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§ Mr. Brian H. Donohoe (Cunninghame, South) (Lab)This is an occasion that I wish that none of us had to participate in. However, it is an opportunity to express my sincere condolences to the family of Steven Fitzsimmons. I thank the Minister and her staff for all the work that has been undertaken between my making a request for this Adjournment debate and today's debate. I have found the staff and the Minister most helpful.
When Mrs. Fitzsimmons first came to see me, I treated the matter as one of a mother grieving for her lost son, but on the basis of the inquiry, as it unfolded, and all the information that came my way, I began to have doubts about some aspects of the case and some of the notes that had been taken. It is that issue that I want to concentrate on this morning.
As I understand it, Steven Fitzsimmons left Irvine to watch his two favourite teams play in a testimonial game. Celtic were playing Manchester United. He travelled by train from Irvine and got on a train at Glasgow going to Manchester at 12.30 pm on 31 July. Apparently, he travelled by train and not on the Celtic supporters bus because he had a twisted spine, for which I understand that he was taking quite a degree of medication. He stayed overnight at the house of Brian Gallagher's mother, Irene Gallagher, who lives in Manchester at 226 Graeme street.
The next morning—the morning of 1 August and the day of the match itself—according to Mrs. Gallagher's statement, Steven got up at 8 am, had his breakfast, went for a shower and at 11 am went outside to lie in the sun. According to Mrs. Gallagher's statement, at 2 pm her nephew, Jack Gallagher, and Brian Gallagher, with whom Steven had travelled from Irvine, moved Steven from the right hand side of the garden to the left hand side since it was a very hot day. They put Steven in the shade to prevent him from getting sunburn. She said:
They lifted him and he just made a few groaning noises.They left him. The first question that arises is: why did they leave him? Why did they not try to do more? Alarm bells should have been ringing at that point.Steven had, after all, a ticket for the game. That is now a proven fact. As I understand it, he went to see Kenny McCleary, who is the Irvine Celtic supporters club secretary, some two to three days before the game and collected his ticket from him, paying him £21. I have all the verification of that; it is not in doubt. Mrs. Gallagher says in her statement:
At 18.15 hours that day I got in a taxi from my home address to go to Old Trafford"—the locus of the football game—to watch the match. Steven was still in the garden.I think that almost bizarre. We are talking about a boy who has come all the way down from Irvine to watch the game. He has got a ticket and they know that, yet they leave him to lie in the garden and Mrs. Gallagher goes off to the football game.At approximately 23.15, a neighbour, Mr. Neil McGowan Frame, who had been babysitting for Mrs. Gallagher's grandson, who had travelled down from Irvine as well, apparently calls an ambulance. That 449WH happened five hours after Mrs. Gallagher had left by taxi. To give him his due, the man had tried to wake Steven on a number of occasions, but he had failed. Again, one has to pose the question why he did not react more quickly.
I also want to know about the conversations between Mr. Frame, Mrs. Gallagher, Brian Gallagher and others. There is no record of them whatsoever. One would have thought that there would have been in such circumstances. However, we just do not know what those conversations were.
One would also have thought that much more would have happened than did. Action should have been taken and more assistance given. One thing that is certain is that it was subsequently discovered that Steven Fitzsimmons's ticket for the game was not on his person. No adequate check has been made to establish whether it was used. Money and jewellery, Mrs. Fitzsimmons alleges, were missing, never to be found. Steven Fitzsimmons died as a consequence of events that are unexplained.
Brian Gallagher does not appear from the record to have been interviewed by the police at the time or subsequently. PC Picton's statement of 22 February 2004 states:
I have attempted to contact Brian Gallagher to ask him about Steven Fitzsimmons' ticket. I have liaised with Irvine police in Ayrshire who attended Brian Gallagher's last known address on my behalf. He no longer lives at the address and unfortunately there is no forwarding address for him. Gallagher's mother states that she has no contact details for her son.Again, that seems strange, almost bordering on the bizarre. The question has to be asked: why not? I am sure that had Brian Gallagher been interviewed, most if not all the outstanding issues that pose questions and have no answers, so far as Mrs. Fitzsimmons is concerned, would have been addressed. Today's debate would perhaps not have been required.There were also other discrepancies. The adult postmortem report, under clinical history, indicated
following alcohol and drug intake.However, the subsequent toxicological report stated "negative for alcohol". Why the discrepancy? Steven Fitzsimmons was diagnosed as having consumed a cocktail of drugs, including methadone. Where did he get the methadone? I have asked Home Office officials to try to establish that. I do not know whether there are any answers, but I know one thing for certain. Having talked to some of those in the medical profession locally who knew him, including his GP, I know that none of them was aware that Steven was prescribed methadone, and there is no record of it having been prescribed. It is my understanding that methadone is normally prescribed and taken on premises, so I do not know how the methadone got into the person as established by the reports. One has to pose the question of where Steven got that methadone.Mrs. Helen Fitzsimmons, Steven's mother, believes that foul play took place. One can see why, because of the unanswered questions, although one could easily apply the science of the conspiracy theory. We need to get to the bottom of this, to establish what the facts were, and we need a remedy to answer all the questions to satisfy Helen Fitzsimmons in part. 450WH As a remedy, I would suggest that we look at the whole question of some kind of investigation, say by the coroner, that would reopen the case and establish the reasons for death and the answers to some of the questions. Why do we need that? Well, the facts as we know them need to be explained. The suspicions of the boy's mother need to be addressed. I am looking forward to the Minister's answers and I also want to know something about what action is likely and how, some two to three years after the event, this outstanding matter can be resolved.
