Eric Lloyd Howe: 1960-2004

Arrested in 1985, denied access to a lawyer, injected with massive doses of major tranquilizers on remand and heavily sedated during his trial, Eric was convicted on two counts of armed robbery in 1986 and sentenced to nine years in jail. There was no evidence against him except for the admissions he allegedly made during unrecorded interviews which took place in a cell at the police station.

Like many young black men of his generation he had a criminal record, but no history of mental health problems until he was remanded in custody after being charged with these crimes. However he was thought to be in need of psychiatric help soon after his conviction and was moved to the hospital wing in Brixton prison. His treatment there was appalling. It was also illegal. In 1988 he was transferred to Rampton Special Hospital and spent the rest of his life in and out of mental hospital after his release in 1991. In 1996 he was diagnosed as having suffered from schizophrenia since 1985.

As soon as the Criminal Justice Review Act was passed in 1995, he began the long process of seeking leave to appeal against his convictions, which was eventually granted, but the case wasn't heard until February 2003. The Crown Prosecution Service did not offer any defence in this case. Sadly his health had deteriorated by then and it continued to decline after his convictions were quashed. Winning the appeal made no difference to his existence or his treatment in hospital or in the community where he felt so excluded. There was no treatment available for someone like him except for increased medication. There is no time for recovery or any hope of healing the kind of traumas Eric suffered in prison, or before that, during his childhood, which was one of neglect, deprivation and physical abuse.

I met Eric in 1997 and we gradually got to know and trust each other. He looked after me when I had to have a major operation followed by radiotherapy and we eventually became very close. I was with him when he was staked out by armed police investigating an anonymous report of a kidnapping at gunpoint, which the alleged victim knew nothing about, a couple of days before his Leave to Appeal was granted. We never did find out why they thought Eric was involved in a kidnapping that didn't happen, but he ended up back in hospital. He asked me to help write his story then. It was the first time anyone had been interested enough to ask him about it, or cared enough to inquire how he felt, or trusted him enough to believe him.

We supported each other since then as best we could. Eric was a kind and brave man and I wish there had been some better way of helping him than the inadequate services provided in the community or by the NHS. Perhaps if he had received some compensation for false conviction and imprisonment he might have been able to afford some respite and relief, which might have made a difference. Eric, who was also known as Redcat, died in tragic circumstances in May 2004.