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PC Blakelock murder: family grief and questions for police as Nicky Jacobs acquitted | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
Police and prosecutors are under pressure after a multimillion pound case against a man accused of joining the mob who butchered PC Keith Blakelock during riots 29 years ago was dismissed on Wednesday by a jury after just a day of deliberations. | |
Nicky Jacobs, 45, was acquitted of murdering the officer during riots on the Broadwater Farm estate in Tottenham, north London, where up to 20 rioters inflicted 43 stab wounds and attempted to decapitate Blakelock, who was left with a knife embedded in his neck. | |
The acquittal means that despite seven people being charged with the murder over the years, no one has been successfully and safely convicted. Blakelock's widow, Elizabeth, and three of her sons watched in court as a controversial strategy failed in the latest trial. | |
Police and prosecutors had decided to build their case against Jacobs around two men who are the only ones to have admitted raining kicks and punches on the stricken Blakelock as they joined the attack. | |
The two witnesses were granted immunity from prosecution in return for their testimony against Jacobs, after police and prosecutors adopted a strategy known as "kickers and stabbers" as they sought convictions. | |
Kickers were to be recruited as witnesses and promised they would not be tried for murder for admitting punching or kicking the officer, if they testified against those who used knives or machetes to stab Blakelock. | |
The jury heard two of the witnesses had received £5,000 from Scotland Yard in 1994 which the force claimed was to compensate them for inconvenience caused by their co-operation with police, and not as inducement to testify against Jacobs. | |
Abuses by the first police investigation led to the case against three juveniles being thrown out by a judge in 1987. Later concerns over fabrication of evidence led to convictions gained against three men being overturned on appeal in 1991. | |
One of those men, Winston Silcott, called for the two police witnesses who admitted attacking Blakelock to be prosecuted for the murder, rather than given legal protection: "The only people I know who were involved were the witnesses in court, the police witnesses, who were exempt from prosecution because they were paid." | |
Silcott, who was pilloried for years after police became obsessed he was a ringleader of the riots and attack on Blakelock, said the force had failed the police officer's family: "I think they let the Blakelock family down. They should have pursued the proper people, instead of framing people, instead of [saying] any black man will do." | |
The verdict came after just over six hours of deliberation by the jury. Jacobs's supporters cheered with one shouting "brother, see you in Tottenham". Jacobs sobbed in the dock. | |
Blakelock's widow held her head in her hands on hearing the not guilty verdicts, with Jacobs also cleared of manslaughter. | |
In a statement the family said they were left "extremely sad and disappointed" by the verdicts: "We appreciate the work and effort over the years since events on Broadwater Farm that night in trying to bring people to justice. | |
"We hope that more people are able to come forward so that some of those guilty can be brought to justice in the future." | |
Police spent millions of pounds on the case against Jacobs, who was 16 at the time of the murder and had previously been convicted of affray in 1986 for his part in the disturbances. He was photographed at the scene throwing petrol bombs at the police. | |
The Broadwater Farm riots were some of the most vicious civil disturbances seen in Britain, with officers and rioters engaged in hand-to-hand combat. | |
Violence erupted on Saturday 5 October 1985 after Cynthia Jarrett died following a police search of her home in Tottenham related to the arrest of her son. The death from a heart attack inflamed tensions and came a week after police had shot a black woman in Brixton, south London. | |
By the Sunday evening, rioting broke out on Broadwater Farm estate. Blakelock was part of police serial 502, a unit drawn from Hornsey and Wood Green police stations, trying to protect firefighters who were tackling a blaze endangering flats on the estate. They were armed with just their shields and truncheons. | By the Sunday evening, rioting broke out on Broadwater Farm estate. Blakelock was part of police serial 502, a unit drawn from Hornsey and Wood Green police stations, trying to protect firefighters who were tackling a blaze endangering flats on the estate. They were armed with just their shields and truncheons. |
A group of youths, some with weapons and masked, attacked them and the officers attempted to retreat. Blakelock was seen to slip by a grass verge where he was encircled and killed. Blakelock, while on the ground, suffered eight machete wounds to the scalp, a knife driven into the back of the mouth with only the handle visible, 13 knife wounds to the back of the body, and wounds to his hands and arms. | |
The original murder investigation saw abuses by the police. The Met arrested more than 360 people, held children without access to a lawyer or parents, then charged six people with murder, all of whom were eventually cleared. | The original murder investigation saw abuses by the police. The Met arrested more than 360 people, held children without access to a lawyer or parents, then charged six people with murder, all of whom were eventually cleared. |
While the savagery of the attack was not in doubt, the crown had to prove Jacobs had been part of the group that murdered the officer. | |
The evidence against Jacobs included a rap poem which the prosecution claimed contained admissions that he had stabbed Blakelock. It was first discovered in 1988 while Jacobs was serving an eight-year term for affray. | |
In the poem, Jacobs wrote, naming Blakelock: "Me have de chopper, we have intention to kill a police officer. PC Blakelock de unlucky fucker him dis an help de fireman. | |
"We start chop him on his hand we chop him on him finger we chop him on him leg we chop him on his shoulder him head him chest him neck we chop him all over when we done kill him off lord er feel much better." | "We start chop him on his hand we chop him on him finger we chop him on him leg we chop him on his shoulder him head him chest him neck we chop him all over when we done kill him off lord er feel much better." |
Courtenay Griffiths QC, who defended Jacobs, said the police investigation and decision to put Jacobs on trial was deplorable. Of the allegedly incriminating rap lyrics he said: "Bob Marley wrote I Shot The Sheriff but I have not heard of him being put on trial for murder." | |
Griffiths said the three alleged eyewitnesses, who testified anonymously, were liars or fantasists. | Griffiths said the three alleged eyewitnesses, who testified anonymously, were liars or fantasists. |
The least problematic of the three witnesses was referred to as Q. He was not involved in the violence but claimed to have seen Jacobs stab Blakelock. He came forward in 2009. He is related to another witness called John Brown. | |
Q, who admitted heroin use and heavy drinking, was watched by the jury as he testified. In an unusual move, jurors passed a note to the judge asking whether the witness had Korsakoff's syndrome, by which heavy drinkers suffer brain damage and subsequently invent things. According to the Alzheimer's Society, one symptom is that "a person invents events to fill the gaps in memory". | |
Q wrongly claimed that the murder took place in a concrete car park area under a housing block, which he thought was called Martlesham. It happened on a grassy area by Tangmere block. | |
John Brown, one of the two witnesses who admitted attacking Blakelock, was offered up by the prosecution as having identified Jacobs as an attacker armed with a machete or scythe. | |
But in a 1993 police interview he said black people looked the same to him. "It's very hard for me because, like, I'm not a racist person but to me a black is a black, all right? I can't tell the difference between them. To me a black man is a black man." | |
In the witness box this year he was pressed by Griffiths on whether this was still his view. Brown replied: "More or less." | |
The third witness, known as Rhodes Levin, named Silcott as the ringleader of the attack in a 1985 police interview. Later he said he had made this up to tell police what he thought they wanted to hear. | |
Levin said that during the attack on Blakelock he was stood next to Jacobs, who was armed with a knife less than six inches long, contradicting Brown's claims that the defendant was armed with a machete. | |
Prosecutor Richard Whittam QC told the jury: "Were it not for the immunity, they [some of the witnesses] would have been prosecuted for murder." | |
He said they had been "provided with some degree of financial assistance by police" for their "willingness to give evidence and co-operation". He said payments were "subject to a strict authorisation procedure and are limited". | |
Another element of the crown's case was an alleged admission by Jacobs in 2000 when he was arrested for a separate matter. The jury heard that he was alleged to have told a police officer: "Fuck off, I was one of them who killed PC Blakelock." | |
Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said: "We will not give up on bringing Keith's killers to justice. There are people who know exactly who took part in the attack on Keith and people who took part themselves. It is not too late for you to come forward. Almost 30 years on, people's' lives are very different, their allegiances broken or shifted. Help us now. " | |
Rowley also defended the use of the two witnesses who had attacked Blakelock: "It would be nice to have alternatives, witnesses of perfect character, but unfortunately you do not tend to get them at riots." | |
He said the payments were made in 1994, after the men had assisted police, but only when prosecutors decide there would be no prosecution based on the two men's testimony. | |
John Brown was 20 at the time of the riots, and had attended a special needs school. He associated with the Park Lane Gang, of whom Jacobs was an alleged member. | |
In 1986 pleaded guilty to burglary and affray and received a 42 month sentence. By July 1986 he first named Jacobs to police. | |
He also claimed Jacobs made admissions about attacking Blakelock and testified in Jacobs's trial for affray. | |
In 1993 a new police inquiy into Blakelock's murder spoke to Brown. He named several people as being responsible. | |
In June 1993 he was told by police about the immunity from prosecution. Now he told police Jacobs's had a machete or scythe which he lunged at the officer's shoulders. | |
He claimed at the scene there were shouts of "kill the pig" and "get his fucking head on a pole". | |
Later Brown admitted kicking Blakelock up to ten times and claimed he had waited eight years to give this latest account because he was scared and had been threatened. | |
By August 1993 he made a statement that Jacobs had a scythe or machete some 20 cm long and cut Blakelock 4 or 5 times. | |
Police say only after this was Brown told of rewards on offer from the Met and the News of the World. | |
The witness known as Rhodes Levin was jailed for 12 months for affray during the riots fater pleading guilty in June 1987. From 1993 to 1994 he was interviewed extensively by detectives and placed in witness protections, but later removed because of bad behaviour. | |
His offending continued as recently as July 2013 when he was convicted of intent to supply crack coaine and heroin. He received a suspended sentence. | |
After his arrest over the riots he told police Winston Silcott had chopped at Blakelock's body. | |
In 1992 he told detectives he had kicked Blakelock, after being told of the offer of immunity. | |
Even the crown said that between 1992 to 1994 Levin was changing his story. | |
He admitted having years earlier invented his account of Silcott being present, saying he had told police what they wanted to hear and was desperate to get out of the police station. | |
By October 1993 he made what he said was his defintive statement.He said he was friends with Jacobs whom was armed with a knife less than six inches in length as he attacked Blakelock. Levin said he stood next to Jacobs as he stabbed the fallen officer in the top half of the body. | |
Levin said he saw Jacobs stab Blakelock twice. | |
At one point in 1994 covertly taped Levin claiming to have brought PC Blakelock to the ground. In a latter interview he denied it. | |
Jacobs is expected to be freed from Belmarsh prison, where he had been kept on remand, on Thursday. Police have contingency plans in place for any reaction on the streets to the verdict. |