Nik Wood And Mary Pimm Remember Harry Stanley On The 25th Anniversary Of His Death
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22 September 2024
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Justice for Harry Stanley campaign flyer
In October 2004, former East End pub landlady Gwen Calvert was called to The St Pancras mortuary. She had to identify the body of her son, Paul, who had been found dead in his cell in Pentonville prison.
The mortuary is directly next to St Pancras coroner’s court and as she came out, she saw someone she knew. Irene Stanley was addressing a crowd of press reporters and cameras. An inquest jury had just concluded that her husband, Harry Stanley, who had been shot dead by the police in 1999, had been unlawfully killed.
The next month we joined Irene and Gwen at the annual United Families & Friends Campaign (UFFC) procession. “We” are Mary Pimm and Nik Wood and this is how we came to be engaged with the issues INQUEST pursues.
Gwen Calvert
A dark & stormy day
Wednesday the 22 of September 1999 saw a massive thunderstorm over London. The windows of our Hackney flat were still open when we heard two gunshots. They were Inspector Neil Sharman and Constable Kevin Fagan of the Metropolitan Police killing Harry Stanley on the tip off from a man in a pub who said he was an Irishman with a gun. He was a Scotsman carrying a coffee table leg.
A campaign sprang up, initiated, as is often the case, by activists from fringe political groupings with useful media and such like links. We also had the benefit of the justice campaign for Sarah Thomas who had died in nearby Stoke Newington police station only months before.
In for the long haul
We all set about the usual campaigning activities, writing to the local paper, contacting and being contacted by journalists, organising meetings, all on the assumption that it’d take a few months to reach a conclusion.
Dealing with the old Police Complaints Authority was every bit as legalistic as the current set up (Independent Office for Police Conduct, IOPC). That’s how we met the solicitors for Harry Stanley’s family, Daniel Machover and Nogah Ofer from Hickman & Rose, and Deborah Coles from INQUEST.
We discovered just how slowly the mills of justice grind. By the time of the London Mayoral election of March 2000 we’d got letter writing down to a fine art, so we sent one to all the candidates. Still nothing. In May, local MP Brian Sedgemore got an adjournment debate in parliament. The only value was to stop the rumour that Harry was suicidal.
In 2001, Injustice (Migrant Media) was shown locally despite censorship from the police. We got on local television news delivering an anniversary letter to the Crown Prosecution Service HQ, who respond by calling off any prosecution of the gunmen.
2002 saw Chumbawamba issue the album Readymades with the track ‘Without Reason or Rhyme’ about Harry’s killing, introduced by Jeremey Hardy.
Readymades, Chumbawamba album cover (2002)
The inquest
June brought the first inquest and the police gunmen were, unusually, denied anonymity. The coroner allowed Harry’s criminal record as evidence despite the police not knowing who he was and didn’t allow the jury to consider ‘unlawful killing’. They brought in an open verdict, which provoked uproar and media consternation.
In February 2003, the appeal hearings resulted in the verdict being quashed for the above reasons.
Post-inquest
Irene Stanley, Daily Record, 30 October 2004
Now we reach the Autumn of 2004 where this blog began, with an unlawful killing verdict and Inspector Neil Sharman and Constable Kevin Fagan suspended by the Metropolitan Police. Success for Harry’s family at last! Or so we thought.
As was to be a common thread from here on in, the Met’s firearms officers all threatened to strike, and the commissioner gave in. Shortly after, the High Court overturned the 'unlawful killing' verdict and the open verdict of the first inquest was reinstated. All we could do is stand by the family. Then the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had Sharman and Fagan arrested on murder charges. Then all charges were dropped, and the campaign fizzled out in 2006.
Legacy
But the forces of law and order find new and imaginative ways to kill people. So we pressed on writing letters to the papers about the likes of Michael Malsbury, where the coroner spoke of ‘suicide by cop’ in his summing up; Craig Boyd, who died whilst in the care of Derbyshire Constabulary; the Deepcut deaths at the Princess Royal Barracks in Surrey; and about prisons.
Mary became an Independent Custody Visitor of police stations until the fight to keep the scheme forceful was lost, and she was a Trustee at Women in Prison for nine years. Nik donated his time to INQUEST, doing back-office drudgery and supporting INQUEST’s recent heritage project.
Together, we keep a list of police fatal firearms cases up to date. We supported Gwen Calvert through two inquests into Paul’s death which eventually brought in a finding of ‘neglect’ and produced useful precedents for coroners to follow.
We do the sorts of things people who are not bereaved families, not lawyers and are not INQUEST team can do. Just being there at the back of the photo or discussing things.
**All archive images courtesty of Nik Wood**
Make a Donation
Every year, INQUEST supports hundreds of families bereaved by deaths involving the state. We are independent of government and entirely reliant on grants and donations to continue our vital work.
Support us and bereaved families in the fight for truth, justice and accountability by becoming a regular donor today.
Donate now
Subscribe to our newsletter
To receive the latest news from INQUEST straight into you inbox please subscribe. For examples of what you will receive, see our previous newsletters.
