THE ELI HALL HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN


Email:  elihallrightscampaign@yahoo.co.uk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


HACKNEY ARMED SIEGE AND THE KILLING OF ELI HALL


Hackney, London-May 2-On January 9th , 2003, Eli Hall, a young black man, was killed after police opened fire after a 15-days stand-off in Hackney. The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) following the death of Eli Hall took over the official investigation, but almost immediately allowed the body of the dead man to be cremated before their investigation is completed or an Inquest held.


The Eli Hall Human Rights Campaign has asked the Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Chris Mullin, MP, to urgently consider removing the PCA from the conduct of this investigation because of incompetence or negligence of the PCA in allowing the body of Eli Hall, the most important material evidence of the siege, to be destroyed and have therefore compromised the fair and effective investigation of the death of Eli Hall. Mr. Mullin has further been called upon, as an alternative to the PCA investigation, instituting an immediate and open public inquiry into the siege and the death of Mr. Eli Hall.



The Eli Hall Human Rights Campaign will be holding a peaceful candle light truth vigil outside Hackney police station on the morning of Monday, May 26th-which marks the first six months of the beginning of the siege, and Saturday, May 31 for prayers of truth, forgiveness and a fair and full investigation.



Below is the text of the letter.


May 2, 2003



Chris Mullin, Esq. MP

Chairman

Home Affairs Select Committee

House of Commons

London SW1







Dear Mr. Mullin



RE: PCA Investigation Into Hackney Armed Siege and Death of Eli Hall



Between December 26th. 2002 and January 9th 2003, the police was engaged with a gunman called Eli Hall in the Graham Road area of Hackney for 15 days. The siege ended with Mr. Hall being shot in the head by police marksmen at 9.15 am. The coroner later confirmed the 9.15 am bullet discharged by police, but said that that particular bullet was not life threatening and was not the cause of death. The coroner then conjectured that a second fatal bullet was fired by Eli Hall into his own head resulting in death.



The Police Complaints Authority who took charge of the investigation into the siege and the death of Eli Hall allowed the body of Mr Hall to be released for cremation at the very start of their investigation and well before any arrangements for an Inquest. The Eli Hall Human Rights Campaign believes the cremation of the body at that stage into the investigation breaches every sacred protocol in the handling of police forensic evidence and have considerably weakened the PCA's investigation.



The campaign believes that Mr. Hall was unlawfully killed and that a murder or manslaughter investigation should be in progress. The one source of irrefutable material evidence that could determine the cause of death and the physical state of Mr. Hall who had been subjected to unnecessary starvation and lack of fluids for the last four days of the siege and persistent sleep deprivation for a longer period, was the body, which has now been destroyed.



The campaign calls upon the Home Affairs Select Committee to consider immediately suspending the supervision of the PCA into the investigation of the siege and death of Mr Hall and appoint a committee of public inquiry to continue the investigation. The Select Committee has a duty to ensure that the information that is finally put before the Inquest is sufficient, full And complete, effective And fair. The current PCA's investigation is unable to meet the high standards of inquiry expected from the public when, through incompetence or otherwise, they have allowed the only real, tangible piece of evidence in the case to be released and destroyed without any public notice, considering the wide media coverage the case attracted.



We all have an interest in the truthful and factual outcome as to what really happened between 11 AM December 26 and 9.30 PM January 9th. Our goal is to have an independent public inquiry that fairly examine the facts of what happened and the effects it has had on the local community, including local small businesses.. Without the facts the reason the police turned up on Eli Hall's doorstep and his death will remain suspicious. We are particularly alarmed by the preliminary post mortem that stated Eli Hall committed suicide on January 9th. The Coroner in his preliminary post-mortem says that the first gunshot that struck Hall in the mouth at 9.15 am was from police, but was not 'life threatening' or the bullet that caused his death. It is then SPECULATED by the coroner that between 9.30 and 10.15 am, Mr Hall first set fire to the house by seeking out a 'canister of petrol' and a match, afterwards using his own gun to put a second bullet into his head. SUCH A THEORY IS CONTRARY TO MEDICAL SCIENCE. The police's bullet would have killed him instantly or severely disabled him along with massive bleeding if he was still alive. In the 45 minutes between 9.30-10.15 Mr Hall, who hadn't eaten or drank any fluids for 4 days and in freezing conditions, would hardly have the strength and wherewithal to set fire to a building sodden with fire-engine water hosed in by police over two weeks, then to find his gun and put 'the fatal' second bullet into his head. The police have failed to provide ballistic details of the bullet they fired or the one they claimed Hall fired into his own head. The police's story doesn't add up! WHY did the police marksmen shoot him in the head? And WHY the medical personnel on the scene were not used to treat him and take him to hospital? WHY did police leave his dead or wounded body for 12 hours before going to fetch it? And WHY burn his body and destroy all forensic evidence within days of the police's version of the cause of death being publicly challenged and a call for the body to be examined by an independent pathologist? The ONLY answer is he was unlawfully killed and a cover-up is in progress.



There is clear evidence that the police could have safely arrested Mr Hall early within the siege and avoided a bloody end, but there are also many unresolved questions regarding the alleged two shootings in London and the Toyota Celica car-the very raison d'etre for the police's reported presence at Mr. Hall's home in Graham Road, Hackney, in the first place.



We believe that even though the late Eli Hall may have been a criminal and wrongdoer, he was still a child of god and possessed inalienable human rights that the state has a constitutional duty to protect. The evidence so far suggests that these rights were severely violated by the police.



The Eli Hall Human Rights Campaign will be holding a peaceful candle light truth vigil outside Hackney police station on the morning of Monday, May 26th-which marks the first six months of the siege, and Saturday, May 31 for prayers of truth, forgiveness and a fair and full investigation.



Yours sincerely

Vernon Williams