§ The Minister for Crime Reduction, Policing and Community Safety (Ms Hazel Blears)I am very grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Cunninghame, South (Mr. Donohoe) for raising this matter and expressing his concerns about the death of Steven Fitzsimmons. He has raised important questions and I shall do my best to deal with them. However, clearly those matters do not necessarily concern the Home Office directly. They are also the preserve of Greater Manchester police and the coroner.
It is, of course, important that family and friends can have confidence in the answers that they are given following the tragic death of a loved one. I hope that today's debate will assist in bringing comfort and reassurance to Mrs. Fitzsimmons and Steven's family and friends. I entirely understand that, while these matters are in the air, it is difficult for Mrs. Fitzsimmons, in particular, to feel a sense of confidence in relation to the issues surrounding her son's death.
During any investigation it is for the police to determine their lines of inquiry. They are the arbiters of the most reasonable way to conduct an inquiry. It is part of their operational discretion. I know that my hon. Friend is fully seized from his own experience of the relationship between the Home Office, the police and the police authorities.
When there is a death requiring an inquest, the coroner may guide the police in their inquiries and instruct them to make any inquiries that he or she considers necessary to inform the inquest before a decision is reached on the cause of death. That is what happened in this case, so the coroner has been fully involved.
It would riot be appropriate for me to offer comment or make a judgment on decisions taken by the police or the coroner. There are lines of investigation and review for both of them. However, I am conscious that there have already been numerous communications between my hon. Friend and Greater Manchester police, so that much of what I say now may not be new to him. I hope, nevertheless, for a better understanding between us of the remaining issues.
The coroner's verdict was of accidental death and I am informed by Greater Manchester police that they remain satisfied that that was an appropriate verdict. However, the Manchester coroner has agreed that if my hon. Friend or indeed Mrs. Fitzsimmons make any inquiries of the coroner's office, the coroner will seek to provide any information that might be helpful.
If Mrs. Fitzsimmons is dissatisfied with the outcome of the inquest and the verdict of accidental death, it is of course open to her to seek a fresh inquest. That is the 451WH appropriate route to take in such circumstances. It is possible for an application to be made to the High Court under section 13 of the Coroners Act 1988, with the authority of the Attorney-General. I would recommend that if such action is being considered, Mrs. Fitzsimmons and my hon. Friend should be informed by discussions with the coroner and by appropriate legal advice.
It is, of course, understandable that loose ends in any case lead to concern and distress for the parties involved, so I shall try to deal with the issues raised by my hon. Friend.
§ Mr. DonohoeMay I establish whether there is a cost implication to the applications that would be needed to have the case reopened?
§ Ms BlearsIf an application were to proceed to the High Court, I am sure that Mrs. Fitzsimmons would need legal representation, so it would be necessary to explore the possibility of obtaining legal aid or whatever assistance might be available. That is why I would advise Mrs. Fitzsimmons to discuss the matter first with the coroner's office, if she is considering such action, to establish the basis on which it could be pursued, and to obtain initial legal advice before embarking on the significant course of reopening the inquest and seeking a fresh verdict. She may well not want to pursue that course of action, provided she gets answers to some of the issues raised by my hon. Friend. That is the appropriate legal route to challenge the verdict of accidental death if she really believes that that was an inappropriate verdict.
I appreciate the concern that Steven was apparently in the company of other people for a considerable time before it was recognised that anything was wrong and an ambulance was called. I am unable to offer a comment on the circumstances of that, but my hon. Friend was right to raise the issue of what had happened to Steven during the day and in the evening, and that an ambulance was not called until quarter past 11 at night. Those are matters of concern, but I am informed by Greater Manchester police that they still hope to speak to Steven's friend, Brian Gallagher, who was present. They are happy to keep my hon. Friend informed if they can answer any specific questions about what happened in the chronology of events on that day.
