They stood chatting and holding up their placards, waiting to see whether anybody would come out and talk to them. At 3.30 p.m., when no officer appeared, Ruben’s parents, accompanied by the Reverend Pius, had made their way into the police station. Their intention was to ask the police for their version of what had happened, something that had not so far been shared with the parents.
When the three did not return, the assumption was that they were talking to the powers that be. And so the demonstrators waited for them to reappear, and as they waited, the demonstration grew.
And then at last: ‘There they are.’ Marcus, who stood shoulders above most people, was pointing over the heads of the crowd and towards the police station. The crowd turned, almost as one, to see Pius and Ruben’s parents coming out.
Marcus pushed his way to the front. ‘Doesn’t look good,’ he muttered to Cathy, who had also noticed the downward cast of Ruben’s mother’s head and the negative shaking of Pius’s. The three were in fact walking slowly, as if reluctant to rejoin the demonstration, or, Cathy suddenly realised, as if they wanted a conversation in private, something that must also have struck Marcus, who whispered, ‘Let’s meet them by the roadblock,’ in her ear.
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL FOR INQUIRY USE ONLY
Submission to the internal inquiry of the Metropolitan Police into Operation Bedrock
Submission 573/A/1: photographic evidence gathered by ASU 27AWZ between 16:43 and 16:51 on
location: the area immediately adjacent to Rockham police station
subject: demonstration
At 16:43 hours, Air Support Unit 27AWZ, call sign India 95, passed over Rockham High Street, where a crowd had gathered. On instructions from the rear police officer, the pilot circled the area while the police observer operated video camera facilities and recorded still images. The attached images, date and time stamped, were captured during the period of surveillance and selected at the request of the Chairman of the internal inquiry. The complete series of surveillance pictures are attached as an appendix.
Camera still 0578/19413
time stamp: 16:49:10
A crowd estimated at approximately one hundred stands two hundred yards to the south of Rockham police station. They have filled the pavement and spilt into the road. A young man, IC3, with long dreadlocks, who with others has climbed the wall behind the pavement, points in a northerly direction towards a police roadblock manned by two uniformed officers. A patrol car is visible, parked in a side street to the south of this roadblock.
Camera stills 0578/19414–9
time stamp: 16:49:15 – 16:50:55 inclusive
Just north of Rockham police station, officers direct southward-bound traffic, which had gone beyond the diversion, back towards Blackrod Road. A line of traffic has built up. Several vehicles are in the process of turning round, with the result that both sides of the north-leading road are blocked.
Camera still 0578/19421
time stamp: 16:51:10
Five adults, three IC3 males, one IC1 female and one IC3 female, stand on the verge by the northern roadblock. They appear to be locked in conversation.
4.51 p.m.
‘All this time?’ Despite her effort to appear calm, Cathy couldn’t keep the disbelief from her voice.
‘For most of it,’ Pius said. ‘At first they asked us to wait outside, but when we pointed out that this would enrage the crowd they told us we could take a seat.’
‘“Pull up a pew, Reverend,” is what the policeman said’ – this from Ruben’s father – ‘As if this was some kind of a joke.’
‘We sat for gone an hour,’ Pius continued, ‘until at last a sergeant came out – not one any of us have met before. He said there was nothing more they could do because the matter was now in the hands of the IPCC. We asked them how we could contact the IPCC on a Saturday, and they said it was not their business.’
‘They were rude.’ Again from Ruben’s father. ‘They kill our son and then they are rude.’
‘We told them that wasn’t good enough,’ Pius said. ‘We asked to speak to Chief Superintendent Wright. They said she wasn’t there. So we asked for her second-in-command.’
‘He also wasn’t there.’
‘They told us they would request a visit to the family home by a senior officer, after consultation with the IPCC. We said we needed one now and here. We waited some more, and then a moment ago they came to tell us that they had just sent a car for a superintendent who is acting up as a chief superintendent. They reckoned it will take an hour to fetch him.’
‘But we’ve been here since three and it’s nearly five,’ Marcus said. ‘The crowd from the football will soon be coming down the High Street. Are they trying to provoke us?’
‘Truth is,’ Pius said, ‘and it pains me to say this – I don’t think they know what they’re doing. We told them we needed to be gone by dusk – that we had children with us – and that we didn’t want anything to go awry. All they would say was that they’d do their best.’
‘Rude. And they the ones killed our son.’ Ruben’s father’s raised voice attracted the attention of several members of the crowd.
Ruben’s mother went to stand in front of her husband. ‘Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.’ Although her voice was soft, she held him with a hard gaze. ‘Our son was never violent. We don’t want trouble.’
‘And we won’t have it.’ Stepping in between them, Pius put one arm around each of Ruben’s parents. ‘Come. Let us go and tell the others, and then we will wait, calmly and patiently, for an officer to be brought to us.’
