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SEP : A State Murder Exposed "Who is responsible for Joy's death?' Submission to the Workers Inquiry by Myrna Simpson I am Joy Gardner's mother. I have not got a job at the moment because I am looking after Graeme, Joy's son. I am a housewife. I used to work as a care worker for the London Borough of Hackney. Joy was an ordinary and lovely mother of two children, Lisa who lives in Jamaica and Graeme. She came to England to visit and also, if she had the opportunity, to study and further her career. She had an education in Jamaica. She used to work as a secretary for the govemment. Joy came here in 1987. I had seen her a couple of years before that, because I used to visit her sometimes. When I came to England I was only a very young lady. I hadn't even cast my first vote. My first vote was in this country. Joy was only a girl when I left her with my mum to come to England to work. I left her before she started school and never lived with her since. I intended to send for her to come and join me, but it was quite difficult when you came to work and the money was poor. I didn't get the opportunity and the immigration laws changed, making it difficult to bring your family. She wanted to stay in this country. She asked me to help her by writing letters because the immigration people said that she was illegal. I wrote a letter to the Home Secretary, asking him if he could give her leave to stay on compassionate grounds. My children had written to Mr. Howard and asked him to grant her stay. My brother wrote, saying he was able to finance her. I was financing her at the beginning for about two or three years. We never got any reply. Before she died, Joy told me that her solicitor, Mr. Dervish at the time, was trying to get her leave to stay and she was waiting to hear from him. He was waiting for a reply from the Home Secretary. She had applied to Jane Coker and to Bernie [Grant] to take up her case as well. I first found out about what happened to Joy on the afternoon of July 28, 1993. At that time I was living at 1 Graham Park. My son came and told me that somebody had phoned and told him that Joy had collapsed and was in the hospital. He said the hospital didn't give him any details because they asked him his age and said he was too young to be told. They didn't say which hospital it was, but another phone call came from Joy's friend. I don't know how they got in touch with her, because the only way they could was to look in her pocket book to find this friend's phone number. She then phoned my son, because I wasn't on the phone at the time, and told him Joy was in the Whittington Hospital. I was half dressed when my son barged in and told me that Joy had collapsed. I thought it was her back, because she used to suffer with back trouble. So I thought she went in the street and was taken ill. I said to my daughter, "Let's hurry and go to the phone box". I phoned and a nurse answered. I said that I was Joy Gardner's mother and asked if Joy had been admitted to the hospital and they said, "yes". At first they were very reluctant to give any details. When I first went to the hospital, I didn't see my daughter, Maureen. She saw Bernie [Grant] somewhere in the hospital. I saw a lot of police around the hospital. I went to the Enquiries and they said that Joy was taken into Casualty, to the Intensive Therapy Unit. Somebody directed us where to go. When we went up there, in the corridor there were three or four policemen who were keeping guard. I was worried, wondering what was going on. Then when I went in with my children, I saw Joy lying on the bed all strung up. It was very shocking! I asked the doctor what had happened. He said to me that she was in a very bad way and I said: "How is her brain?" I don't know what made me ask that question, maybe the way I saw her laying down. I figured that something was wrong. But I didn't know it was so serious, because she was lying breathing as they had put her in a ventilator. It was going up and down, but she was a different colour from usual and her tongue was sticking out of her mouth, which was a bit open. I said, "How is she?" He said, "She is not good". So I said, "Is her brain all right?" He said, "Her brain is all swollen". From the time he told me that her brain was swollen I knew that she had gone. I started to scream and make a noise and my children started to cry. We all started to make a noise, to cry and say: "They have killed her!" After that I said, "Doctor, if she comes out of the coma, will she be a cabbage?" And he said to me, "Mrs. Simpson, let me be frank with you, there is no hope". I realised that she was really and truly dead, and it was just chaos in there because we were all shocked. We couldn't believe that such an atrocity could have happened. She was there from Wednesday until Sunday and I was there most of the time. I slept in the hospital, myself and my children and sometimes some friends came and stayed to give me a break. I took time to go home and have a bath and then come back. I was there until the Sunday. I didn't request that the life support machine be switched off, because she was dead anyway. She was dead from the Wednesday, so it was not a life support machine, it was only a farce and we all knew it. I slept in the hospital. There was no bed for me to sleep, so I put a mattress on the floor and lay down in a room they gave me. On Thursday morning when I got up, I looked at her, I knew definitely that she wasn't in this world. I started tearing the things off her, I was so mad! I said to them: "Why are they doing this to her? What's the point?" They said, "Mrs. Simpson, please, she's been battered and bruised, you can't do that." They tried to calm me down. On the Friday, my children and my cousins came. They were crying when they saw her, and they said, "Why are you doing this to her? She's dead." It was just shocking to know that she was dead and they were pretending as if she was alive. They used to keep the windows opened and spray air freshener. She was leaking all over. They were taking away fluid from her. I asked to see the Chief of Police and they said that they had made an appointment for myself and Bernie Grant to see the Police Complaints Authority. They started to take up the case from the Wednesday when she died in her flat. I was given to understand this by Bernie who was in the hospital. After the body was removed they went straight into Joy's flat and cleaned up the place or whatever they wanted to do. There was an inquiry. I asked to see them to find out why their men had killed my daughter. We had some discussions and they said they were inquiring themselves to find out what had happened. I told them my side, how I felt about the matter; that it was outrageous that they could do what they did to my daughter, kill her like that. It was all wrong. There was an inquiry and this established that there was a case against the police. I had to go down to St. Pancras morgue to identify her, five days I think after they turned off the machine. About five months later, on December 17, she was buried. The chief reason why it took so long was because they said they were doing an inquiry into her death, to establish how she was killed. They had to take out her brains and all sorts of things. I didn't want to bury her and leave any work not done, because I didn't want them to go and dig her up again. In the end I had to bury her without a death certificate because the inquest was adjourned until after the trial. They said they couldn't establish at that time the cause of death. The hearing was in May 1995. It was very bad, because the defence lawyers had all the say and the Police Complaints Authority were limited as to what questions they could ask. The jury only heard what the Judge wanted them to hear. They were making a lot of jokes during the trial and saying that my daughter was violent -- and she had no history of violence. The Judge was saying to the jury how this was a very violent woman. That part was very, very bad because the Judge didn't give the PCA much time to even ask questions. Each time they were talking as if they shouldn't question the defence lawyers, the defence lawyers were attacking all the time. They acquitted the police officers. This was outrageous because my daughter was killed in her flat by these police officers and she was harmless. She had no weapons, she couldn't defend herself. They didn't give her a chance in the world to defend herself. How could she? She is only one woman woken out of her sleep. She had nothing at all. All the evidence that was told in court was a lie, downright, deliberate lies. I've never heard anything like it in my whole life, and it is terrible, very unjust what happened. That verdict! Now I have heard through my solicitor that she got a phone call -- not even in writing, a phone call! -- that they were not going to carry on with the inquest, that they were just going to leave it like that. When the inquest was held I was there. Now the Judge will make a decision without anybody being there, whether there should be the continuation of the inquest or not. He can say whatever he likes to say was the cause of death, because nobody is there to say well, that is not the way it went. After her death a campaign was organised. In the two years since the campaign a lot of people have written to me and said they support me. Even until now I've been getting letters saying they support me in the campaign to push for a public, independent inquiry and that justice should be done for Joy. The politicians at first, said they were very glad to go ahead with the campaign. But I don't know what is going on now. They haven't been speaking to me. I suppose they are still supporting it in their own way. I suppose so, but not too much is being done now. I think that justice hasn't been done for Joy, because the people who are responsible for Joy's death are free. They are walking in the streets and working in the police department and in the immigration service and they could give the order to go and remove another person forcefully as they did with Joy. Because Joy was killed in her flat. This is no make-believe, this is reality. She didn't kill herself, and I didn't kill Joy. Who is responsible for Joy's death? I would really like to know, who is responsible? Questions from the commissioners Questions: What has been the impact on Joy's son, Graeme? How has he taken his mother's death? Is he still under threat of deportation from the Home Office? Mynia Simpson: Graeme took Joy's death very badly. He actually witnessed most of what went on, at least the beginning, because he had just started his holidays on Monday. Joy didn't have to take him to school, so they would lie in until later in the day. So they were woken from their sleep and Graeme saw everything. He was shocked. He had to get counselling for about two years and he still needs counselling. I try my best with him, try to talk to him as much as I can. But I don't talk to him about his mum very much. He sees photographs and he sees her on television. He watches it and gets upset. I try my best to take him to school, to care for him and look after him as best I can as a mother. Because now I am both a mother and a grandmother. Graeme is not under any threat from the Home Office. They gave him his stay, not long after Joy's death. Previous Article | Buy the Book