Why Britain suffered a long hot summer has resulted in acres of print and endless meetings why there was a contagious unrest. One common view held was that it was sparked by the death of a black man at the hands of the police. This was one attack on a black person too many. The effect was quite incredible. The incompetent police handling of the aftermath when the family responded asking questions was damped down by assertions that Mark Duggan was armed. The Guardian now reports otherwise.
In Birmingham it has taken years to find out how Mikey Powell met his death while being taken into custody. He was rammed by a police car, hit by police batons, sprayed with gas and sat on. This was after his mother had requested help because of Mikey’s mental illness. Justification was given for violence on this vulnerable person because it was “believed he was armed”.
In Wolverhampton Jenny Cooper was badly beaten by police in the course of being arrested for a trumped up charge for which she has been cleared by a jury. It was so arranged that she was convicted of resisting arrest in the magistrate’s court before standing trial for the substantive charge. So she still has a record because the police are keen to protect themselves from any charges against themselves for thuggery.
Will the “landmark report” report in the Guardian shed light, heat or both on the matter?

We turned up at Wolverhampton Crown Court at 10.00 expecting at last to hear the second part of the charges the police in Wolverhampton have thrown at Jenny Cooper. No such luck. The court case was last Friday and so over the weekend some police officers turned up to arrest her and take her into custody. Luckily Jenny has the letter from the solicitor saying 11th April. It was the solicitor who contacted the police to arrest Jenny for non-attendance! She has been trying to change the solicitor but because it is funded by legal aid she can’t do that. She will have to pay to go elsewhere, but if your representative prefers to support the police what can you do?
Back in February there was a hearing in the Magistrates’ Court about Jenny resisting arrest on June 30th 2010. The magistrate obviously wasn’t in a good mood to start with. As I tried to put in my hearing aid it started to ring. “Turn off you mobile phone now” was the angry response glancing in my direction. Jenny fared no better. He told her she hadn’t been hurt – although she was still using crutches more than 6 months later. Her representative failed to say even that she was taken to New Cross Hospital by the police. Although they thought she may have broken bones and wanted to put plaster on her the police insisted that they needed to question her and needed to take her back to Bilston Street Police Station. A woman ambulance driver had warned her to get further help elsewhere as she believed the hospital and police worked together. A Wolverhampton Mafia indeed! Jenny went to Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley and then to her own GP. None of this was reported to the court with the result that the Malevolent Magistrate told her she was lying. (Her GP had likened her injuries to someone involved in a car crash.)

Jennifer Cooper lies still on the ground after a savage beating from two police officers seen standing over her. They are not tending to her multiple injuries they have just inflicted one is about to put handcuffs on her. She was taken to the police station for questioning about serious allegations about her, apparently from a totally unreliable source.
We continue to believe that the police force is a service intended to protect us from harm, that is unless the law is broken, If, however, members of the police force act unlawfully harming members of the public, us, what redress is there? The answer time after time is there is none as the case of the striking to the ground of a man on his way home from work, The video shows him to be struck with considerable force. Why? Was the officer wound up. By him? By someone else? The Crown Prosecution Service says there would be little prospect of a prosecution succeeding. Is this just an opinion, an informed opinion or what? How do we know unless it is put to the test? That is of course if members of the CPS like the rest of us believe the police are untouchable.
Time after time it is agreed that mistakes are made as the Met said after Jean Charles de Menezes was unlawfully killed at Stockwell tube station five years ago today. Has anyone been held to account for this horrific act? Just read the link. Here’s a message from one family to another.
Last year the cause of the death of Mikey Powell in police custody in Birmingham found after 5 years that the cause of death was the way Mikey was placed in the police van. Any one prosecuted? No. Anyone likely to be prosecuted? Refer to the CPS statement above.
On 30th June Jennifer Cooper was forcibly kicked to the ground so that she had injuries said to resemble a car accident. More than by luck than judgement she didn’t die. While the police took her to the police station and then because of her injuries to hospital, they have not recorded the incident as a crime against her. It appears that the police were tipped off, by someone they know to be totally unreliable, that she was dangerous. If you know Jenny that is laughable. The police will merely say that they are continuing investigations into allegations against her. Not a word of concern has been expressed about her injuries. No crime number has been issued to her so anyone trying to investigate what happened gets nowhere with the police. She cannot apply for compensation from Criminal Injuries. She appears to have no rights.