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL FOR INQUIRY USE ONLY
Submission to the internal inquiry of the Metropolitan Police into Operation Bedrock
Submission 573/A/2: photographic evidence gathered by ASU 27AWZ, India 95, at 17:03 hours on
Camera still 0578/194139
time stamp: 17:03:07
location: 200 yards south of Rockham police station
subject: demonstration
A man, IC3, stands in front of the crowd, speaking into a bullhorn. Several members of the crowd have their hands up, perhaps remonstrating against what is being said.
Camera stills 0578/194140–19507 appended in annex/4 show build-up of numbers in the demonstration.
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL FOR INQUIRY USE ONLY
Submission to the internal inquiry of the Metropolitan Police into Operation Bedrock
Submission 573/A/3: photographic evidence gathered by ASU 27AWZ, call sign India 95, pertaining to the incident involving police vehicle IRV 02 PFD
location: Rockham High Street south of Rockham police station
subject: demonstration
Camera still 0578/19508
time stamp: 17:44:59
Incident Response Vehicle number 02 PFD, travels down Rockham High Street, heading north.
(Note to Inquiry. At 17:52:00 Air Support Unit 27AWZ radioed base to warn that the IRV appears to be heading straight towards the demonstration. Subsequent inquiry ascertained that IRV 02 PFD was responding to a report of a TWOC incident.)
Camera still 0578/19509
time stamp: 17:45:16
location: Rockham High Street south of Rockham police station
subject: demonstration
IRV number 02 PFD mounts the pavement to pass the roadblock.
5.45 p.m.
They heard the siren long before they saw the car. It was background noise that everybody assumed would fade. But instead the noise increased in intensity and duration until:
‘What the fuck?’
Someone on the southern edge of the crowd pointed to the police car that, unable to press forward because of the roadblock, had mounted the pavement and was heading straight for the demonstrators.
‘Stop.’
The car kept coming.
‘Stop.’
The car blasted out a series of warning siren bursts as if expecting that the people in its path could somehow
disappear. A child’s buggy, complete with screaming infant, was carried overhead to safety as others scrambled out of the way.
The pressure of people still around the car had forced it to slow down, but it did not stop even when one of the policemen from the northern end of the roadblock starting running towards it. A demonstrator, who had been standing outside the fruit and veg shop, picked up a tomato and threw it at the patrol car. ‘Stop. You’re going to hurt somebody.’
The tomato struck the windscreen and burst, as the cry ‘Stop!’ was taken up by many voices. And still the car kept going.
‘Stop!’ People closest to the shop reached into boxes that lined the pavement, grabbing anything to hand, so that tomatoes and carrots and purple plums and avocados went flying through the air, some of them landing on the car and others splattering in the road. And then at last, the car, its driver possibly having spotted his fellow officer running towards him, applied his brakes so that by the time the policeman had arrived and banged on a side window, the car had come to a complete halt. The driver’s side window slid down allowing the out-of-breath policeman to speak, briefly, to his fellows inside.
The window closed. The policeman stepped away. The car got moving again, backing up the way it had come, and although it clipped the side of the ice-cream van as it went, it did not stop but instead, siren wailing, reversed down the pavement until it could turn and speed away.
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL FOR INQUIRY USE ONLY
Submission to the internal inquiry of the Metropolitan Police into Operation Bedrock
Submission 573/A/4: further photographic evidence gathered by Air Support Unit 27AWZ, call sign India 95, pertaining to the incident involving IRV 02 PFD
Camera stills 0578/19510
time stamp: 17:48:31
location: perimeter of southern roadblock
subject: collision
IRV 02 PFD clips the front side driver’s bumper of a parked van.
Camera stills 0578/19511
time stamp: 17:49:56
location: perimeter of southern roadblock
subject: collision
IRV 02 PFD reversing away as the van driver steps out.
Submission 573/A/5: photographic evidence gathered by Air Support Unit 27AWZ, call sign India 95, between 18:29 and 18:46 hours on , pertaining to the appearance of Chief Inspector Raj Privadi
Camera still 0578/19536
time stamp: 18:29:33
location: 200 yards south of Rockham police station
subject: arrival of senior officer
Newly arrived police vehicle IRV 01 HDR is stopped by northern roadblock. A uniformed police officer who has come out of the car is walking through the block towards the demonstration. The crowd is now estimated at approximately one hundred and fifty persons.
Camera stills 0578/19537–41
time stamp: 18:30:51–18:40:12
location: 200 yards south of Rockham police station
subject: communication between senior officer and representatives of the demonstrators
Officer attempts to address the demonstrators but appears to be rebuffed. Officer walks back behind the roadblock and into Rockham police station.
Submission 573/A/6: photographic evidence gathered by Air Support Unit 27AWZ, call sign India 95, between 18:40 and 18:46 hours on pertaining to the appearance of the bus ARL VLW 96 on the scene
Camera still 0578/19627
time stamp: 18:40:03
location: northerly roadblock
subject: movement of traffic
Bus ARL VLW 96 stationary at the northern roadblock. The driver is out of his cab and talking to one of the police officers whose hand is in the air and twisted to one side as if describing to the driver the process by which he can turn round in the road. Beyond the roadblock the line of traffic is blocking the bus’s exit.
