A
petition in support of the Justice for Jay Abatan campaign has been launched.
Sign up now!
Jay Abatan, a 42- year old black man was attacked by a gang in Brighton on
24 January 1999, at the end of a night out to celebrate his recent promotion.
He was accompanied by a friend and his brother Michael, who were also attacked.
Five days later, Jay died in hospital, having sustained severe head injuries.
No one has yet been tried for Jay’s murder.
Two men were eventually arrested and charged with manslaughter but by the
time of the trial, these charges were reduced to affray and actual bodily
harm to Michael, due to a lack of witnesses coming forward. At the trial,
the jury was not allowed to hear of Jay’s death as the judge ruled that
this would prejudice the trial. In court, investigating police officers gave
good character evidence for the defendants. They had not informed the family
of these relations before the court case.
The initial investigation was the subject of a first inquiry by Essex police,
leading to the replacement of the initial investigating team by a new one.
It was then announced that the murder was being treated as a racist killing
– two years after it took place. Jay’s family have still not been
shown the findings of this initial report. More recently, a further inquiry
by Somerset and Avon police was completed.
We believe these reports highlights serious flaws in the initial investigation,
which did not follow any of the recommendations of the Lawrence Report, published
a month after Jay’s death. We therefore support the calls by the family
of Jay Abatan for the release of Essex police inquiry report and the Somerset
and Avon police report.
Sign the petition HERE.
Download the petition HERE.