Joy Gardner was a 40-year-old British African-Caribbean community

British African-Caribbean community

The British African Caribbean communities are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were primarily indigenous to Africa...

 mother and illegal immigrant from Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

 who was killed during a struggle with the police at her home in Crouch End

Crouch End

Crouch End is an area of north London, in the London Borough of Haringey.- Location :Crouch End is in a valley between Harringay to the east, Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green to the north, Finsbury Park and Archway to the south and Highgate to the west...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 on 28 July 1993.

Death

Gardner had come to visit her mother, Myrna Simpson, in 1987, but had overstayed her 6 month visa. An immigration officer and police officers arrived at her home to serve a deportation notice. When Gardner refused, the police entered her home and struggled and fought with her. Police gagged and restrained Gardner using a body belt and had wrapped 13 ft of tape around her head which they later claimed was to prevent her biting them. The officers involved averred that Gardner 'violently' resisted arrest. Gardner suffocated and subsequently fell into a coma. She later died in hospital. There is a poem called the death of joy gardner by benjamin zephaniah and its true but Joy Gardner was not doing anything to the officers. The officers stepped into the house and they tied 13 ft of tape around her.

Aftermath

The three police officers involved were found not guilty of manslaughter in 1995.

The acquittal of the police officers sparked a reaction in Britain's black community which led to a protest movement for justice for Joy and her family. Campaigners claim that the police were brutal and used excessive force. The poet Benjamin Zephaniah

Benjamin Zephaniah

Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah is an English writer and dub poet. He is a well-known figure in contemporary English literature, and was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008....

wrote The Death of Joy Gardner about the incident.

In 1999 Gardner's family brought a civil suit against the police for compensation.