Cherry Groce inquest: son wants answers 29 years after mum was shot
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Version 0 of 1. Lee Lawrence says he has been waiting for 29 years to get answers from the Metropolitan police about why they shot his innocent mother Cherry Groce in 1985, leaving her paralysed from the chest down. Officers raided the family's Brixton home on 28 September 1985, searching for Groce's son, Michael. He was not there, and did not in fact live there, but during the raid Groce, a mother of eight, was accidentally shot. On Monday an inquest opens into her death in April 2011 and Lawrence hopes at last to find out the truth about the day his and his family's life changed forever, with new information about the police operation expected to emerge at the hearing. The incident sparked riots in Brixton that saw dozens of civilians and 10 police officers injured. Police marksman Inspector Douglas Lovelock was cleared of malicious and unlawful grievous bodily harm in 1987. Earlier this year the Met revealed it had apologised to the family for the shooting of Groce, who died in April 2011. Lawrence, 39, was just 11 when he witnessed his mother being shot. "I was curled up in my mum's bed, for me the safest place in the world, when I heard a loud banging, which must have been the police breaking the door down. My mum went to see what was going on and that was when the police shot her. "I remember screaming'What have you done to my mum?'" "I heard my mum saying: 'I can't move my legs, I can't breathe, I think I'm going to die.' At that moment everything in my life changed forever." Before the shooting Lawrence had been a carefree boy, playing outside and riding his BMX bike with his friends. He had been aware of racism from white skinhead gangs in the area but had never thought about racism from the police. In fact, inspired by cop shows like The Professionals and Starsky & Hutch, he dreamed of becoming a police officer when he grew up. "I wanted to get the bad guys," he said. He had always been very close to his mother. "My mum was always at the centre of everything I did, she was a free spirit and very protective of us children. When everything changed after the shooting I felt naked, vulnerable and exposed." Lawrence became his mother's carer and was forced to grow up overnight. "I had to 'man up'," he said. "My mum continued to be an inspiration to us all. What she did immediately after the shooting defines the kind of woman she was. She was obviously scared and in pain and shock but her thoughts were still focused on her children. As she was carried into the ambulance she gave me a little wave to calm my distress as if to say: "Don't worry I'll be OK." Lawrence said he felt angry towards God about the shooting. And when he prayed for God to allow his mum to walk again and it didn't happen he lost his faith. Lawrence has many concerns about the Met although he says that he believes there are both good and bad officers. "When I was in my teens I used to get picked up by the police for things I hadn't done. They would tell me I fitted the description of someone who had just committed a crime and that sort of thing. Once when I was 17 I was put into a police cell. A police officer opened a flap in the cell door and said: 'Are you Cherry Groce's son?' When I replied that I was he said: 'Pity she didn't die.' "We are looking for the Met to prove to us that they have changed in terms of transparency and accountability. We can only talk about change that we can see and feel and I'm not feeling it yet." Lawrence set up a disabled taxi service inspired by the problems he saw his mother experience with transport. He also set up the Cherry Tree Trust which has changed its name to the Cherry Groce Foundation to improve the quality of life for disabled people. He has focused on trying to bring something positive out of the tragic shooting. "The inquest isn't going to be nice or comfortable for us but I hope that any police failures will be exposed and acknowledged for what they are. I believe that my mum's spirit lives on and I hope that this inquest will provide some answers so that at last she can rest in peace." |