Saving Gary McKinnon (12 page)

O
n 25 July 2009 I looked through the morning papers and read that the Labour MP Andrew MacKinlay had resigned and was going to stand down at the next election because of Gary. He believed extradition could and should be refused by our government, and what was happening to Gary was the final straw for him.

Now, when a man stands up and is willing to throw his career to the wall to help another human being, you know that man is a good man. It can never be taken with a pinch of salt when a career is ended on principle and few have the courage to make their mark by doing something so spectacularly selfless.

Totally out of the blue, things kept coming up for us. Searching through the papers I saw that Gordon Brown had spoken out for Gary and expressed sympathy for what was happening to him. This was good and, as Nicky Campbell said when he interviewed me on his BBC 5 Live radio show, Gordon Brown was the Prime Minister, he could refuse to extradite if he wanted to.

We were hopeful but I knew that, for whatever reason, our government are afraid of upsetting the US, whereas the US are not even the tiniest bit afraid of upsetting our government.

On 31 July we arrived again at the Royal Courts of Justice to hear the decision on Gary’s judicial review. The streets outside were thronging with press and TV crews from all over the world. This exceeded even the huge media presence we were now used to.

Wilson and I sat down in court; Gary was at home with Lucy. The clerk of the courts appeared and said, ‘All rise.’

We all rose, as Justice Stanley Burnton and Justice Wilkie made their entrance and took up their positions on their dais, overlooking those assembled below. Despite the judges having seemed to be on side at the hearing, I knew inside that they were going to rule against Gary, and they did.

Instead of crying I felt angry for having been taken in by their sympathetic approach at the previous hearing.

The court atmosphere was electrifying as journalists hurried out to ring their editors and the world’s media were clamouring for interviews. I walked out of the court in defiant mood and, in front of hundreds of TV cameras, preached the injustice of this iniquitous extradition treaty that had never been intended to be used against someone like Gary. The prosecutors may have believed they had won but the mood of the country was against them and morally they had lost.

I was giving endless interviews and felt like a piece of rope in a tug of war.

‘This way, Janis … no, over here, Janis … look up … look down … our crew are just across the road … come this way … no, we’re next, our satellite van is just here … no, we’re next…’

And then I heard Melanie Riley’s voice. ‘Do you want some help, Janis?’

‘Yes please, Melanie,’ and she got the media to line up, told them whose turn was next and whipped everything into shape. The relief I felt was incredible.

The last interview I did was with Keir Simmons from ITV’s
News at Ten
. Keir could see I was waning, so he hired rooms at the Waldorf Hotel, just yards away, and ordered tea, coffee, scones, sandwiches, cakes, drinks and even lunch if I wanted. It was so good to just sit down and to have tea and something to eat in this quieter atmosphere.

Keir had the computer switched on; he called me over and said, ‘Look. Gary is trending worldwide on Twitter. Out of everyone in the entire world, Gary is leading and is the number one trend on Twitter.’

A few days later, Keir and his colleague proposed the idea of flying me over to Washington to raise Gary’s case at the White House. I realised that meeting with influential people in the US and doing interviews there might help Gary, but I was worried it could become a media circus which might backfire on us.

When I told Gary about it he said, ‘No! Don’t go! They’ll blow the plane up, they’ll kill you; you can’t go.’

Our lives were so surreal that virtually nothing would surprise me. I decided not to go, which made Gary happy.

The following week yet another offer of help appeared. This time it was from an Edinburgh-based Scots entrepreneur named Luke Heron, who said that if America’s biggest problem was Gary supposedly having caused damage of around $700,000 (£470,000), he would write a cheque for that amount there and then, if it would end the matter.

Lord Popat also offered to help us, which was incredibly kind of him. Lord Popat is a Conservative life peer, born in Uganda, who immigrated to the UK at the age of seventeen with only £10 in his pocket.

