DEATH OF LEON PATTERSON

Motion Text

That this House notes the death of Leon Patterson in police custody on 27th November 1992 and that the inquest verdict of unlawful killing was quashed in the High Court in October 1994 on a legal technicality; further notes that a fresh inquest was ordered and that nearly four years after his death no inquest date has been set; recognises that despite the injustices of legal aid not being available for families to be represented at inquests, a special grant can be made in complex and exceptional cases and yet an application has been turned down in this case; further notesthat despite all the concerns expressed by INQUEST, the organisation that works with families of those who die in custody and the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination about the numbers of black and minority deaths in custody and the failings of the current investigative process, that this familiy continue to grieve without knowing how Leon Patterson died; and calls on Her Majesty's Government to make legal aid available for this inquest, to set a date for the inquest immediately and for steps to be taken to ensure that this appalling treatment of a bereaved family never happens again.