JUSTICE FOR MARK BARNSLEY CAMPAIGN BULLETIN - EARLY SUMMER 2001

FRIDAY - JUNE 8th - 2001 - DAY OF ACTION TO DEMAND JUSTICE FOR MARK BARNSLEY.

In solidarity with Mark Barnsley?s ceaseless struggle for justice and to highlight the 7th anniversary of the attack upon him (known as ?The Pomona Incident?), we will be holding a ?Day of Action? on Friday June 8th. We strongly urge everyone committed to fighting injustice to join us as a show of strength in support of Mark. Please make every effort to take part in the main event of the day, which will take place at the Home Office in London. In light of the increasing level of harassment against Mark and his campaign, it?s crucial that we send a clear message to those with ultimate responsibility, that we are determined to see justice done. Let?s make it a day to remember!

PROTEST PICKET AT THE HOME OFFICE
ASSEMBLE 1pm
AT: THE HOME OFFICE 50 QUEEN ANNE'S GATE LONDON SW1H 9AT
NEAREST TUBE: ST. JAMES PARK

Bring banners, placards, friends & family.

The campaign is organising transport to the picket from Leeds in the North of England. For further details and to book your place please phone: 0113 2629365 or e-mail: leedsef@ukf.net (a.s.a.p.).

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY. Supporters abroad can show solidarity on the day in a number of ways. You could organise a protest picket at British Embassies and Consulates or leaflet the public in your town or city. Contact the media (newspapers, radio etc.) or help to highlight Mark?s situation with a benefit gig or other public event. Send letters of protest to: Minister of Prisons and Probations - Paul Boateng - at the Home Office (address above). Send Paul Boateng a protest FAX: + 020 72734090. Or e-mail him at: public.enquiries@homeoffice.qsi.gov.uk We strongly encourage and welcome all constructive autonomous actions and initiatives which help to publicise Mark?s situation on the 8th of June, 2001.

MARK BARNSLEY - 7 YEARS A HOSTAGE TO INJUSTICE.
From Grindelford Bridge I walked through fields to a wood, with a light drizzle falling around me. Crossing the river I went on to Calver Sough, pausing to watch a mother bird feeding her nest-bound young on the way. I stopped for a pint and a sandwich before continuing onto Baslow, and then striding out for Baslow Edge and the moors beyond. I had been busy throughout much of May and early June, not least in working on 2 walking guides I was writing simultaneously. Several days each week I had been out in the Peak District, walking the routes I intended to use, sometimes with my family but usually alone. On this particular day I continued along the tops of Curbar and Froggatt Edges, and then down through woodland back to Grindelford Bridge. Except for a short period of mist-like rain at the start of my walk it had been a warm, fine day. I felt happy and content as I made my way back home to my partner and children.

These memories are so faded now they may as well belong to someone else, like something I might have read in a book many years ago. Yet still I cling onto them, they represent my last full day of freedom. The following day was June 8th 1994, a day I?ve replayed in my head hundreds of thousands of times. It started well enough, just like any other. My life was happy then, I felt content in a way I have not felt since. Of course I?ve been over all the ?if only?s countless times - If only Jane hadn?t rang; if only Sam hadn?t had an appointment; If only I?d been ill; Etc, etc, etc. But disaster was heading towards my life as relentlessly as a speeding bullet, and I didn?t even know. My concerns were that my daughter Daisy was comfortable in her pram, that we had the rain hood in case it rained, not that I would be attacked in broad daylight and that my life was about to change forever.

This year, 2001, on June 8th, it will be the 7th anniversary of the Pomona Incident- 7 years that I?ve been trapped inside this nightmare. I?m still waiting for the CPS to hand over the evidence they were lawfully obligated to disclose in 1994, still waiting for the CCRC to even start investigating my case, and of course I?m still waiting for justice. I don?t know what you were doing on June 8th, 1994, but it?s a long time ago isn?t it? John Major was still Prime Minister (Tony Blair had only just been elected leader of the Labour Party), Charles and Di were still married and Bill Clinton could still pretend (however implausibly) to be honest. Mobile phones were restricted to yuppies and drug-dealers, the cops carried neither CS gas nor extendable batons, and the internet was still in it?s infancy. There was no National Lottery, no Channel 5, no 'Spice Girls' no 'Trainspotting, and no 'Pulp Fiction'. I had 3 young children in 1994, but my eldest is now nearly an adult, and even my youngest, who has never known a father that wasn?t in prison, is seven.

I doubt that anyone who looked at my case in 1994 thought that I would be convicted, let alone still be in prison today -With the exception of the crooks and liars who put me here of course. Not content with fitting me up, the State has continued to try to destroy me throughout my imprisonment. For 7 long years I have been ground under the heel of the State, subjected to sustained psychological (and sometimes physical) torture and the abuse of my human rights. Yet in taking away so much, by treating me so badly, they have granted me a clarity of purpose, and only reinforced my determination to fight for justice.

