Police admit failure to treat Chinese man’s murder as racist

Lothian and Borders force said there were significant and unacceptable flaws in investigation into Simon San’s death The family of a murdered Chinese man have received a public apology after the police admitted that officers had failed to treat an attack by a gang of youths as a racist murder. Lothian and Borders police said on Tuesday there were a series of “significant” and unacceptable flaws in its investigation into the killing last year of Simon San, a 40-year-old takeaway worker. San died from severe head injuries after he was attacked by a group of white youths outside the family’s Chinese takeaway at Lochend in Edinburgh. San’s head hit the ground with fatal force after one attacker, John Reid, 16, struck him with a “poleaxe” blow. After admitting culpable homicide, Reid was jailed for five years while two other attackers, also 16, had their sentences for assault later cut to 26 and 24 months. The police had decided the attack was a robbery because San’s wallet and mobile were taken. They ignored the family’s belief that it was racially motivated, based on earlier incidents and eyewitness testimony that his attackers called San “chinky”. Detectives also found at an early stage that one of San’s attackers was “racially prejudiced” and had been reported for a racist offence, while another two had previously been charged for attacking another Chinese shopkeeper. A year-long internal inquiry overseen by Deputy Chief Constable Steve Allen, the force’s second in command, also discovered that a senior investigator on the case was untrained in murder inquiries, that senior officers failed to identify San’s murder as a “critical incident” and that the force let down San’s family. It also emerged that the police had wrongly described San as Vietnamese and that one senior officer had claimed he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time”, a remark Allen admitted was deeply offensive to the family. Speaking with San’s father Trieu Seng San and other family members sitting in tears behind him, Allen confirmed that the force should have treated San’s death as a racist murder. He said officers involved in the case had been formally disciplined, while the force’s procedures had been significantly overhauled. “There is no doubt that Simon’s family have not had the service from my force that we would hope to give any family or any victim of crime.” San’s family claimed much of the evidence was then overlooked by the Crown Office, Scotland’s prosecution service, and demanded a full inquiry by the Lord Advocate, Frank Mullholland. Aamer Anwar, the family solicitor, said the four accused would have faced much stiffer sentences if racial motivation had been included in the charges. At their trial, the judge, Lord Matthews, had repeatedly asked for information on the motivation for the attack. The Crown Office rejected the family’s demands and distanced itself from the police apology. In a statement on Tuesday, it said prosecutors had been “alert” to the question of racist motivation from the start of the case and had questioned the police, but concluded there was no evidence that the actual attack on San was racially-motivated.”For a racial aggravation to be proved there must be evidence to demonstrate the motivation for the commission of the crime. There was no evidence in law to support this and this remains the case,” it said. It added that the court was made aware of the family’s belief in a racist element in their victim impact statement. The Crown Office said that the area chief prosecutor had offered to meet the Sans but stated: “We can confirm the Lord Advocate will not be instructing an inquiry and is satisfied with the Crown’s prosecution of the case.” Scotland Crime Race issues Police Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 23, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.