UK: West Mercia police accused of obstructing inquest
01 March 2002
On the eve of the inquest into the death of Jason McGowan West Mercia police have been accused of covering-up vital information by the McGowan family. Jason McGowan was one of two related black men found hanging within months of each other in Telford, Shropshire. Jason had been investigating his uncle Errol's hanging, which his family believe was carried by a racist gang, when he also was found hanged on New Year's Day 2000 (see Statewatch vol 10 no 1).
Last July an inquest into Errol's death concluded that he had been driven to take his own life as a result of a sustained campaign of racist harassment (see Statewatch vol 11 no 3/4). Now, confronting their second inquest within a year, family members have complained that West Mercia police have failed to publish an allegedly highly critical report by Scotland Yard's racial and violent crime unit into their investigation into Jason's death. They may be forced into seeking a judicial review, delaying the inquest.
A year ago, after the McGowan family had lodged a complaint with the Police Complaints Authority, about the attitude of the police, Peter Hampson, the chief constable of West Mercia constabulary, apologised to the families of Errol and Jason McGowan over his force's handling of the investigations into their deaths. Their actions led to the appointment of John Grieve, head of Scotland Yard's race and violent crimes task force, to carry out a new investigation. It is this report that is alleged to contain serious criticisms of the West Mercia investigations and which the force is refusing to release to the family.
The racial and violent crimes unit report, details of which have been leaked to the Guardian newspaper, made "more than 10 criticisms and recommendations" about the West Mercia investigation. Among these the force was accused of failing to gather CCTV footage from near the crime scene, failing to rapidly follow up witnesses, were too slow in pursuing Jason's mobile phone records and carried out a desultory attempt to appeal for information about the events leading up to the death. The West Mercia force has since attempted to distance itself from the report, leading to a rift between them and the task force. An informed source told the Guardian: "West Mercia assumed it was suicide and their errors followed from that. Their initial assumptions set them on the wrong track for the investigation." Family solicitor, Imran Khan, added: "They are not releasing the review because they are embarrassed by the contents."
The McGowan family have complained that the West Mercia force is refusing to make the report available to their representatives for the inquest. The family's spokesman, Suresh Grover, has stressed that "this document is absolutely necessary to us", adding "it has vital information". West Mercia police, on the other hand, argue that the review is "privileged" and that its "contents are not relevant to the matter to be decided at the inquest." They say that "It is the force's view that if the family or their legal representatives want access to any material, they should make an application to the coroner." However, Deborah Coles of the campaigning group Inquest, said: "Documents remain the property of the investigated force. They own that investigation and it's up to them to disclose [it]."
After the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, the MacPherson Report into his death recommended that:
That there should be advance disclosure of evidence and documents as of right to parties who have leave from a coroner to appear at an inquest (Recommendation 42)
The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, Report of an Inquiry by Sir William MacPherson of Cluny (CM 4262-1)