Alder police "walk" before inquiry begins
01 January 2003
Five police officers who were present when Christopher Alder died face downwards, with his hands handcuffed behind his back, at Queen's Gardens police station in Hull in April 1998, will not lose their jobs, Humberside police have ruled. Humberside was instructed by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) in February to put the five officers through an internal disciplinary hearing for neglect of duty over the death of the black ex-paratrooper, who was found to have been unlawfully killed at an inquest in August 2000. The policemen were cleared of manslaughter at a "bungled" trial at Teeside crown court last year. Humberside constabulary had argued that the internal hearing was unnecessary, and limited its outcome by ruling that the officers will not require legal representation. This rules out their dismissal if they are found guilty, and means that can only receive a caution, a reprimand or loss of pay. The force has rubbed salt into the families’ wounds by excluding them from attending the hearing.
The Justice for Christopher Alder Campaign, has expressed its "fury" at the Crown Prosecution Service for its "handling of the bungled prosecution of the five police officers" last year. It has also made clear that it rejects the "holding of a private internal inquiry", particularly in light of new evidence supporting allegations of police racism. The CPS has uncovered police video tape that captures the sound of one of the policemen allegedly making monkey noises as Christopher lay dying, but can not establish which one was responsible and "cannot argue that monkey sounds are admissible [in court]". Janet Alder, Christopher's sister, described the Humberside inquiry as "a farce". She said:
I have seen these five officers walk away from an inquest, walk away from a trial and now they are going to walk away, careers intact from the internal inquiry...Before they even gave their accounts to senior officers, before the force holds its hearing, they know their jobs and pensions are safe and that disgusts me.
The Justice for Christopher Alder Campaign can be contacted c/o Red Triangle Cafe, 160 St James Street, Burnley BB11 1NR, Tel. 07831 39689. Justice for Christopher Alder Campaign, press release December 2002; Independent 21.2.03; Daily Mirror 24.2.03.