Over the past 18 months my treatment at the hands of the Prison Service has been particularly inhumane, as they have sought to isolate me and break my spirit. Since January 2000 I have been housed in 7 different high security prisons (2 of those twice), I have been held in segregation 7 times, I have been beaten up, subjected to countless inhumanities, had property stolen and destroyed, been separated from my legal papers for months on end, my mail is stolen, my visitors harassed, I am unable to see my children. Currently I am located in the worst long-term prison in Britain, a showcase of corruption and abuse, and my situation is only getting worse. And the morally-bankrupt mandarins of the Prison Service, and even Prisons Minister Paul Boateng himself, have the temerity to claim that I?m somehow being treated routinely - If that?s the case, it shows what a truly rotten, evil system they administer.

The lies penned by the likes of Boateng, Atherton, Narey et al are disgracefully transparent, but for sheer brazen dishonesty the Governor here at HMP Wakefield takes some beating. In one recent letter being sent out to supporters who wrote to complain about my allocation here, he had the cheek to claim that I was ?making full use of the very wide range of facilities this prison has to offer him?.

This is in a prison with the most restricted property list imaginable, where most days prisoners do not even get the statutory minimum of half an hour?s exercise, where there is no guarantee of receiving mail that is sent, where many of my visits have been behind glass, and where I had to wait 2 weeks for my first shower. I don?t know what these 'facilities' are, but Mr. Shaw probably considers it a 'privilege' that prisoners are not woken with a beating each morning. Wakefield is a premier league punishment move, and a blatantly obvious one - Anyone in the Prison service who claims otherwise is quite simply a liar.

Each day I'm held within the clutches of a thousand tyrants, big and small, who continue to do everything they can to break me. The abuses that I am subjected to should be condemned, and loudly, but ultimately they will make no difference, they will certainly never achieve their aim of bringing me to my knees. I remain defiant, and will continue to fight for justice until my dying breath.

The solidarity I receive adds greatly to my strength, and lifts my spirits when times are at their worst. It has taken a long time, and a lot of hard work by a small number of people, but the campaign is finally beginning to flourish. A number of new initiatives are coming together- We will soon have a new pamphlet, a benefit CD, public meetings, and hopefully yet more of the inspiring acts of direct action and demonstrations of solidarity the campaign is now capable of mounting. But to become truly effective the campaign still needs the involvement of many more people. We have a large and growing mailing list, but only a small percentage of those on it are contributing directly to the campaign. Sympathy for my plight is all well and good, but anything short of concrete solidarity will not actually bring justice any closer for me.

The action on June 8th this year represents an opportunity for all the many individuals and organisations who know about my injustice to actually do something, by letting the authorities know that I am not alone, and that the continuous human rights abuses to which I am subjected will not be tolerated. It's been 7 years since I last tasted the sweet air of freedom, please don't allow the state to bury me for any longer, demand justice now! Mark Barnsley - Wakefield Prison.

CPS DROPS CHARGES AGAINST CAMPAIGN SUPPORTERS.
As reported in the previous bulletin: 16 people taking part in an occupation of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) office in Sheffield last December, were arrested and charged with 'conspiracy to burgle, with intent'. The occupation was in protest at the continued withholding of vital evidence from Mark's defence by Sheffield CPS.

Not surprisingly, the CPS decided to drop the charges a few months later. This retreat by the CPS is clearly aimed at preventing us from using any trial as a forum for exposing the CPS's own unlawful behaviour, and putting Government Ministers in the dock. However we may still get our day in court because some of those arrested have decided to sue for wrongful arrest!

PROTESTS CONTINUE AT WAKEFIELD PRISON.
Since Mark was illegally shanghaied off to Wakefield Prison in February we?ve been busy mobilising support. With pickets of Prison Service HQ, the Home Office, Prison Minister Paul Boateng?s meetings in London, 'Mass phone/fax-ins' and 3 'Noise Demos' outside Wakefield Prison. On March 24th, about 30 people gathered in front of the main entrance to the Prison. People brought drums, whistles, horns and cooking pots and made an enormous racket. Some people took photographs of screws on their shift change (which further annoyed them). At one point the prison governor also came out, looking visibly unhappy.

On the day, some campaign supporters went inside to have a pre-booked visit with Mark. The visit was yet another ?closed? visit, behind glass. Mysteriously the 'sniffer dogs' always manage to smell something whenever Mark has visitors; even a 75 year old ex-headmaster visiting Mark recently had the sniffer dogs sit at his feet! According to one of Mark?s visitors on March 24th: 'To say it was blatant would be an understatement really. The screw didn?t even bother to make the dog sit down; he just held it by my leg until the other screw threw a ball at it. You could see the dog trying to move on and the screw just refused to budge'.

