UK: Asian woman dies at Stoke Newington police station
01 September 1999
Stoke Newington police station, in north London, has become the focus of angry protests again after the death of an Asian woman, Sarah Thomas, in police custody in August. The police station has earned a notorious reputation after a number of suspicious black deaths in custody, racist beatings and involvement in drug dealing over the past 30 years. From 1991-1994 the station was at the centre of an internal police investigation - Operation Jackpot - after an investigation by local community organisations disclosed that police officers were involved in cocaine dealing in the area (see Statewatch Vol 2 nos 2 & 4; Vol 3 no 1; Vol 4 nos 2 & 5, Vol 6, no 5; Vol 7 no 1 & 6).
Sarah Thomas, a 35-year Asian student, died in Homerton hospital on 6 August. She had been arrested two days earlier by two plainclothes police officers as she waited for her partner outside their flat in Finsbury Park, north London, having misplaced her keys. The still unidentified plainclothes officers approached her because they claim she was acting suspiciously; terrified by the approach of the unknown men at such a late hour, she fled screaming for help. Sarah was caught and charged and taken to Stoke Newington police station where, according to police sources, she suffered a fit and went into a coma. Two days later she died.
The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) have claimed that her death was "drug-induced" - an allegation which is disputed - and have stated that there was no evidence of any injuries which could have contributed to her death. However, Sarah's boyfriend, Paul Dobbs, described seeing her at the hospital where "...she was covered in bruises and scratches." He added, "God knows what sort of treatment she got in that police station." Sarah's treatment has also been raised by INQUEST, which campaigns in support of bereaved families following a death in custody, who said the death raises "serious questions". The PCA will supervise an investigation into the "circumstances surrounding the death" but it will be led by the Metropolitan police's Complaints Investigation Bureau under Detective Superintendent Andy Bamber. The PCA's handling of earlier deaths in custody has been strongly criticised while the practice of the police investigating themselves has been long discredited - the recently published Butler report into "CPS decision-making in relation to deaths in custody and related matters" criticised the practice. An inquest will be held when the inquiry is complete.
On 19 August a packed meeting, called by the Hackney Monitoring Group (HMG) and addressed by local community organisations, supported a picket of Stoke Newington police station. The campaign was angered by the lack of accountability shown by borough commander, chief superintendent Peter Robbins, who failed to inform the community of the circumstances surrounding Sarah's death preferring to contain his information within the confines of a closed meeting of the Community and Police Consultative Group. The meeting also expressed scepticism at the PCA's ability "to carry out an independent and fair investigation". The HMG have made three demands:
* The suspension of the plain clothes officers involved in the arrest while the death is investigated.
* A local and national television and media campaign to encourage witnesses to the circumstances of Sarah's death to come forward.
* A genuinely independent public inquiry into Sarah Thomas' death.
Stoke Newington police station's reputation stems from the 1970s when the first in a series of suspicious black deaths in custody occurred. Over the following 30 years there have been more unresolved deaths and other racist incidents that led one independent report to conclude that: "The police in Hackney have not policed on behalf of the Black community in Hackney, but against it" (Independent Committee of Inquiry, "Policing in Hackney 1945-84", Karia Press 1988, p247). Their view proved prophetic when, between 1991 and 199