|
|
Police
team taken off race murder inquiry Special report: race issues
in the UK Nick Hopkins, crime
correspondent Thursday December 21, 2000 An entire murder squad has
been pulled off an inquiry into the death of a London accountant following a
review of the case which criticised the team for failing to treat the
incident as a racist attack. Sussex police admitted
yesterday the hunt for the killers of Jimmy Abatan, 42, had been taken over
by a new squad which had started with a much clearer focus. The decision was
welcomed by Worthing West's MP, Peter Bottomley, and members of the Abatan
family who have long believed that Jimmy, who was known as Jay, died at the
hands of racists. The father of two was
attacked on January 24, 1999, outside the Ocean Rooms nightclub in Brighton,
where he had been celebrating an imminent promotion at PricewaterhouseCoopers
with his brother, Michael. As they left, they had a
row with a group of white youths over a taxi. The brothers were kicked and
punched. Jay, of Eastbourne, East
Sussex, suffered brain damage. He was pronounced dead after five days on a
life support machine. Two men were arrested
within 24 hours of the attack and charged with manslaughter. However, the
charges were dropped and they were later cleared of causing Michael Abatan
actual bodily harm. Sussex asked Essex
police to conduct a review of the inquiry last July and a first draft of a
report by Superintendent Steve Reynolds was handed to senior officers at the
beginning of the month. Sussex refused to disclose the details, but it is
understood Mr Reynolds made sweeping criticisms. Although the original
murder squad did not rule out the possibility of a racial attack, it was not
pursued as a priority. "There were issues that needed to be addressed
and so we took immediate action," said a force spokesman. Detective Superintendent
Ken Probert, who is in charge of the new inquiry, added: "We are
treating Jay's murder as a racist killing and 36 detectives are working on
this case, taking a fresh look at the original investigation and developing
new lines of inquiry." Sussex has asked the
police complaints authority to review the first investigation to see whether
there are any grounds for disciplining officers. It will be conducted by the
deputy chief constable of Avon and Somerset, Ken Jones, under the supervision
of the PCA. Michael Abatan has asked
Sussex to publish the findings of the review and wants Scotland Yard's racial
and violent crimes task force to become involved. He said: "It's positive that there is a new team investigating my brother's death, but two years is a long time. I hope this is not a PR exercise. I want to work with the police." |