The United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC) is a coalition of
families and friends of those that have died in the custody of police
and prison officers as well as those who are killed in secure
psychiatric hospitals. It includes the families of Roger Sylvester, Leon
Patterson, Rocky Bennett, Alton Manning, Christopher Alder, Brian
Douglas, Joy Gardner, Aseta Simms, Ricky Bishop, Paul Jemmott, Harry
Stanley, Glenn Howard, Mikey Powell, Jason McPherson, Lloyd Butler,
Azelle Rodney, Sean Rigg, Habib Ullah, Olaseni Lewis, David Emmanuel
(aka Smiley Culture), Kingsley Burrell, Demetre Fraser, Mark Duggan and
Anthony Paul Grainger to name but a few. Together we are building a
network for collective action to end deaths in custody.

During
the late nineties the families of the most controversial deaths in
police custody victims came together to form UFFC. Since then we have
campaigned for justice for our loved ones and our efforts have yielded
some results. The police self-investigation of deaths in custody,
previously overseen by the Police Complaints Authority, was replaced by
the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The Attorney General was
forced to undergo a review of the role of the Crown Prosecution Service.
We continue to monitor these developments.

However, these
reforms have not addressed the lack of justice in outstanding cases such
as Joy Gardner, Brian Douglas and Shiji Lapite, to name a few. These
are human rights abuses and must be dealt with accordingly. Nothing can
replace due process of law and with so much overwhelming evidence
against police officers accused of murder or manslaughter, the question
remains why have they not been convicted? Our priorities were to
continue to support cases such as Ricky Bishop, Roger Sylvester, Mikey
Powell and Harry Stanley. In recent years other high profile cases such
as those of Ian Tomlinson, Jean Charles De Menezes and Sean Rigg show
how the IPCC and the CPS have continued to fail us. Since last two years
we have had the high profile deaths of David Emanuel (aka Smiley
Culture), Kingsley Burrell, Demetre Fraser, Lloyd Butler and Mark
Duggan. The deaths have not stopped and nor shall we. Our 14th Annual
Remembrance Procession will take place on 27th October 2012.