Yesterday, Anthony Grainger's family and friends were out at the Salford May Day Rally and March (see here) handing out leaflets, calling for more information about his shooting, and raising awareness of their campaign for justice.
The facts on the back of the leaflet make horrific reading…
"On Saturday 3rd March 2012 at 7.20pm an incident took place at Jackson Street car park in Culcheth. Where a man was murdered by Greater Manchester Police. After using excessive tactics and force (blocking in the vehicle, shooting out two tyres with a shotgun, a CS gas canister was also deployed by hand into the vehicle), a fatal with a Heckler and Koch MP5 went directly to the heart of an unharmed man.
"Anthony Grainger was a dedicated father, partner and son. His family and friends are pleading for answers so they can come to terms with why the police can shoot an unarmed man (no weapons at all) sat in the corner of a dark car park. If the police thought he was up to no good then the question is why didn't they pull over the car before reaching Culcheth?"
The case has already gone to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which has announced it will be pursuing a criminal investigation against the GMP officer who fired the shot that killed Anthony Grainger. But Anthony's partner, Gail Hadfield, and her sister Chrissy, don't have too much faith in the system…
"It's already gone quicker than most cases" says Chrissy "And the policeman has already been interviewed under caution and he's going to get, hopefully, a charge of unlawful manslaughter or possibly murder…"
"But I'm not very hopeful" adds Gail "To get exactly what we want is going to be very hard because I want the police officers who gave the orders and issued the guns and bullets to be charged with joint enterprise, and I want the police officers on the night, the surveillance officer and the 16 armed officers to be charged with conspiracy and to get that is going to be quite hard."
"…And we want the Chief Constable to be charged with corporate manslaughter because it was forced negligence and no duty of care taken" adds Chrissy.
So do they think Anthony Grainger's death was an execution? They both answer `Yes'.
"The IPCC has already declared it was no accident" says Chrissy, and Gail adds "It was a pre-planned execution, which is the worst about it."
The Justice4Grainger campaign has now been launched to find out the true facts of the case, has already got over six thousand members in its first month online and is raising money for both the campaign and to support Anthony Grainger's children.
Anthony Grainger was from Lower Broughton and the first benefit event is this Saturday 8th May in Salford at the Old Pint Pot on The Crescent, and will feature all sorts of fun stuff, including DJs, bands, stand up, a huge raffle, a buffet , `male waxing' and a `girl auction' where the highest bidder will get a private waitress for an hour.
On June 17th, at noon, there's going to be a Father's Day protest in Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester…
"We're all going to be sat down in silence, all peaceful, with our candles held high and our banners for everyone who's lost their lives in police custody" says Gail "There will be no trouble, no fighting, no riots, everything we're doing is peaceful. We don't want revenge, we want answers and justice…"
Justice4Grainger Campaign Benefit
Old Pint Pot, The Crescent
Saturday 12th May 7pm £4/£2 with wristband
Find out more about the Justice4Grainger campaign…
www.facebook.com/groups/anthony.grainger
Twitter: #justice4grainger
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