downing Street and they refused to accept it.

The letter was taped to the gate; a copy will be sent by post; it is reproduced below. Whether the decision not to accept the letter was entirely a police operational one or a political one, it showed a shameful lack of respect to those families seeking justice and peace.

The last conviction of a police officer following a death in custody was in 1971 [following the brutal killing of David Oluwale in Leeds].

See the full re-produced letter here >

17 November 201016 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Johannes Mehserle sentenced in Oscar Grant shooting trial

originally published by: AssociatedContent.com
published: 8th November 2010

Johannes Mehserle, the former Bay Area Rapid Transit cop who shot and killed Oscar Grant, a man who was being detained for a fight on a train on New Year’s Day 2009, has been sentenced to two years for involuntary manslaughter, according to the New York Daily News. The sentencing came down from Judge Robert Perry.

After the sentencing, riots and protests broke out all over California, with stores being broken in to and looted and areas around the state were also being vandalized. The family’s reaction to the two-year prison term was one of disgust, as they were hoping for the maximum term of 14 years for Mehserle, according to Yahoo News.

15 September 201016 December 2022 4WardEverUK

How did Michael Jarrett Lowe die?

source : Scepticpeg
published : 9th September 2010

In September 1974, a 17 year old boy was found dead inside a chimney in a disused shop in Islington. The circumstances surrounding the death of Michael (or Jarrett as he was known by friends) remains a mystery but his friend, Bill, is convinced it wasn’t an accident.

Jarrett was born in Kingston, Jamaica on 7th October 1956. After Jarrett’s father left his mother, Jarrett and his mother moved to London in 1961 and settled in Islington before then moving to Kings Cross. His mother eventually remarried in 1966 and Jarrett had a younger brother and sister. He was popular with his peers, enjoyed football, school, attending a local disco and eating ice cream.

Jarrett attended Highbury Grove School in Islington and it was during his final year there he began getting in to trouble. A local playground worker has spoken of how Michael would be locked out of his home for returning late and forced to sleep on the street and had also began getting into trouble with the police. He left school in 1972 and would regularly stay with his friends due to him being locked out of home – sometimes for a week at a time.

By 1973 Jarrett’s life had spiralled further downwards and he was placed in to the care of Islington social services. He was arrested in January for burglary and appeared at Old Street Magistrate’s Court where his residential address was given as Highbury Crescent children’s home.

Read full article >