by antiaristo » Thu Mar 23, 2006 7:22 pm
This is the truth about London's police.<br>Remember de Menezes?<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:small;">Yard accused as case collapses over a family night out at the theatre that ended in arrest</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <br><br>· Met may face legal action after West End drug claim<br>· Outraged actors backed trio's case against police <br><br>Hugh Muir<br>Thursday March 23, 2006<br>The Guardian <br><br><br>Scotland Yard is facing severe criticism and the threat of legal action after an attempt to prosecute a group of West End theatregoers collapsed in chaos yesterday. Leading theatrical figures mounted a protest after the arrest of O'Neill Crooks, a builder, his son Divanio, 23, and a family friend, Yasmin Adbi, 21, outside the Apollo Theatre in Soho last July.<br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The group was accused of threatening behaviour and assault</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> after Mr Crooks refused to submit to a police search, having been accosted at the rear of the theatre by officers who wrongly accused him of drug dealing.<br><br>Mr Crooks and his family had attended a performance of The Big Life, the acclaimed stage production about the Windrush immigrants. The show, which was nominated for an Olivier award, was the first black British musical to transfer to the West End and was praised for bringing many minority theatregoers into central London for the first time. Mr Crooks, who is black, had recognised a member of the orchestra - someone he had not seen for many years, he said - and <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>was speaking to him when they were arrested</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->. Mr Crooks and his wife, Patricia, had organised trips for other members of the black community to see the show.<br><br>The arrests triggered such anger that leading members of the cast, who saw the incident, supplied formal statements on the family's behalf and were <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>poised to give evidence that sharply conflicts with the version of events given by the police.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> The case so worried Bill Kenwright, the multimillionaire theatre impresario, that he funded the family's defence team of solicitors and two barristers. Philip Headley, the show's associate producer, said: "This family had eight months of torture and all they wanted to do was go to the theatre. This show was unusual in that the audience every night was more than half black. Justice has been done but the toll on them has been terrible." Mr Kenwright added: "I felt very strongly about this. Speaking to everyone in the production and everyone in the theatre, we knew that all this family wanted to do was enjoy themselves and help the show.<br><br>"<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>When I first heard what happened it was like something from a bad movie. It seemed Kafkaesque."</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>The case collapsed before reaching trial when the prosecution <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>could not produce its one independent witness</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->. By contrast, the district judge, Michael Snow, sitting at Horseferry Road magistrates court, was told that the Crooks family would be supporting their case with <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>six independent witnesses.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> The court was also told that "bad character" evidence would have been called in relation to one of the police officers concerned, Brona McManus, <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>who claimed she was assaulted by Ms Adbi.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Jennifer Birch, the prosecutor, revealed that PC McManus had been involved in a case that had concluded last week with the officer being described by a district judge as an "incredible" witness. Ms Birch, who was also prosecutor for that case, told the magistrate that it had also involved allegations of an assault on PC McManus and that <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>she had used her baton on both occasions.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> She acknowledged that the officer's testimony would amount to a "credibility matter".<br><br>Justin Cole, for Ms Adbi, said of the cases: "The similarities are quite remarkable: the use of the baton and <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>the allegation that the same words were used."</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>After consulting senior officials at the Crown Prosecution Service, Ms Birch told the court that <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>on seeing the witness statements for the defence, the crown had decided not to proceed.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Mr Crooks, of Camberwell, south London, said he would complain to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and might start a civil action. "The officers were so adamant that I was selling drugs. They were pushing me against the wall. I fought this case, even before we had a solicitor and a barrister, because I felt there had been total injustice."<br><br>His son, an IT student, said they would not easily recover. "They came to intimidate us and created a situation that needn't have happened. My mother is unwell, Yasmin has lost jobs because this case was pending and we have all had sleepless nights. We have paid a heavy price."<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1737496,00.html">arts.guardian.co.uk/news/...96,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>If it had not been a black production, where the artists were themselves black, this family would now be in prison. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=antiaristo>antiaristo</A> at: 3/24/06 8:37 am<br></i>