UK: Five suspended after death in custody
01 November 1998
In April 1998 a black man, Christopher Alder, died in Hull police station. He had been involved in a minor fracas at a nightclub and was later arrested at the Royal Hull Infirmary. While Christopher's family have received various explanations as to the events that ensued, all they know with any certainly is that "a healthy man got into a police van and ended up dead 15 minutes later, face down with his arms handcuffed behind his back, on the floor of the police station."
A pathologist's report, which relies on the police account of events, and was unable to discover a cause of death, describes the scenario when Christopher arrived at the police station:
"The van door's were opened. Christopher was sitting in the same position as before, but appeared to be asleep. He did not respond to officer's requests to get out, so they took hold of both arms and lifted him out. They had to support his full weight and dragged him head first, face down, with his feet trailing, along a short corridor and into the charge room. In the process, one of his shoes came off and his trousers and underpants got pulled down
In the charge room, as shown on the fixed video recording....[h]e was placed face down on the floor in front of the desk, the left side of his face in contact with the ground and his arms still behind his back, handcuffed. He lay there unresponsive, making regular grunting noises every 10-12 seconds or so. After about 3 minutes the handcuffs were taken off, but he did not move. He remained in exactly the same position for the next 7 minutes...when one of the officers noted that he was no longer breathing."
Five police officers have been suspended on full pay in connection with the death and the Crown Prosecution Service has opened a file on the case. However, the dead man's sister, Janet, has complained that she has been unable to get "a straight version" of what happened. Noting the botched police investigation into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, and "how it took a huge campaign and inquiry to show how negligent and racist the police actually were", the family have launched a campaign to uncover the facts behind Christopher's death. The Justice for Christopher Alder Campaign, which has the support of Stephen Lawrence's father, has issued a number of demands that include:
* The Home Secretary investigate the case urgently
* An independent pathologist's report into the cause of death
* An inquest be held as soon as possible
The Campaign has held a number of successful events and is calling for support for its demands and help to publicise their campaign. It can be contacted at: Justice for Christopher Alder Campaign, c/o Red Triangle cafe, St James Street, Burnley. Tel. 01282 832319.