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UK: Demand for independent inquiry

01 September 2000

The family and friends of Roger Sylvester, who collapsed and died after being restrained by eight north London police officers outside his home in January 1999, have called for an independent public inquiry into the circumstances of his death at a vigil at the Home Office in August (see Statewatch vol 9, no 1). As Roger lay in a coma the police issued a statement claiming that he had been found naked and causing a disturbance outside a neighbour's house. They later retracted their statement and issued an apology, admitting that Roger had been knocking on his own front door and that there was no disturbance. The results of an Essex constabulary investigation, headed by Assistant Chief Constable John Broughton, into the Metropolitan police's handling of Roger's arrest was handed to the Crown Prosecution Service last October. A year later the family are no closer to receiving a decision on whether any police officers will be prosecuted. A full inquest cannot be held until a decision is reached.
The vigil, which took place on what would have been Roger's thirty-second birthday, was told by his mother, Sheila: "We fear that the decision the CPS will reach in the coming weeks will not be based on truth and therefore justice will not prevail...We have [therefore] decided to present a letter of dissatisfaction to the Home Secretary." Her fears were echoed by Helen Shaw, co-director of INQUEST who criticised the flawed investigation system where police investigate themselves: "We can have no confidence in a system that allows the police to investigate the police" she said. "An independent inquiry would go some way to ensure proper scrutiny of this tragic death and the wider issues it raises, in particular the disproportionate number of young black men who die in police custody following the use of force." The Roger Sylvester Justice Campaign can be contacted at PO Box 25908, London N18 1WU, Tel. 07931 970442.
INQUEST, press release 15.8.00; "Briefing: Roger Sylvester" INQUEST 1999 (link)