By James Vukmirovic

Copyright expressandstar

Esther McCurbin was one of the guests of honour at the “STOP! We Are Not the Police” conference at Wolverhampton Science Park on Tuesday (September 16), where it was officially announced that a campaign had been launched to acquire a new plaque to mark the 40th anniversary of her son Clinton’s death.

The 24-year-old died from asphyxia when police officers tried to arrest him in full view of passing shoppers inside the glass-fronted former Next store in Dudley Street in Wolverhampton on February 20, 1987, after unproven allegations that a credit card had been stolen.

Ms McCurbin said that while faith helped her to deal with the death of her son, she was still angry at the circumstances behind his death, including no official apology, no public memorial, and no meaningful acknowledgement of his loss.

She said: “The memories of that day are not as strong now because I’m a Christian and I’ve learned to deal with certain things that I cannot fix and God was able to do the best for me and others, although when his birthday comes around, I do remember that.

“I think about it sometimes and think of how cruel and how disgraceful it was that the policeman did not get prosecuted because there was no evidence of a stolen credit card presented in court, so even now, it does bother me.

“I am also angry that there has been no apology, but because of this group that has raised our civic need, we can now see how necessary it is to protect our children, especially our men, so it’s important.

“I do see great things happening if this group continues the way it started and it will be important and good for the community of young men growing up in Wolverhampton to know of these situations when they rise up.”

Dr Patrick Vernon was one of the speakers at the event, having been part of the campaign for justice for Clinton McCurbin since the incident in 1987, and spoke about the work still going on.

He said: “I was 24 at the time and had just completed my law finals, so people in the community said that I should get involved in the campaign and so I did and was part of the defence campaign at the time.

“I’m now involved again as I’ve been involved in getting a number of blue plaques in Wolverhampton for people and the work I do around cultural history and this plaque is more important than any of the others as it’s about a longstanding injustice that’s not been recognised.

“I hope that the blue plaque will acknowledge Clinton was misrepresented into the media and by the police and perceived as a criminal, even though there was no evidence whatsoever to prove that he’d stolen that credit card and so we want to clear his name and, more importantly, get the case reviewed again.

“A lot of family members who’ve lost loved ones in those circumstances, it takes a long time for them to heal, and the pain is still there, but in terms of the community, I can tell you very clearly that people are still angry and that’s why we want that sense of closure and his name cleared as people still want to see justice.”

Other speakers at the conference included West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster and Natalie Queiroz, who survived after being stabbed more than 20 times while eight months pregnant.