I am informed that Mr. Gallagher is not at this time suspected of offences by Greater Manchester police, but they tell me that he has been registered on the police national computer in an attempt to locate him. As my hon. Friend said, Mrs. Gallagher says that she does not have a forwarding address and it is important that Greater Manchester police continue to try to find him with the purpose of interviewing him about Steven's death. He clearly spent a considerable amount of time with Steven, so it is important that the police interview him.
Greater Manchester police are also pursuing enquiries with the Benefits Agency to try to locate Brian. Irvine police have made attempts to locate him by following up his last known address. A great deal of work is going on and the matter has not been laid to rest. Inquiries are ongoing, and I hope that that is some comfort to Mrs. Fitzsimmons. 452WH At this point, Steven's friend is not a suspect, so the police must be very careful about how they approach Brian Gallagher if he is to provide information that is useful. He may well be fearful of speaking to the police at this point and if my hon. Friend has further information that could be useful to the police, I urge him to share that with them. It is important that the interview takes place and that information is gathered about exactly what happened to Steven on that day if it is to be of assistance to Mrs. Fitzsimmons.
My hon. Friend referred to Steven's match ticket and I understand that there is an issue about missing jewellery. I am informed by Greater Manchester police that both Manchester United and Celtic football clubs have been contacted about the match ticket. Unfortunately, neither club has the means to confirm whether Steven's ticket was used. Inquiries have been made and the clubs have pursued the matter, but presumably neither of them has an information technology system that is able to trace the number of the ticket. At this point, we cannot confirm whether the ticket was used by any other person to gain access to the match.
Property inquiries have also been made at the Manchester royal infirmary, the bereavement centre, the mortuary and the cashiers office, but there are no records relating to the missing property. Again, I assure Mrs. Fitzsimmons that Greater Manchester police made inquiries with all those bodies to see whether the missing jewellery could be found, but, at the moment, there are no records.
The mother of Brian Gallagher has been interviewed. As my hon. Friend said, she occupies the house in which Steven stayed the night before his death. She was unable to provide any further information about whether the ticket had been used or what had happened to the jewellery, so she was unable to give that information to the police.
It seems that the key to providing the answers to many of the questions about this matter is with Steven's friend. His interview is crucial and efforts to trace and interview him are still ongoing. I will ensure that my hon. Friend is kept informed as those inquiries develop and provided with any new information about what happened that day.
My hon. Friend raised the important issue of the coroner's findings on drugs and alcohol. I am informed that the toxicology report referred to a cocktail of drugs—cocaine, methadone, cannabis and benzodiazepines—in Steven's body. At this stage, no one knows where the methadone came from, and my hon. Friend believes that it may be possible to contact the relevant health board to find records of the possible source.
If my hon. Friend wishes to pursue the matter, it would be a good idea to get in touch with the coroner, who published the findings of the post-mortem and toxicology screen. The coroner was contacted by my officials and said that he would be happy to provide any further information that he can about the circumstances surrounding Steven's death. For Mrs. Fitzsimmons's sake, it would be a good idea to get in touch with him to discuss the findings and try to ascertain the reason for the initial reference to alcohol that was then not 453WH substantiated by the medical tests. That would be a fruitful course of action for my hon. Friend to follow, and I am sure that he will do so.
I have little further to add, other than to express my sincere condolences to Steven's mother, family and friends for their tragic loss. I entirely understand that, because there are still loose ends, Mrs. Fitzsimmons feels that it is difficult to close the case. The fact that the death occurred at a distance from the rest of the family—Steven was hundreds of miles away in the company of others—has caused real problems for them. I hope that the further inquiries of the Greater Manchester police, particularly the interview with Brian Gallagher, will bear fruit and bring reassurance to the family. I also hope that the discussions with the coroner will result in progress and give the family reassurance that the matter has been dealt with properly.
§ Mr. DonohoeCan my hon. Friend the Minister give some indication, if not today perhaps by contacting my office later, as to who to contact in the coroner's office? The information that I have gives two or three names, and it is difficult to track down the person to contact.
§ Ms BlearsI am more than happy to provide that information. I said at the outset of the debate that it would be inappropriate for me to comment on operational decisions of the coroner and the police, but I believe that it is appropriate for me to facilitate my hon. Friend's pursuing the matter on behalf of his constituent. As this is an important constituency case, I shall ensure that my officials and I do everything that we can to provide information and assistance to him. We shall get in touch with his office with the names of the relevant contacts and do whatever we can to facilitate a meeting so that the matter can be properly and thoroughly explored.
I am delighted that my hon. Friend raised this extremely important issue, and I hope that we are able to help the family to achieve some resolution of the outstanding matters. I am grateful to him for the manner in which he has pursued this difficult and potentially contentious issue. His co-operation with all the authorities involved will lead to a better resolution.
§ Sitting suspended until Two o'clock.