Institutional racism and unsolved murders

Mitch Mitchell, January 2014

In the 1990s, I went on several occasions with others from Anti Nazi League to the Stephen

Lawrence enquiry which was held at Elephant & Castle in London.

The outcome of that enquiry was the Macpherson report which identified institutional racism within

the Metropolitan police force. It highlighted several points about Stephen’s case:

• On the night of the murder, the police had received several phone calls identifying the same

people as culprits – but they failed to follow up.

• The police initially investigated the murder as a “drug deal gone wrong”.

• Police interviewed Stephen’s friend Dwayne Brooks, who was with Stephen when he was

murdered, was aggressively as a suspected drug dealer. (Dwayne is now a prominent Liberal

Democrat councillor in Lewisham).

• The policeman leading the murder investigation was a former schoolmate of Clifford Norris,

a notorious local criminal and the father of one of the main suspects. Doubts remain to this

day over whether Clifford Norris put undue influence on police to exonerate his son.

The Met came out with the usual weasel words excuse: “We have learned lessons from this. We are

taking steps to ensure these sorts of failures do not happen in the future.”

But the Stephen Lawrence case has several precedents. In 1959 Kelso Cochrane was kicked to death

in Paddington by a racist gang. No one was ever charged with his murder. Documents have come to

light which indicate police at the time wanted to kick any suggestions of racially motivated killing

into the long grass. This was despite strong evidence linking the crime with the Colin Jordan’s

openly fascism National Socialist Movement. Interviewed at the time, Jordan said: “It’s regrettable

that a man died. But if he hadn’t been in this country, it would not have happened”.

In the early hours of 18 January 1981 at Clifton Rise in New Cross, 13 black teenagers attending a

birthday party died in a house fire. Many suspected a petrol bomb attack but police said that they

could find no evidence of arson.

On 21 February 1991 in Thamesmead, close to Eltham where Stephen’s life was to be taken two

years later, Nathan and Rolan Adams were surrounded by a gang of about 15 white youthschanting

racist slogans. Rolan was stabbed to death. Mark Thornburrow was later charged and convicted of

the murder, receiving a life sentence. But nobody else involved has ever been charged.

The police initially put out a load of rubbish about inter-gang affairs and “turf wars”. They

eventually had to retract these claims, but the damage had been done. The Adams family,

unfortunately, did not attract the same level of public knowledge, sympathy or support as the

Lawrence family were later to.

In 1997, Ricky Reel in Kingston-on-Thames was found dead. The 20 year old and some friends had

been walking home. They were approached by two white youths who began racially abusing them.

After an ensuing scuffle, Ricky disappeared. His body was later found floating in the river.

The police treated the matter as an accident. Since then Ricky’s mother has been approached by a

woman witness who named someone currently in prison for murder as involved in Ricky’s death.

This information was passed over to the police. But they claimed the witness “may have learning

difficulties” and that her testimony was unreliable. They are still insisting that Ricky’s death was an

accident.

Ricky’s sister, Tish, has since trained as a lawyer. She now works with Imran Khan, the Lawrence

family solicitor. In a recent interview in the Independent, she said: “Even if the bottom line of this is

we never know, and I truly hope that is not the case, we can make sure other families were never

treated the way we were. Yet that still happens now – which is what’s appalling 15 years on.”

I am not a lawyer. But I do wonder if when someone is running away from an aggressor and has a

fatal accident befall them, can the aggressors not be charged under the law?

All these cases undermine the notion that the police can be relied upon to investigate racist attacks

properly. They are much keener on attacking and arresting anti-fascists, or on harassing innocent

Muslims under the pretext of terrorism legislation.

And add to that the police’s actions against demonstrators: students, trade unionists and others who

suffer violent attacks. We have a real problem with the police.