Nik Wood And Mary Pimm Remember Harry Stanley On The 25th Anniversary Of His Death
Justice for Harry Stanley campaign flyer
In October 2004, former East End pub landlady Gwen Calvert was called to The St Pancras mortuary. She had to identify the body of her son, Paul, who had been found dead in his cell in Pentonville prison.
The mortuary is directly next to St Pancras coroner’s court and as she came out, she saw someone she knew. Irene Stanley was addressing a crowd of press reporters and cameras. An inquest jury had just concluded that her husband, Harry Stanley, who had been shot dead by the police in 1999, had been unlawfully killed.
The next month we joined Irene and Gwen at the annual United Families & Friends Campaign (UFFC) procession. “We” are Mary Pimm and Nik Wood and this is how we came to be engaged with the issues INQUEST pursues.
Gwen Calvert
A dark & stormy day
Wednesday the 22 of September 1999 saw a massive thunderstorm over London. The windows of our Hackney flat were still open when we heard two gunshots. They were Inspector Neil Sharman and Constable Kevin Fagan of the Metropolitan Police killing Harry Stanley on the tip off from a man in a pub who said he was an Irishman with a gun. He was a Scotsman carrying a coffee table leg.
A campaign sprang up, initiated, as is often the case, by activists from fringe political groupings with useful media and such like links. We also had the benefit of the justice campaign for Sarah Thomas who had died in nearby Stoke Newington police station only months before.
In for the long haul
We all set about the usual campaigning activities, writing to the local paper, contacting and being contacted by journalists, organising meetings, all on the assumption that it’d take a few months to reach a conclusion.
Dealing with the old Police Complaints Authority was every bit as legalistic as the current set up (Independent Office for Police Conduct, IOPC). That’s how we met the solicitors for Harry Stanley’s family, Daniel Machover and Nogah Ofer from Hickman & Rose, and Deborah Coles from INQUEST.
We discovered just how slowly the mills of justice grind. By the time of the London Mayoral election of March 2000 we’d got letter writing down to a fine art, so we sent one to all the candidates. Still nothing. In May, local MP Brian Sedgemore got an adjournment debate in parliament. The only value was to stop the rumour that Harry was suicidal.
‘Justis for Harry Stanley’ graffiti © Barbara Chandler
In 2001, Injustice (Migrant Media) was shown locally despite censorship from the police. We got on local television news delivering an anniversary letter to the Crown Prosecution Service HQ, who respond by calling off any prosecution of the gunmen.
2002 saw Chumbawamba issue the album Readymades with the track ‘Without Reason or Rhyme’ about Harry’s killing, introduced by Jeremey Hardy.
Readymades, Chumbawamba album cover (2002)
The inquest
June brought the first inquest and the police gunmen were, unusually, denied anonymity. The coroner allowed Harry’s criminal record as evidence despite the police not knowing who he was and didn’t allow the jury to consider ‘unlawful killing’. They brought in an open verdict, which provoked uproar and media consternation.
In February 2003, the appeal hearings resulted in the verdict being quashed for the above reasons.
Post-inquest
Irene Stanley, Daily Record, 30 October 2004
Now we reach the Autumn of 2004 where this blog began, with an unlawful killing verdict and Inspector Neil Sharman and Constable Kevin Fagan suspended by the Metropolitan Police. Success for Harry’s family at last! Or so we thought.
As was to be a common thread from here on in, the Met’s firearms officers all threatened to strike, and the commissioner gave in. Shortly after, the High Court overturned the 'unlawful killing' verdict and the open verdict of the first inquest was reinstated. All we could do is stand by the family. Then the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had Sharman and Fagan arrested on murder charges. Then all charges were dropped, and the campaign fizzled out in 2006.
Legacy
But the forces of law and order find new and imaginative ways to kill people. So we pressed on writing letters to the papers about the likes of Michael Malsbury, where the coroner spoke of ‘suicide by cop’ in his summing up; Craig Boyd, who died whilst in the care of Derbyshire Constabulary; the Deepcut deaths at the Princess Royal Barracks in Surrey; and about prisons.
Mary became an Independent Custody Visitor of police stations until the fight to keep the scheme forceful was lost, and she was a Trustee at Women in Prison for nine years. Nik donated his time to INQUEST, doing back-office drudgery and supporting INQUEST’s recent heritage project.
Together, we keep a list of police fatal firearms cases up to date. We supported Gwen Calvert through two inquests into Paul’s death which eventually brought in a finding of ‘neglect’ and produced useful precedents for coroners to follow.We do the sorts of things people who are not bereaved families, not lawyers and are not INQUEST team can do. Just being there at the back of the photo or discussing things.
**All archive images courtesty of Nik Wood**
Make a Donation
Every year, INQUEST supports hundreds of families bereaved by deaths involving the state. We are independent of government and entirely reliant on grants and donations to continue our vital work.
Support us and bereaved families in the fight for truth, justice and accountability by becoming a regular donor today.
Donate now
Subscribe to our newsletter
To receive the latest news from INQUEST straight into you inbox please subscribe. For examples of what you will receive, see our previous newsletters.