In September 2009 Karen submitted an appeal to the newly opened British Supreme Court. This really was Gary’s last hope.

In a bid to garner further political support, with the help of Matthew Downie from the National Autistic Society I attended all three party conferences and Matthew and his colleague accompanied me. We met with Chris Huhne at the Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth on 19 September, a beautiful sunny day. Chris Huhne had joined with David Davis and Michael Meacher just ten days earlier to form a cross-party delegation to persuade the Home Secretary to refuse extradition – unfortunately to no avail.

What was striking about the Lib Dem party conference was that there was no security and you could wander around more or less wherever you wanted to. The conference was held in the historic Highcliff Hotel, situated above the promenade. The relaxed atmosphere made it feel almost like being on holiday as we sat out on the terrace overlooking the sea and, just for a minute, I could become lost in the dramatic views across the channel.

It seemed odd to think that a decision that changed history was taken by politicians in this same hotel, overlooking this same seascape, in May 1940, at a time when German troops were pouring into Holland and Belgium.

Labour met at the Highcliff Hotel for its first conference of the Second World War and the committee voted unanimously that Labour would not serve under Chamberlain. That decision led to Neville Chamberlain resigning and recommending Winston Churchill, who was then appointed Prime Minister by King George VI.

Chris Huhne was friendly and interesting to talk to. He was keen to help and although there were no fixed ideas on how he could do this, his ‘Freedom Bill’ held real promise and we
knew we had solid support from the Lib Dems. Chris Huhne suggested I should become an MP and I said that I’d scare them if I did.

I met with Keith Vaz at the Labour Party conference in Brighton, also a fantastic setting, with the sun shining again.

In stark contrast to the Lib Dem Party conference, the security for the Labour conference was massive, with a very large police presence. However, this coincided with a happy and relaxed atmosphere in Brighton. Everyone was cycling along the promenade, as the road is flat and perfect for bicycle rides.

Keith Vaz came to meet us, bursting with ideas and with a very upbeat and positive attitude. He had an incredible network of influential people both in the UK and in the US, including Jesse Jackson.

Keith Vaz was one of only ten Labour MPs who voted against their own government and insisted that the 2003 extradition treaty with the US should be reviewed and forum added as previously promised.

Mr Vaz informed us that the Home Affairs Select Committee, which he chaired, had already arranged to raise concerns about the extradition treaty and we discovered later that the majority of this excellent cross-party group were also in favour of Gary being tried in the UK.

I then met with Michael Meacher at the Labour conference. Michael is a very principled MP and is one of a minority of Labour MPs that I recognise as being socialist, in the way that Tony Benn was.

Michael had teamed up with Chris Huhne and David Davis on 9 September 2009 to champion Gary’s case and also appeared on the BBC’s
The One Show
with me.

Matthew Downie from the National Autistic Society (NAS) was well organised and an absolute dynamo. I could imagine
Matthew being in a powerful political position in the future. He also suggested he might be able to arrange for us to be offered the use of Alexandra Palace in Muswell Hill if we wanted to arrange a concert in support of Gary.

Next on the list was the Conservative Party conference in Manchester on 7 October 2009, where I met with shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling. The place was buzzing and I somehow felt that the Conservatives were going to win the election this time round.

The conversation we had was friendly and productive. Mr Grayling said that, as Home Secretary, he would review all the medical evidence and would do all he could to have Gary tried in the UK if the Conservative party was elected. I said, ‘You say that now but once in power when you are Home Secretary, the same government advisers will give you the same advice and will say you have to extradite.’

‘No,’ he said. ‘Ministers decide and I will decide.’

Dominic Grieve raised Gary’s case in his speech at the party conference, and said:

Mark Lever from the NAS is another amazing man and he and his colleague Mathew Downie had arranged for me to do a speech at the Conservative Party conference NAS fringe meeting on autism, vulnerable people and the law.

