UK: West Mercia police apologise to McGowan family
01 March 2000
At the beginning of April the Chief Constable of West Mercia police, Peter Hampson, apologised to the families of Harold and Jason McGowan who were found hanged in Telford within six months of each other last year. The men had been harassed and received racist death threats, but West Mercia police dismissed concerns raised by the family, treating both cases as suicide. This led the McGowan family to lodge a formal complaint to the Police Complaints Authority, alleging that the police did not conduct a full and proper investigation because of the victims' race. They also complained about the treatment of the family during the inquiry. Hampson's apology, and the appointment of John Grieve, head of Scotland Yard's race and violent crimes task force (CO24) to a new investigation, vindicates the campaigning carried out by the family.
The McGowan family met with Home Secretary, Jack Straw, and Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Grieve at the beginning of March to press their demands that CO24 take over the reinvestigation of the deaths because they had lost faith in the West Midlands force and feared a "cover-up". This led to John Grieve being appointed as a special advisor to the new joint inquiry into the hangings led by West Mercia's Detective Superintendent Mel Shore. West Mercia's chief constable then formally apologised to the family, writing: "I am very sorry that the service we have given you in the past has been less than satisfactory". The family noted that his letter acknowledged that mistakes had occurred in the initial investigation.
The new inquiry means that the inquest into Harold McGowan's death will be postponed until the autumn. The Coroner, Michael Gwynne, agreed to disclose information relevant to the case, including a video of a racist attack on Harold shortly before his death. Six white suspects who had been called to give evidence to the inquest have already been interviewed by the police. Two suspects in the case have admitted to the press that they had been involved in fights with Asian and black people in Telford.
In April, at a joint public appeal with the family, Grieve said that the deaths made him "uneasy, worried and frightened" while Detective Superintendent Shore, called for information on two people who had visited the house where Harold was found dead. Grieve went on to acknowledge the broader significance of the deaths of Harold and Jason when he said:
"There are a series of unanswered questions that the McGowan family have been asking for six months. If we cannot answer those questions, that tells us about the state of race relations in this country after Sir William Macpherson's inquiry into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence."
Independent 7.4.00