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'Murder' of Chris Alder in 'Police custody' goes unpunished



The sickening and wholly unacceptable death of former paratrooper Chris Alder in police custody shows the extent to which the so-called 'Independent' Police Complaints Commission is little different than its predecessor and only its name has changed. The IPCC is still in the business of whitewashing complaints against police officers, seemingly no matter what they have done, whether it be unlawful death or the outright execution of Harry Stanley or Jean Charles De Menezes. And the time has now come for the public to make a stand against this 'professional prejudice' and demand justice.

Christopher Alder, 37, was arrested on 1 April 1998, and died on the floor of Queens Gardens police station in Hull, East Yorkshire, without regaining consciousness. The arresting officers were heard to call for the "banana boats" as Mr Alder lay on the floor of the custody 'suite' choking to death. The police had a duty of care to assist Mr Alder but in effect did nothing until he was almost dead. These appalling images depict graphically how the 'police' watched this poor man choke to death.

At an inquest at Hull Crown Court, it was revealed how officers laughed and joked while the father of two lay dying on the floor. The police could have helped but did nothing until it was too late, a fact of which they must have been aware. But the police, implausibly, as ever, claimed that they thought Mr Alder was simply putting on an 'act'. How does one impersonate the last throes of one's life, so convincingly to 'fool' the police into thinking it was an 'act'?

Mr Alder, who was decorated for his service with the Army in Northern Ireland, died less than 30 minutes after being released from the Hull Royal Infirmary. He had been taken to the hospital after receiving "a crack on the head" following a scuffle outside a night-club. He was then arrested for a breach of the peace after refusing to leave hospital grounds.

Hull and East Riding Coroner Geoffrey Saul said Mr Alder was then "partially dragged and partially carried" into the police station and put on the floor of the custody suite while officers discussed what to do with him.

He said officers believed the computer studies student was either "play-acting or asleep" and 12 minutes passed before it was realised something was seriously wrong. The jury was shown closed circuit television camera footage of Mr Alder lying on the floor coughing up blood. They took six hours to rule that he had died of "postural asphyxia". Mr Saul said the seven-week inquest was so difficult that he excused the jurors from further service for five years.

Manslaughter charges were brought against four 'police officers' but were later dropped. PCs Matthew Barr, Neil Blakey, Nigel Dawson and Sergeant John Dunn, were granted early retirement with pay-outs of between £44,000 and £66,000. And in effect, let off with a well-monied slapped wrist.

The IPCC 'investigated' the complaints of the Alder family against the four 'police officers' and found that they were guilty of the "most serious neglect of duty" amounting to "unwitting racism". The IPCC's chairman, Nick Hardwick, said the officers present when Mr Alder choked to death on his vomit while handcuffed were guilty of the same "unwitting racism" uncovered by Lord Macpherson in his inquiry into the Metropolitan Police's botched 1993 investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. Their failure to assist Mr Alder, 37, was "largely due to assumptions they made about him based on negative racial stereotypes", he said.

Ms Alder presented the IPCC with evidence of the word " banana" being uttered in CCTV footage of her brother's slow death. The IPCC uncovered other evidence of implicit racism, including the officers' willingness to attribute Mr Alder's position to"bad attitude" rather than to injury, an unwillingness to touch or rouse him and use of the word "coloured" and "of negroid appearance". There were also monkey imitations, clearly audible.

But as usual, the four police officers were let off the hook by the useless IPCC on the grounds that their racism was unwitting - in other words they did not know they were being racist! Those of us with considerable experience of dealing with the defunct IPCC are only too aware of their remit to let the police off the hook as they have done with Mr Alder, Harry Stanley and Jean Charles De Menezes.

It is little wonder that the people of Britain now have no faith in the IPCC or any 'investigation' to do with any Government department. But the tide is now turning in our favour as increasing numbers of people are fighting back against the corrupt regime that has cheated them of justice and truth.

In Britain, the police have become a 'protected species' who seem to be able to do no wrong, well that is the official line (fantasy) at any rate but we are not conned by the lies of the police and their overpaid political allies.

Indeed there is a moot point among many people that Mr Alder's death as related here was more murder than manslaughter. The IPPC's 'decision' was both awful and unacceptable. Mr Alder's family quite rightly continue to fight for truth and justice, knowing only too well that these four police officers have cheated punishment and have not answered for their crime.

At News Alliance we urge our readers and supporters to petition the IPCC Chairman to express the sheer level of revulsion at the death of Falklands veteran Mr Alder. This is just another shocking example of the rule of law in Britain: "One rule for them and another rule for us."

The Chairman
Independent Police Complaints Commission
5th Floor
90 High Holborn
London
WC1V 6BH