Jenny was kicked forcibly in the back so was unprepared for the attack by a male officer of large build. She was then kicked in the most vulnerable parts of her body with the officer standing on her throat. A woman police officer was said to have joined in and they were heard to be laughing as they carried out the assault.

On 30th June, 2010 Jennifer Cooper of Wolverhampton, was walking down the street outside her home taking some food to her diabetic mother who lives just a few doors away. Without any warning she received a forceful kick in the back so that she fell forward sustaining injuries,
This is her account to us. As she lay curled trying to protect herself she was repeatedly kicked by her attacker, a well built Asian male. She was struck on the head, the genitals and other parts of her body. He put his boot on her neck and applied his full weight making it difficult for her to breathe. A white woman joined in the kicking as Ms Cooper lay on the ground, and both were laughing while they carried out their brutal assault. Ms Cooper tells us she was terrified and screamed out for help. She felt that her attackers intended to kill her. The male attacker was heard to say “you can’t win” and “it’s not going to go anywhere. No one is going to take it to anyone”. The two attackers were not wearing uniform but were seen to use radios to call for support as a number of onlookers had assembled. One witness took a picture on their mobile phone. Ms Cooper said that another witness tried to intervene, protesting at the violence. He was punched by the male attacker. The police were also called by onlookers who dialled 999.
When two armed police officers arrived the attackers went to their separate cars and left the scene hastily after having spoken to the officers. They then took Ms Cooper to Bilston Road Police Station. Ms Cooper was taken to New Cross Hospital because of her injuries. She says that one of the officers who took her told her that her attackers were police officers from Stafford/Brownhills. After treatment returned to Bilston Street where she was questioned about a woman she knew of. She understood that the woman was alleging that Jennifer Cooper “was a dangerous woman” and intended killing police officers, herself and Jenny’s own grandchildren.
Ms Cooper told us about an earlier incident on 24th June when she was at KFC in Wolverhampton, By chance she met her housing manager who took a contact card out of his brief case and handed it to Ms Cooper. While she was waiting in the queue to be served a white woman with two children approached her calling her name. Ms Cooper identified her as the woman making allegations about her. This was not the first occasion when she had tried to contact Ms Cooper. On this occasion she was expressing remorse about being party to the arrest and imprisonment of Ms Cooper’s son because of allegations she made against him. Ms Cooper told her she should tell this to the police or to a solicitor. It appears that the woman did phone the police but to tell them of a man taking a gun from his brief case in KFC and handing it to Ms Cooper. It is our understanding that the woman was put under police protection and taken away from the Wolverhanpton area because she is at risk. Ms Cooper also told us that the woman was requesting money from her. She also seems to know about Ms Cooper’s son’s current circumstances. Who has informed her?
Ms Cooper can only walk with crutches and is experiencing considerable pain as a result of the assault on her. She subsequently went to Russell Hall Hospital and to her own GP. Her GP has made a detailed note of her injuries and has expressed grave concern at how she came to be in this state.
Ms Cooper continues to be in considerable pain due to the multiple injuries. One of those who examined her said that it looked as if she had been in a car crash. Her GP has recorded the injuries in detail. When she went to Russells Hall Hospital her left leg was encased in plaster from her thigh to her ankle. It appears that there are fractures to the ankle and the knee. Her ribs are hurting. She can only walk with the aid of crutches.
To date the police have not taken a statement from Ms Cooper nor from any of the many witnesses who were horrified and shocked by what they saw. a complaint has been made to the Chief Constable of West Midlands police about their inaction in following up such a serious incident.