Camera still 0578/19628
time stamp: 18:45:12
location: northerly roadblock
subject: movement of traffic
In trying to turn, the bus has mounted the pavement and is facing a wall. Passengers disgorge from the stationary bus while those who have already descended are being ushered through the roadblock. Several of them have turned towards the crowd.
Note: This is the last of the series. At 18:46:15 27AWZ returned to base to refuel.
8.15 p.m.
They had been waiting for almost five hours, and they were still waiting. And as they waited, the demonstration had grown.
Half an hour previously, a patrol car, blues and twos flashing, had stopped by the southern roadblock to disgorge a chief inspector. Here, it appeared, was the promised senior officer. But he only had to show his face and he was met by derision. ‘They’re using you for your black face,’ someone shouted, while someone else demanded to know why the policeman would do the white man’s dirty work, and soon the cry ‘House nigger! House nigger!’ drove him into the police station.
And still they stood and still they waited.
As the sun dipped it also dazzled, turning the northern sky yellow. The day’s last hurrah and the crowd grew. Threads of pinks and oranges began to trail through the sky and intensified as the sun slipped down. By 8.20, the police station was washed in crimson.
Such a glorious sight and yet it felt menacing, reminding Cathy of the recent sunrise and the foreboding which had then possessed her. That was the day that Ruben had been killed. And now?
She looked around her, registering how the crowd had changed. Whereas most of the early demonstrators had been Lovelace residents or members of Ruben’s extended family, the new arrivals were not so easily recognisable. They were younger and more energetic and, she thought, and hoped she was mistaken in this, spoiling for a fight.
‘They are not going to send anybody to speak to us,’ Ruben’s mother said. ‘There is nothing to be gained by staying.’
Pius and Marcus agreed. They had made their point. They must now regroup.
‘Let’s see the family safe indoors,’ Pius said.
It had been a while since Lyndall had been around. ‘You go ahead,’ Cathy said. ‘I need to find Lyndall.’
The crowd was much more densely packed; she looked this way and that.
‘Would you like us to wait for you?’
She took in the exhaustion on Ruben’s mother’s face and the anger on his father’s. ‘No. Don’t wait.’
She’d find Lyndall and then they’d both get out of there.
She started at the southern border of the enclosure. No Lyndall, nor Jayden either, just curious people heading down the High Street to check out what was going on. More of them were coming: the whole area would soon be densely packed.
A drum began to beat.
The sound seemed to pass right through her, intensifying her awareness of her thumping heart. The fear that she had tried to tell herself was only her imagination reared up, and once it came it would not go. She felt it hammering at her throat, taking away her breath as she walked. Faster and faster she went until she was almost running.
She called out ‘Lyndall?’ as she darted in and out of the knots of people who had gathered together: ‘Lyndall?’
She pushed on, heading for the northern roadblock: ‘Lyndall?’ Lyndall would never hear her mobile in this crowd. ‘Lyndall?’
Someone she passed heard her cry and took it up: ‘Lyndall!’ Others joined in so that soon the air was vibrating with the calling of her daughter’s name: ‘Lyndall! Lyndall! Lyndall!’ the drum now also pounding out the syllables: ‘Lyn-dall! Lyn-dall! Lyn-dall!’
She told herself that she had felt like this before when Lyndall had been late. Nothing had happened then. Nothing was going to happen now.
‘Lyn-dall! Lyn-dall! Lyn-dall!’
Someone grasped hold of her. She turned to face them.
‘What the hell’s wrong with you?’ Lyndall was so red with mortification that her face almost matched the colour of the setting sun. ‘I was here. I’ve been here all the time.
You’re such a panicker.’
‘Come on. We’re off.’
‘I’m not going. It’s fine. He’ll look after me.’ She indicated the man beside her.
So caught up had Cathy been in the relief of finding Lyndall, she hadn’t noticed Banji there. Although perhaps she hadn’t noticed him because he looked nothing like himself. The distress she had seen in him that previous day seemed now to have pulled down his brow and pinched in his face. The irises of his eyes that were yesterday pink had darkened to a bloodshot red; below them the skin had blackened with fatigue.
She had seen how upset he was and yet had failed to seek him out. Cruel of her. She reached out to touch him.
Without even looking at her, he shifted out of reach. His focus was on the northern roadblock. ‘Where did they go?’
They? She looked to the point where the two policeman had been turning the traffic back and saw that, although the patrol car was still in the side street and beside it the abandoned bus, the two officers had vanished.
‘Maybe they’ve gone to move the roadblock back.’
It was as if she wasn’t there.
‘There’s enough of them.’ He was talking to himself.
She looked again, this time beyond the roadblock. She saw that where there had recently been three officers in the vicinity of the police station there were now at least twenty. No casual collection this: they were standing in lines as still as sentries.
Ten Days Page 9
