Year: 2011

Larry Fedja

‘Custody deaths’ corporate manslaughter crime

Police-Blurred Police and other authorities can now be prosecuted over deaths in custody in England, Scotland and Wales. Legislation which has now come into effect means police forces, the MoD, UK Border Agency and private firms managing people held in custody can be prosecuted for corporate manslaughter.

The main legislation came into force three years ago but ministers gave public bodies which hold people in detention until now to prepare for it. Campaigners have welcomed the change. Corporations can already be prosecuted for corporate manslaughter or for the equivalent offence (corporate homicide) in Scotland.

The extension of these offences to public bodies involved in detention means they could be prosecuted if they failed to ensure the safety of someone in their care.

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Tippa Naphtali

Call for police to wear body cameras

Body Camera LensTippa Naphtali was 41 when his cousin Mikey Powell died in police custody. The fight to learn the truth about what really happened on the night of September 7, 2003, caused Tippa to quit his job in London and return to Birmingham. Eight years later, the Yardley-based charity worker is still searching for justice.

The online petition >

While a criminal trial against the police officers involved collapsed due to lack of evidence, an inquest jury last year found that Mr Powell died from the position he was placed in the police van.

The same inquest ruled that there were “police failings” in how the 38-year-old father of two, who had a history of mental illness, was arrested. In particular, they said he became more vulnerable after being sprayed with CS gas, hit by a moving police car and restrained on the ground.

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Larry Fedja

100’s pledge support for family of Kingsley Burrell

Kingsley Burrelloriginally by: Birmingham Mail
9th April 2011

Hundreds of people packed a city community centre to show their support for the family of a Birmingham father who died in police custody.

The public meeting at the African Caribbean Millennium Centre in Dudley Road, Winson Green, was organised by the family of Kingsley Burrell, 29, who died just days after he was arrested and sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has launched an investigation into his death. Kingsley’s sister Kadisha Brown-Burrell said her brother, who lived in Hockley, did not have mental health issues.

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