JUSTICE FOR ALVIN BLACK
or how to be colour blind.
On the 28 May 1996, two men attempted
to rob the County Hotel, Bedford. During the robbery, Mrs Johanna Czardebon, a German
tourist visiting from Bedford's twin town Bamburg, was shot and killed. After a month
long investigation - during which at least ten different people were arrested on
suspicion of the shooting - Alvin Black was arrested on the 25 June 1996. There was
no evidence to justify this arrest and it is Alvin's case that he was framed by the
Bedford police for murder and conspiracy to rob.
On the 15 November 1997, after a
ten weeks trial, Alvin was found guilty of murder by a majority verdict. He was also
found guilty of conspiracy to rob. These convictions came about as a result of police
officers falsifying statements, manufacturing and planting evidence and generally
conspiring to frame Alvin for crimes they knew he did not commit. A key figure in
this was Scene Of Crime Officer Christopher Zielke. In one of his statements he said
that he had seized from a garage two plastic bags which contained shotgun cartridges.
The police claimed that the bags contained one of Alvin Black's fingerprints.
Mr Zielke
has now admitted that this statement was a complete lie. He further admitted that
he had been told to make this false statement by his superior. This is proof of a
conspiracy between S.O.C.O. Zielke and others to pervert the course of justice. It
is Alvin's case that this conspiracy was widespread. S.O.C.O. Zielke broke ranks
by admitting his part in the conspiracy and paid for it with the loss of his job.
The Crown seeks to explain away Zielke's perjury by saying, "He didn't mean to do
it".
At the scene of the shooting, five witnesses saw the gunman clearly enough to
give evidence about his skin colour. Four said the man was white. Alvin is a black
man. Mr Dean Laley, a Bedford councillor who had been at the hotel minutes before
the robbery, said that he saw two white men lurking outside the hotel as he left.
Mr Laley feels these men were responsible for the attack on the hotel. Three and
a half years into a life sentence for a murder he did not commit, Alvin is fighting
to overturn the convictions.
For more information about the case of Alvin Black or
to contribute to the campaign for justice, please phone Fiona on 01480-351671 or
send a SAE to Justice for Alvin Black, C/O 2 Mareth Road, Bedford, Beds.
www.slimeylimeyjustice.org