Fred Leplat, Islington ROGER Sylvester was a 30 year old healthy black man who lived in Tottenham. He worked as an administration officer for a dropin mental health centre in Islingion and was a UNISON member.
On the night of I1 January Roger was restrained by eight Metropolitan Police officers outside his home in Tottenham Roger was detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act Ending the Nightmare, • the Socialist Outlook book on the struggle agains racism and fascism - the lessons of history £5 including postage from •Socialist Outlook, PO Box 1102, London N4 2UU and the police told the family that he was restrained 'for his own safety'.
They also said that he had not been violent towards police or anybody else. Within 45 minutes he had sustained numerous injuries and remained in a coma, effectively dead until his life support machine was switched off seven days later.
From the outset the Metropolitan Police spin doctors have made a concerted effort to misinnone y placing into curate and deeply prejudicial information designed to smear Rogers character in an attempt to deflect attention away from police conduct. This is a pattern that has been seen repeated time and again in controversial deaths in custody. The smears included:
• Scotland Yard issued a press release describing Roger banging on a neighbour's door "aggressive and vociferous manner". It was quickly established that he had in fact been banging on his own door and that there is no evidence for the assertion that he was acting aggressively.
The pathologist for the Coroner Mr Freddie Patel branded Roger a crack cocaine addict in an off the cuff briefing to journalists outside the Coroners court -an allegation subsequently reproduced in newspapers: The Times newspaper ran an article which claimed police officers believed his death was due to his heart being "swollen by crack cocaine".
Three months after making a complaint, Roger's family received an unprecedented apology. The Metropolitan Police have now withdrawn the statements which the family considered smears but have refused to accept that meant they were inaccurate. The death of Roger Sylvester is yet another black death in custody following the use of force. The evidence that black people are over represented in statistics of black deaths in police custody is borne out by INQUEST monitoring. This is particularly true of the Metropolitan Police. In 1994, 5 out of 14 deaths were of black people (35.7%) whilst in 1996, 7 out of 20 recorded deaths were of black people.(35%) The total ethnic minority population of Greater London is 13.36% (1991 Census) Roger Sylvester's family is still campaigning for justice. They want an independent inquiry into the circumstances of his death, legal aid for their representation at the inquest, and the suspension of the eight police officers who restrained him in such a way that he later died. Since Sir Paul Condon has been Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police we have seen the violent deaths of Joy Gardner (1993) Shiji Lapite (1994) Brian Douglas (1994) Wayne Douglas (1994) and Ibrahima Sey (1996).
The Metropolitan Police has not learnt any lessons from these appalling deaths - and in none of them have those responsible been brought to account.
The death of Roger tragically demonstrates again that the police is riddled as an institution with racism. Useful addresses: The Roger Sylvester Justice campaign, PO Box 25908, London, NI8 1WU Inquest, Alexandra National House, 330 Seven Sisters Road, London, N4 2PJ Islington UNISON, 257-258 Upper Street, London, N1 2UD
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