This is only one example of the blatant harassment Mark faces at Wakefield prison on a daily basis. However, on March 24th, despite being on a 24 hour hunger fast, Mark was still in good spirits and could hear the Noise Demo, which lasted several hours outside. In fact, they could all hear the fireworks going off whilst the visit was happening. The next Noise Demo took place on Sunday, 22nd of April. Despite a slightly smaller turnout, we made our point again with another huge racket. Thanks to everyone who has turned up for demos or taken part in the mass fax/phone-ins.

We will continue to protest the Prison Service campaign of harassment against Mark and demand that he be moved to a more appropriate prison without further delay. That the Home Office hold the Governors of Wakefield and Frankland Prisons accountable for their abuses of power. We hope that we can count on your continued participation in the up-coming 'Mass Phone & Fax-Ins' (see opposite). Other actions are also in the pipeline.

CAMPAIGN DIARY SUMMER 2001.

JUSTICE FOR MARK BARNSLEY - PUBLIC MEETING.
TUESDAY - 29TH - MAY- 7.30PM
CONWAY HALL (SMALL HALL)
RED LION SQUARE
LONDON, WC1.
Nearest Tube: HOLBORN

Speakers include:
MARK THOMAS
JUSTICE FOR MARK BARNSLEY
PADDY HILL (MOJO)
JOHN McDONNELL MP.

We plan to make a video of this meeting available to campaign supporters. Why not organise a public screening in your town or community ?

7TH ANNIVERSARY - DAY OF ACTION. - PROTEST AT THE HOME OFFICE.
FRIDAY - JUNE 8TH - ASSEMBLE 1PM
AT: THE HOME OFFICE
50 QUEEN ANNE?S GATE
LONDON, SW1H 9AT
NEAREST TUBE: ST. JAMES PARK

For further details of transport down to the picket from the North of England phone:0113 2629365 or e-mail: leedsef@ukf.net (asap).
 

LONDON SUPPORTERS MEETING.
TUESDAY - 12TH JUNE - 7.30PM
CONWAY HALL (see above for address)
A meeting for supporters, old and new, in the London area.

MASS PHONE & FAX-IN PROTEST TO WAKEFIELD PRISON.
THE LAST MONDAY OF EACH MONTH.
JUNE 24TH, JULY 30TH, AUGUST 27TH ?
FAX: 01924 299 315
TELEPHONE: 01924 378282
KEEP ON DEMANDING THAT MARK BARNSLEY BE MOVED OUT OF WAKEFIELD PRISON.

YOU CAN CONTACT THE CAMPAIGN AT THE FOLLOWING:
Write to: Justice for Mark Barnsley
- PO Box 381, Huddersfield, HD13XX, England.
J.f.M.B. (London) Tel: 07944 522001
J.f.M.B. (Ireland)- PO Box 1290,Belfast, BT12 7BW.
E-mail:barnsleycampaign@hotmail.com
Visit the campaign web site at:
http://www.freemarkbarnsley.com

You can write to Mark directly at: Mark Barnsley WA2897 - HMP Wakefield, 5 Love Lane, Wakefield, WF2 9AG, England.

Please bear in mind that the situation with Mark?s mail has not improved. Many items (particularly political literature) are still not reaching him. If writing from the UK please remember to include a stamped S.A.E & a few sheets of paper so that Mark can reply. We suggest publishers sending Mark any publications of a ?political? nature send them by Recorded Delivery.

BACKGROUND TO THE CASE
(more details at- http://www.freemarkbarnsley.com)
On June 8th, 1994 Mark Barnsley, a 33 year old writer from Sheffield, went out for a walk with his baby daughter and a friend, Jane Leathborough. A short distance from Mark?s home, they decided to go for a quiet drink in the beer garden of The Pomona pub.

Unfortunately they were soon joined by a group of about 15 drunken students who proceeded to verbally abuse them. Mark and Jane decided to leave but when he calmly questioned the students about their behaviour Mark was hit over the head from behind with a bottle or heavy glass and badly beaten up by several of them. Before managing to get away from his attackers, Mark was brought to the ground 3 times under a hail of kicks and punches for 150 yards. He ended up with injuries all over his body including several head wounds, broken ribs, a broken nose and a front tooth knocked out. Luckily Jane managed to escape unharmed with the baby.

In the early stages of the attack, one of the students also produced a knife but dropped it on the floor. Fearing he may be stabbed, Mark managed to get hold of it and tried to get away. Due to the way the students continued to attack, punch, kick and jump on top of Mark, a number of them received knife injuries.

Despite every single independent witness stating that Mark was the person being attacked, he was the only one arrested in relation to the incident and was charged with 5 counts of GBH.

A year later, after a trial characterised by lies, perjury, the withholding and planting of evidence, judicial bias, accompanied by a hysterical local press campaign, Mark was convicted on 2 counts of GBH and 3 lesser wounding charges. When the court adjourned, the only definite recommendation was probation. Incredibly, Mark received a prison sentence of 12 years!

7 years on, Mark is still behind bars, still separated from his family and friends and STILL FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE.