UK: "Suicide" verdict as third black man found hanged
01 May 2001
On 6 July the inquest into the death of Harold "Errol" McGowan, who was found hanged in suspicious circumstances in Telford, Shropshire, in July 1999, concluded that he had been driven to take his own life after a sustained campaign of racist harassment. Errol's nephew Jason, who worked on a local newspaper and was investigating the death, also received racist death threats before he was found hanged six months later. And, in June, days before the inquest was to open, a third black man linked to the McGowan family was found hanged. The body of Jonny Elliot, 44, was found by police in his flat and a post mortum confirmed that the cause of death was a "low-level" hanging.
Like his cousin Jason, Errol was found hanged after being harassed by a racist gang in a campaign that coroner, Michael Gwynne, described as shocking and horrific. Errol had been subjected to abuse, threats and attacks (and was even told his name was on a Combat 18 death list) after stopping Robert Boyle from entering the bar where he worked (see Statewatch vol 10 no 1). Six of the alleged members of the gang, Robert Boyle, Mark Morris, Stephen Boyle, Eddie Solon, Scott Cannon and Thomas Mann, gave evidence to the inquest. The jury was shown CCTV footage of a racist attack, carried out by Boyle and his associates, on Errol and a friend, Malik Hussain, taken two months before his death. Hussain was arrested with Boyle, and later had all charges dropped, but considers that the police did not take the incident seriously. Boyle is currently serving a prison sentence for racially aggravated public disorder.
The inquest revealed that Errol had suffered racial harassment compounded by police inaction on the 18 complaints he made before his death. Officers failed to log his complaints as racist incidents, had never heard of Combat 18, and logged a telephone call in which he told police that he was in fear of his life as "low priority". The senior officer responsible for examining the extent of the racial abuse against Errol, Superintendent Colin Terry, was forced to apologise after issuing a single page report on the events.
After Errol's death police officers failed to treat the circumstances as suspicious assuming that his death was a suicide, and thereby contaminating the scene of the hanging. With police experts failing to even take fingerprints from the scene forensic evidence to the inquest was limited and contradictory with Home Office hanging expert, Roger Ide, arguing that Errol's death was not murder and that there was no "third party" involvement. His evidence was contradicted by Home Office pathologist, Nathanial Cary, who said that it was plausible that others could have been involved in his death. He said "With its background of racial harassment...I would have expected this to have been a full-blown suspicious death investigation." The senior forensic scientist with West Mercia police, Tristram Elmhirst, also could not rule out the presence of another person at the scene, (two unidentified men were seen at the house shortly before Errol's death).
The all-white jury at the inquest reached a majority verdict - by eight to two - that Errol had taken his own life, prompting his family to consider bringing a private prosecution against the police and members of the gang. Lawyers said that they would consider bringing a civil case under the Human Rights Act alleging that the police were incompetent in dealing with Errol's complaints. Meanwhile the inquest of Jason McGowan, who was found hanged six months after his uncle, is also expected to reveal a catalogue of indifference and racism. It is to be hoped, but with little optimism, that some lessons will have been learnt from the deaths of Errol and Jason McGowan and applied to the investigation into the death of Jonny Elliot.
Independent 12.6.01; 7.7.01; Voice 4.6.01.