Police rig New Cross inquest

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Relatives of the 13 black youth who were killed in January's New Cross house fire are bearing the brunt of brazen police harassment.

As the inquest opened they, and the crowds who filled the public gallery, were subjected to intimidation and searches by five coachloads of police.

Almost at once it became clear that the relatives' lawyers would need to fight an uphill battle against police attempts to prove' that the fire was caused by people inside the house itself.

After an overnight delay they succeeded in having police witnesses excluded until such time as they gave evidence-denying them the customary police privilege of listening to earlier witnesses' statements.

But the lawyers failed to obtain copies of the statements allegedly given to the police by the victims' relatives.

And immediately the witnesses began to give evidence it became clear that the main preoccupation of the pouce had been to browbeat them into making statements they did not agree with.

"The police wrote it down, and I just signed it"

ndon E2. declared an angry Armza Ruddock, in whose house the blaze occurred, and who lost two of her children in the fire.

Though her statement had been signed eleven days after the blaze, she explained that it followed the death in hospital of her daughter Yvonne and while she was waiting for her 22 year old son to die of his injuries.

She emphatically denied that in these circumstances she had made a statement praising the performance and bravery of the police, the fire brigade and the ambulance service.

"At that time the police and firemen were giving themselves credit for what they did" , she said.

But Armza Ruddock was not the only one to deny the truth of statements written down by the police.

Mr Leslie Morris refuted a large amount of the four statements he was alleged to have made to the police. He complained of their behaviour, their accusations and innuendoes-which had accused him of having an affair with Mis Ruddock.

"One little child was in custody for eight hours" he stated.

Morris refused to answer further questions on the statements, which he said had been pieced together by police after interviews lasting as long as three hours at a stretch.

"After you've been ques. tioned for three hours it's not easy to read every word. There are quite a few things in it I would say are inaccurate whether I put my signature to it or not"

Later the Coroner, Arthur Davies, called on the police for an explanation of why one witness, Andrew Hastings-the only white guest at the house partyhad been held for questioning by police for 16 hours, without food.

Meanwhile attempts have continued to minimise the significance of the metal tube, containing remains of a highly inflammable sugar/ sodium chlorate mixture, in the front garden of gutted house.

The Coroner has declared his view that this is no more than a "red herring"

A police scientist has stated in turn that the fire could not have been at accident-while insisting that no firebomb could have been thrown through the window.

The "inquest" into the deaths of 13 black youths is thus being turned effectively into a trial of the victims themselves and the survivors I of that terrible fire.