Okay, Brixton today was business as usual, but there were friends and relatives of Ricky Bishop leafletting outside Brixton station today. The leaflet obviously demands the suspension, pending investigations, of the officers involved...

I was told by a cousin of Ricky's that the family was particularaly aggrieved with the fact that BEFORE his mother or other relatives were properly informed about the supposed cause of his death (a heartattack? An inquest is expected next week) the police had all ready issued a press statement with all kinds of assumptions and untruths in it. The basic story is:

On the afternoon of Thu 22nd November, Ricky Bishop and a friend were in a car. Police followed them a while and finally stopped them in Dalyell Road. Both were arrested and taken to Brixton police station. Ricky's mother was informed later that evening that Ricky was in Kings College hospital. She had to make her own way there, and on arrival told her son had died.
I was told that the police followed the car because supposedly it had been driving 'irratically' or haphazardly. At the police station Ricky supposedly told an officer he'd taken drugs. The police say that he had offered to go to the police station voluntarily. If that was the case, his relatives would like to know, why was he handcuffed? The police have said he struggled with them in the interview room and had managed to free himself of his cuffs. How could a man with his hands cuffed behind his back free himself?
The would also like to know why the reason of Ricky's admission to hospital was recorded as 'unknown'.

Anyone interested in this case (and no doubt other odd custody incidences will be compared and talked about)
can attend the Lambeth Police Consultative group meeting
at Tue dec 4th 2001. Time: 6 pm. Location: Lambeth Town Hall.

Anyone who might be a witness either to what happened on Dalyell road on the afternoon of THU nov 22nd, or at the police station, or if you happened to be at the HOSPITAL (this is Kings C, early eve) please phone: 07985 403781

filed by Natasha Gerson
visiting Brixton from Holland
email:  nani@xs4all.nl