Shortly before I sat on the panel along with Gary’s excellent MP, David Burrowes, we got a phone call from Gary’s barrister, Ben Cooper, to say that the Supreme Court had ruled against even hearing our appeal to review the medical evidence. This was in spite of them having agreed to allow Ian Norris’s appeal, which was given on the same point of law as Gary’s! Due to his mental health issues, Gary should have had more rights for his appeal to be heard under that point of law.

Ian Norris had worked his way up from the shop floor to become managing director of Morgan Crucible. Despite winning his case in the Lords, he was subsequently extradited to the US for obstruction of justice relating to the crime of price fixing, despite the Lords ruling that price fixing was not a crime in the UK at that time.

I had to ring and tell Gary the devastating news that the Supreme Court refused to even hear his appeal. I didn’t want him to read it in tomorrow’s newspapers. I knew that Gary would be distraught and might give up; I was away from home and afraid of what he might do. I spoke to Lucy first to make sure she was there with Gary to support him, but she was also distraught and I couldn’t console them.

I joined the panel and as I started to deliver my speech at the conference I felt warm tears beginning to fill my eyes and I thought, ‘No, Janis.’ I hoped no one noticed and hadn’t heard my voice beginning to break.

I remember seeing Mathew Parris in the audience before every emotion inside me came pouring out in a speech that magnified my anger, anguish and heartbreak.

Matthew Downie from the NAS was standing at the back listening intently and said afterwards that the speech was one of the most emotive and riveting he had ever heard.

Emotion transmits to other hearts and minds and I just hoped that some there felt the same as Matthew – and were influential enough to help Gary.

I wasn’t allowed to mention the court’s decision to anyone as it wasn’t to be officially announced until the next day, but Matthew Downie knew by my reaction and my side of the telephone conversation I had with Gary’s barrister.

The following day when I spoke outside the Royal Courts of Justice I was distraught, angry and ready to explode. I could feel this power and fury flowing through my blood and I knew that no one was going to take my son. I was in fight mode. I felt Gary was betrayed by our own courts and by our own government. I wouldn’t allow myself to be shocked into silence by people in power who thought it was fine to betray their own citizens with a one-sided extradition treaty they’d been fooled into believing was intended only for terrorists.

At times like this the words flowed from within with no thought required. The feeling is akin to playing guitar when doing a gig and your mind wanders and the notes come pouring out, creating a heartfelt solo that leaves you wondering where it came from.

Despite our courts and politicians pointing to Ireland and France as examples of countries with the same treaty
both
Ireland and France had included the right to refuse to extradite their own nationals
. It seems that having a ‘special relationship’ isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

I was worried about Gary. I could see his demons were taking hold of him. His mood was odd and his mind wasn’t with us. When I got home something made me look on the internet at something Gary had asked me to order some weeks before. I don’t know why it came into my head but it did. I looked through all of the things I had ordered and there it was: potassium chloride. The definition on the internet read, ‘a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine’.

It sounded harmless enough. I carried on reading until I came to the words ‘uses of potassium chloride’. My heart almost stopped as I read the words ‘used in medicine in lethal injections’. A chill ran through my body.

I was shaking as I carried on reading and came to the words ‘potassium chloride is used in the US to execute people on death row’.

I could hear torturous muted screaming sounds like a wounded animal and realised that the cries were coming from me, as I sat hugging my knees to my chest, rocking backwards and forwards.

When I was able to speak, I rang Lucy, told her what I’d found and asked her to search the flat. Lucy rang back crying when she had eventually found the potassium chloride and disposed of it. This substance was licensed to kill. How on earth could something used to execute healthy people be described as medicine and be so easy to obtain via the internet? I mean, people could take their own lives with their families left believing they had simply had a heart attack. Worse still, a murderer could execute his or her victim(s) with this substance, leaving only evidence of a heart attack and with no indication of foul
play. I later discovered this had happened recently in America when a nurse was able to become a serial killer with the aid of potassium chloride.