Jury Verdict Must Stand - Self Defence is No Offence

Following my unanimous Not Guilty verdict at Newcastle Crown Court for attempted murder x 2 and GBH section 18 x 3 against Frankland prison staff, by a jury of 12 white British members of the general public, I have been hearing a lot about how this was due to me suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Although it is correct to say that due to the serious gang attack I sustained whilst on remand at HMP Woodhill on 31 May 2008 that I do indeed have PTSD, the reason why I am innocent of any assault on Frankland prison staff is because I acted in self-defence.

Had I not defended myself, I would have suffered life-threatening injuries in a pre-planned racist attack. Staff at Frankland had taken exception to the assistance I was providing to victims of assault by staff in the segregation unit and decided my time was up. How dare I report staff criminality to the police!

The actual tipping point came when I wrote to Durham MP Roberta Blackman-Woods. I asked for her assistance in putting a stop to the racial attacks by staff and culture of criminality that was being covered up by a code of silence. The help Roberta Blackman-Woods MP gave me was to send a copy of my letter to the governor of Frankland (thank you) who then had enough.

Unfortunately I was still almost killed after I defended myself. The Durham police have attempted to cover this up and I am yet to see any of the media report these real facts.

The Prison Service, which feels embarrassed by this whole situation, has kept me locked away in the isolation unit of the Close Supervision Centre at HMP Woodhill. For two years now, the psychological warfare has included stopping all communications to friends and family through mail and phone, and non-stop aggression. I am an innocent man, wrongly imprisoned in the first place, and proven to be innocent of the false allegations made by corrupt prison staff - am I really worth £250,000 of taxpayers' money?

I am sure everyone can understand my safety in prison from corrupt, criminal prison staff is now much harder to ensure. It must be difficult for Prison Service management to find a safe location for me to progress through my wrongful sentence, so I wait with anticipation to see where they will move this innocent man too.

It is a sorry state of affairs made worse by the pathetic lies coming from the corrupt prison officers' camp in order to increase the possibility of compensation. Surely the time has come for the oppressors to give up with their unjust acts and recognise that the 12 members of the jury saw the truth. The time has come to move on and learn from mistakes made on all sides; attempts to spin more lies, half-truths and misrepresentations to cover up the racist, sadistic nature of the Prison Service institution help no-one.

The jury were unanimous: I acted in lawful self-defence using reasonable threat against the threat posed. The way forward is to seek to eliminate that threat so no other prisoners have to experience the torture and no innocent bystanders get burned by the fire, which the corrupt staff continue to fuel. A 'rehabilitation revolution' can never occur until an independent body is tasked with rooting out these problems and is paid for every corrupt official exposed.

Stop the rhetoric; it's 2012 - let's step into the future, not fall back into the past.

Kevan Thakrar A4907AE
HMP Woodhill, Tattenhoe Street, Milton Keynes, MK4 4DA
February 2012

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