Defendants: Sunny Ozidede, Stanley Nwadike, Harrison Tubman, John Quaquah, Lucky Agbebaku, Enahoro Esemuze, Edward Onabanjo-Agoro, + 2 minors, one of whom is too ill too attend court and has had his trial stayed.
Solicitors: Blaxland (Sunny), Bright (Stanley), Shiekh (Harrison), Roberts (John), Macaulay (Lucky), Reilly (Enahoro), Davis (Edward), Hoskin (Sambou).
Further information on defendants available here
More extensive highlights of every day of the trial available here
Unreliable eye-witnesses
of Group 4 in the trial of the Campsfield Nine
The trial of the Campsfield Nine collapsed after eleven
days of trial with all nine acquitted. This is what the witnesses admitted
in court in the order they appeared. John Graham, Immigration Officer at Campsfield, had told the
police that Sunny Ozidede had threatened him. In court he admitted that in
fact he couldnt recognise Sunny and that he could only put names to
faces if someone else told him. John Jasper, Campsfield House manager for Group 4, claimed that
Group 4 had a mission statement saying that Group 4 had an anti-racist
policy that detainees knew about. In court he admitted that the display
board showing this was not in fact in an area which detainees were allowed
into. John Allen, Group 4 supervisor, was in charge of the removal of
one of the detainees to a prison that morning which sparked off the
protest. It turned out that a stranglehold was used to move this
detainee: Henry Blaxland: Do you agree that his hands were on his neck? JA: No, but near neck. Point of hold is to secure head HB: Do you agree it is very dangerous to hold neck JA: There is a world of difference [between the two holds]. Obviously
its not text book C&R HB: Dont you think that seeing this, the other detainees would
think that he is being strangled. JA: no answer John Allen also admitted making an undeliberate lie in court
because he claimed he had never heard or used the expression
bumped out to say that a detainee was moved from Campsfield to
a prison. In fact he had used the phrase twice in his statement to
the police. Mo Stone, Group 4 officer, claimed to the police that he watched
through the door at detainees congregating to complain about the removal.
In fact, from the CCTV video, it is clear that he looked once and briefly.
He also mentioned defendants names in court which he had not referred
to in his statements to the police and he exaggerated in court how many
detainees were protesting outside. Most importantly, however, he admitted
that it was he (and his partner) who had smashed the telephones in one of
the day rooms. DB: Were you in the ladies day room. The wall telephone was broken
there. Did you break it? MS: no DB: Are you sure about that. Are you saying that if other witnesses say
that they saw you break the telephone that they are liars? I put it to you
that you personally smashed the telephone MS: we did pull it apart. DB: Where did you tell the police that? Why not? MS: I dont know Mo Stone also claimed to know the majority of the detainees
in Campsfield. However, he had ONLY identified black West African males to
the police despite the fact that the video evidence clearly showed that
Asian and white detainees were also involved. At the time, there were 187
people in Campsfield House. 44 of them were black African males. Mo also admitted that he had hit a detainee on the head with his PI24
baton. C&R techniques dictate that heads should not be hit, only limbs.
Mo claimed that he "missed" the upper arm. He did not, however, report this
to his supervisor which he should have done. Tim Allen, Group 4 officer, was forced to admit that he had lied
about being on the roof of Yellow Block on his own, and instead had two
other officers there with him. The verbal abuse that detainees
were meant to have shouted at the gate was we want our freedom.
For the case, Tim Allen showed that he could not recognise Stanley who he
had accused of throwing things at him. He identified a man with a hat on
the CCTV video and then admitted later that, indeed, that had not been
Stanley. Like other witnesses, Tim Allen also made allegations in court
that he had not made to the police, listing all the defendants when his
statements only mentioned a few. Des Wilkinson, Group 4 supervisor, looked foolish in court when
he couldnt remember which gate he had gone to during the disturbance.
Nor could he identify people in the heat of the moment. Jane Essery, Group 4 officer, was shown up as a liar in court.
She had said to the police she was scared and had said to Group 4 she felt
calm! Henry Blaxland cross-examining HB You were asked (in taped interview with Group 4) how you felt in
the Ladies Day room. To the question "Did you feel threatened" you replied
"No, I felt very calm actually" So did you feel threatened or calm? Why did
you tell us one thing and your employers another? JE I have never heard that tape and was not told it would be used in
evidence. (NB several of the Group 4 guards were taken aback by the use of their
statements to Group 4 in court. Of course, when challenged, they had to say
that they had also told Group 4 the truth but perhaps it was
more of the truth than they had told the police!) Terence Morley, Group 4 guard, like others before him, chose to
further his allegations in court. He said that Sunny had threatened to kill
him - a statement he had never told the police (despite 4 statements in as
many months) and never told Group 4 which suggests that his evidence in
court was unreliable. He also admitted that he and Mo Stone had
smashed the telephones (rather than dismantle them as Mo had
claimed). Caryn Mitchell-Hill, Group 4 guard, lied about being alone in the
doctors corridor and being threatened by a detainee. The CCTV clearly
showed that she had never taken the route she claimed and at all times was
accompanied by other officers. Furthermore she now claimed that the
detainee who had threatened her was Sunny although ten months ago she had
told the police she didnt know his name. She also claimed to be able
to tell a persons nationality (eg. whether Nigerian or Gambian) from
their colour of skin. Paul Spencer, Group 4 guard, also chose to mention a defendant
not named before in his statements to the police. This guard tried to beef
up the case against Sambou - but actually, like the others, brought his
entire testimony into question. Chris Barry, Group 4 orderly, lied in court about threatening
detainees with moving them to prison. Claimed he didnt threaten
people but in his statement to Group 4 he had admitted it. He had also
described someone as Sunny who clearly did not match the photograph of
Sunny on the day after. The Judge was forced to interject: JUDGE Let me get this straight. You are saying now: The person
I have described on 20 August must have been somebody else.? CB yes Chris Barry also claimed to have been hit on the head during the
disturbance, and sprayed with a chemical and have been punched and kicked
and had his shirt torn. Typically, the CCTV camera had a good close up of
Chris Barry when he emerged from this so-called fracas which showed his
shirt to be dry, unscathed and not even pulled out of shape. He himself was
seen walking about on the roof of the building minutes after his so called
concussion. Like his girlfriend, Caryn Mitchell-Hill, Chris Barry thought
that colour revealed nationality and had changed his police statement from
blaming Afro-Caribbeans to West Africans. Andrew MacFadyen, Group 4 officer, admitted that he had made his
identifications of the defendants from the backs and the tops (when he was
on the roof) of their heads and had not seen their faces. Sean Cane, Group 4 orderly, had to admit in court that he had
been disciplined for rudeness to detainees and the only people he had
accused were black Africans. Robert Andrews, Group 4 orderly, had to admit in court that he
couldnt name Sunny at the time and only put a name to him in later
statements to the police (ie after having talked about it with other
officers). In court he had to admit that his identification of the
defendants could have been mistaken. Paul Bean, used to work for Group 4 now a prison officer, said in
court that he drew his baton and hit a detainee only after he was hit but
his statement to the police, only four days after the event, said that he
had drawn in baton first. He also admitted that he had seen the detainee
who was being removed that morning by the head. Of the stranglehold
used.. PB Thats not a true straight hold. From what I can remember, Mr
Galloway was trying to calm down the detainee, using his personal skills to
calm him down. Henry Blaxland Does using personal skills mean putting his hands
around the detainees neck? PB Cant see whether his hands were round the neck or head. Paul Bean was also forced to admit that the person he had said was
Stanley was clearly not after watching the video evidence in court. In the
end, after cross-examination of all the defence counsel he had to admit
that he could not be sure of his identification of the people
involved.