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New inquiry into cases of Tottenham 3

01 January 1991

New inquiry into cases of Tottenham 3
artdoc June=1991

An internal inquiry into the cases of three men jailed three
years ago for the murder of PC Keith Blakelock during the
Broadwater Farm uprising has been started by the Home Office,
which will refer the case to its specialist C3 division that
conducts investigations into alleged miscarriages of justice.
Lawyers for Winston Silcott, Mark Braithwaite, and Engin
Raghip are examining the possibility of using the same forensic
test that led to the re-opening of the cases of the Birmingham
Six. Recent results of an electrostatic document analysis test
performed upon a police interview record used in the first
trial suggest that the record was written beforehand and
inserted later to convict the defendants.
Silcott, Braithwaite, and Raghip were convicted of
murdering PC Blakelock during the 1985 uprising on the
Broadwater Farm Estate in North London. The convictions
created controversy because of the treatment the men received
before, and during, their trial. They were refused access to
solicitors and relatives and were convicted solely on the basis
of confessions obtained by the police. However, Silcott never
signed his confession and the other two men claimed that the
police records of their interviews were incorrect. (Sunday
Times 2.9.90)

IRR Police-Media Bulletin No 64. Institute of Race Relations,
2-6 Leeke Street, London WC1X 9HS