A father demanding justice for his son Trevor Monerville has been given fresh hope more than 20 years after his murder.
Trevor Monerville, who was murdered in 1994, was at the centre of a spying controversy involving undercover police after he was beaten up in Stoke Newington police station seven years prior to his death.
The Hackney Community Defence Association (HCDA), a help group for victims of police crime, has regrouped in order to investigate the undercover police activity targeted against the family before Trevor’s death.
The organisation is working as part of a wider inquiry into police brutality during the eighties and nineties.
His father, John Burke-Monerville, told Hackney Post, “I have no choice but to carry on and see what is happening and see what I can get out of it on behalf of my son.”
“I would like to learn a lot from the inquiry. I cannot say anything more than that,” said Mr Burke-Monerville.
Undercover police
The HCDA is a core participant in the Undercover Policing Inquiry led by Lord Justice Pitchford, meaning it has access to all of the public evidence relevant to their particular interest in the case.
Trevor Monerville was 19 when he disappeared from the streets of Hackney in January 1987.
He was held in Stoke Newington police station and shortly after had to have emergency brain surgery. He had extensive injuries to his face and brain which left him with permanent brain damage.
During the following year several similar cases were reported and the community set up the HCDA as part of a more generalised campaign to expose the brutality of police in Stoke Newington.
His father believes the family was also spied upon by an undercover police officer who attended his justice campaign meetings after the attack.
A man who befriended the family under the name Mark Cassidy turned out to be an undercover police officer working under a false name. Evidence given by a former lover to MPs gave his real name as Mark Jenner.
Speaking to Channel 4, Mr Burke-Monerville said: “We believed that he was there to help, not realising that he was there to crucify us… he was there to nail the last nail. He pretended to be helpful and all smiles, when he was ripping us apart.”
The HCDA is working alongside the Colin Roach centre, which was set up in memory of a 21-year-old black British man who died in the foyer of Stoke Newington police station in 1983.
Search for open justice for victims
Mark Metcalf, the centre’s founder told Hackney Post: “The HCDA and Colin Roach centre are attempting to bring attention to the Undercover Policing Inquiry and make sure it takes into account as many victims as possible.”
“We want to exert pressure on the policy of NCND [Neither Confirm Nor Deny] and although we appreciate that there may be situations when undercover officers may need anonymity there aren’t too many of them. The inquiry must not be held in secret,” Mr Metcalf added.
“Only two or three officers in Hackney have so far been publicly named and we want to find out about more of them. Mark Jenner is one of the officers we want publicly named.”
A representative from HCDA spoke at a “Big Brother – who’s watching you” public meeting in Hackney on 26 February. The Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell – who was unable to attend due to illness – criticised the use of police surveillance in our “democratic and supposedly open society”.
He said the Undercover Policing Inquiry must ensure “justice for those harmed by this practice of Police spying”.
Seven years after he was beaten in Stoke Newington police station, Trevor was murdered on the street after being stabbed ten times. There were no arrests and no one was prosecuted.
1994 murder remains unsolved
In 2013, Mr Burke-Monerville’s other son, Joseph, was shot dead at the age of 19 in a case of mistaken identity. He was sitting in a car with two of his brothers when someone fired shots through the window.
Joseph was studying crime scene and forensic investigations at London Metropolitan University when he was killed. The police said the brothers were “entirely innocent members of the public”.
The case against three gang members who were accused of the murder was dropped before it was due to go to trial in May 2015.
Talking to Channel 4 News, Mr Burke-Monerville said he wanted the campaign to “give the Monerville family some peace of mind”. He said the family’s “faith in justice has been shattered”.
He told Hackney Post he hoped to know more about how the HCDA would be working on the inquiry in the coming weeks.
“At this present moment I don’t know what our course of action is but I hope to find out soon,” he said.
The Metropolitan police told Hackney Post that they were “not prepared to confirm nor deny if any individual works or has worked undercover”.
Credit for all images: David Hoffman
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