Phil in Paris
01-10-2005, 08:03 PM
Mon 10 Jan 2005
By Jennifer Sym, PA
The parents of a mentally ill inmate, battered to death by his schizophrenic cell-mate, say the Government has a “moral obligation” to hold a public inquiry into his death.
Paul and Audrey Edwards’s son Christopher was beaten and kicked to death by Richard Linford within nine hours of being remanded into custody at Chelmsford Prison in November, 1994.
The Edwards say they have “little confidence” that recommendations from the inquiry into the death of another inmate, teenager, Zahid Mubarek, at the hands of his racist cell-mate, will be effectively implemented by the Home Office and Prison Service.
Speaking today from the Mubarek hearing, Mr Edwards, 69, said the couple had come to the inquiry to find out how a similar tragedy could have occurred after their son’s death and to lend moral support to the Mubarek family.
Christopher, 30, had been remanded for psychiatric assessment, following a breach of the peace caused, his parents say, by his mild mental illness.
But they say that the Government has refused to authorise a public inquiry, despite a judgment by the European Court of Human Rights that Christopher had been denied his right to life as a result of systemic failure by the public agencies involved.
The couple, from west London, said: “We rejoice that the decision we secured from the European Court and information we provided to the Mubarek family lawyers helped in their successful battle against the Government to secure the current inquiry.
“We are pleased that the family have the comfort of knowing that those involved in Zahid’s tragedy are having to justify what they did in public, before an independent tribunal.
“We believe the Government has a moral obligation to ensure the same opportunity is made available for ourselves.
“All we ask from the Government is justice for our son and this cannot be achieved until all the facts have been investigated in public.”
They say Linford who had a long history of severe mental illness, had previously been sectioned and had been in Chelmsford Prison before.
Mrs Edwards, a retired court reporter, said: “We think the Government have a moral responsibility to make us the same as the Mubarek family and give us an inquiry into Christopher’s death, to have questions answered.”
She said the mentally ill were as vulnerable as ethnic minorities in prison but “they have not got a lobby group”.
She said: “The mentally ill have no one. They are just left, literally, to rot.”
The couple, who used to live in Coggeshall, near Colchester, said poor treatment of black and ethnic minorities in jail was an “evil” which should be rooted out, but it was equally important that bad treatment of other vulnerable prisoners, notably the mentally ill, should be addressed in the same way.
The couple claim larger numbers of prisoners are involved, citing Prison Reform Trust figures showing 70% of inmates suffer from two or more mental disorders.
In a statement, the couple added: “Regretfully we have little confidence that the Home Office and Prison Service will take effective action to implement recommendations emerging from this inquiry.
“Many of the issues under review, such as reception procedures, cell allocation policy, risk assessment, etc. were ones which we were told had been resolved following our son’s tragedy.
“We are glad to recognise, however, that the Mubarek family were treated far better than we were after our son’s homicide, at least in part because the new management of the Prison Service were ashamed of the way their predecessors had treated us.”
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3983605
By Jennifer Sym, PA
The parents of a mentally ill inmate, battered to death by his schizophrenic cell-mate, say the Government has a “moral obligation” to hold a public inquiry into his death.
Paul and Audrey Edwards’s son Christopher was beaten and kicked to death by Richard Linford within nine hours of being remanded into custody at Chelmsford Prison in November, 1994.
The Edwards say they have “little confidence” that recommendations from the inquiry into the death of another inmate, teenager, Zahid Mubarek, at the hands of his racist cell-mate, will be effectively implemented by the Home Office and Prison Service.
Speaking today from the Mubarek hearing, Mr Edwards, 69, said the couple had come to the inquiry to find out how a similar tragedy could have occurred after their son’s death and to lend moral support to the Mubarek family.
Christopher, 30, had been remanded for psychiatric assessment, following a breach of the peace caused, his parents say, by his mild mental illness.
But they say that the Government has refused to authorise a public inquiry, despite a judgment by the European Court of Human Rights that Christopher had been denied his right to life as a result of systemic failure by the public agencies involved.
The couple, from west London, said: “We rejoice that the decision we secured from the European Court and information we provided to the Mubarek family lawyers helped in their successful battle against the Government to secure the current inquiry.
“We are pleased that the family have the comfort of knowing that those involved in Zahid’s tragedy are having to justify what they did in public, before an independent tribunal.
“We believe the Government has a moral obligation to ensure the same opportunity is made available for ourselves.
“All we ask from the Government is justice for our son and this cannot be achieved until all the facts have been investigated in public.”
They say Linford who had a long history of severe mental illness, had previously been sectioned and had been in Chelmsford Prison before.
Mrs Edwards, a retired court reporter, said: “We think the Government have a moral responsibility to make us the same as the Mubarek family and give us an inquiry into Christopher’s death, to have questions answered.”
She said the mentally ill were as vulnerable as ethnic minorities in prison but “they have not got a lobby group”.
She said: “The mentally ill have no one. They are just left, literally, to rot.”
The couple, who used to live in Coggeshall, near Colchester, said poor treatment of black and ethnic minorities in jail was an “evil” which should be rooted out, but it was equally important that bad treatment of other vulnerable prisoners, notably the mentally ill, should be addressed in the same way.
The couple claim larger numbers of prisoners are involved, citing Prison Reform Trust figures showing 70% of inmates suffer from two or more mental disorders.
In a statement, the couple added: “Regretfully we have little confidence that the Home Office and Prison Service will take effective action to implement recommendations emerging from this inquiry.
“Many of the issues under review, such as reception procedures, cell allocation policy, risk assessment, etc. were ones which we were told had been resolved following our son’s tragedy.
“We are glad to recognise, however, that the Mubarek family were treated far better than we were after our son’s homicide, at least in part because the new management of the Prison Service were ashamed of the way their predecessors had treated us.”
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3983605