News Archive 2005
 Christmas
Message from Jean MacColl
19 December 2005
Dear Friends
The hardest day of the year has just come to an end and now we
all start on the sixth year in our fight for justice for my daughter
Kirsty. Messages have come from Japan, Germany. Australia, Brazil
and Cozumel apart from the UK.
I want you to know how the family is heartened by your love and
continuing support. I have no doubt that we shall win the battle.
It's rather like climbing a mountain. The lower slopes are relatively
simple but as one gets nearer the summit, it gets more difficult:
the goal is in sight but still not within reach. Yet, if you look
back, you can see how far we have progressed.
Since that lovely Sunday in October when we celebrated Kirsty's
birthday, we have heard that subpoenas have been served on Gonzalez
Nova, one of his sons and his daughter in law. They have opted
not to give verbal evidence but will provide written evidence.
It may take longer but we will be very interested in their defence.
The prosecutor in Cancun seems to have been replaced by another
one who must acquaint himself with the case.
You will have heard that the Pogues are reissuing Fairy Tale
of New York (available now) and a percentage of the proceeds will
go to our fund. Do get everyone to buy it. It may even reach Number
1! But whatever it does, I am so grateful to the Pogues for their
fantastic support and also to Philip Rambow, our committee member,
who has organised bucket collections at all their concerts with
great success.
When you don't see an update for a while, don't think everything
has come to a halt. Maybe we will have a resolution in 2006 but,
rest assured, I will never give up. More and more
people are joining the campaign and asking what they can do.
I wish you all a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year, and thank
you again for all your support and messages of love and encouragement,
and particularly for the beautiful bouquet of flowers sent by the
fans on Saturday.
Jean MacColl
5 December 2005: Pogues reissue "Fairytale
of New York"
The Pogues are to re-issue the classic Fairytale
of New York on WEA in time for Christmas - OUT NOW. The
three formats of the reissue - 7" vinyl (backed with Battle
March Medley), CD (with an instrumental
singalong version) and DVD (including the video and a live Top
Of The Pops performance) - all
feature the Pogues/Kirsty original recording with Kirsty from
1987.
The band is splitting royalties from this
release to charities for the homeless and to the Justice For
Kirsty Campaign. There is also a special download version of
the song featuring Katie Melua in tribute to
Kirsty's original, recorded earlier this month. Buy it from iTunes.com
There is also a BBC3 documentary screening over Christmas - "The
story of Fairytale of New York" which includes footage from
the October Soho Square get together.
10 October 2005: JFK Campaign Update
Dear Friends,
Our apologies for the lack of information in recent months, we
are fully aware of your continued interest and concern, for which
we thank you.
Due to the highly sensitive nature of our ongoing legal work
we have not been able to provide regular updates for fear of compromising
our legal position, which although frustrating, is very necessary.
In June this year Jean, Louis and Fred returned to México City
to formally lodge two new legal appeals and meet with key Ministers
at the Attorney General's Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Méxican Home Office and the Ministry of Tourism.
Jean & Louis
at the Attorney General's Office in México City with the
Minister Miguel Angel Gonzalez responsible for International
Legal Affairs. Photo - Fred Shortland
The visit was coordinated by the British Foreign Office & British
Embassy in México City who has taken a far more proactive and supportive
role since our meeting with Sir Michael Jay, Permanent Under Secretary
at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and Richard Morris (Consul
General) at British Embassy in México. The support we have had
and continue to have from the FCO has been exemplary.
Prior to leaving we met with the Méxican Ambassador to the UK
at his invitation to review the objectives of our visit. A very
different scenario from our initial visit in March 2004 when we
departed for México with a wish list, no firm appointments and
obstruction from the Méxican authorities.
It was very clear that our lobbying and campaigning activities
had paved the way thanks to all our supporters.
The objectives of our visit were:
It was very clear that that the Méxican authorities had failed
to monitor the ongoing proceedings at the Federal Prosecutor’s
office in Cozumel which was the basis of the two legal appeals
filed by Jean & Louis during this visit.
The Outcome – What was achieved?
-
We succeeded in obtaining a commitment from
the Attorney General that a new criminal investigation would
be formally re-opened at the Federal level, this has now happened
and is proceeding, although very slowly and with continued
difficulty.
-
The Federal Authorities as a direct consequence
of the Justice For Kirsty Campaign have implemented a new law
improving nautical / navigation safety standards that came
into effect in November 2004 this law is to be known as “Kirsty’s
Law”. It establishes new rules of procedure for dive
boats and regulates marking of dive areas throughout México.
In Cozumel illuminated marker buoys have been installed at
the main dive / marine parks at a cost of £184,000 and
a nation wide campaign initiated to promote safety in diving.
-
In response to our complaints regarding lack
of follow up and feed back, the Méxican Ministry of Foreign
Affairs in conjunction with the Méxican Ministry of the Interior
undertook to have regular monthly meetings with the Attorney
Generals Office to which our Lawyer was to be invited and to
provide us with a regular report. To date we have received
only one report dated 1st August and our lawyer is pushing
for the first meeting to take place.
Two down, one to go !
Jean & Louis
signing the legal appeals with our Lawyer Demetrio Guerra
Photo - Fred Shortland
We have successfully fulfilled two campaign objectives. ……Raising
awareness at the highest levels in both Governments and improving
safety standards for divers in México…… all that
remains is our key objective…. Justice for Kirsty!
Whilst we are satisfied that the British and Méxican Governments
have eventually done what has been asked of them we are extremely
concerned at the very slow progress and obstacles being encountered
with the re opened criminal investigation.
The matter now clearly rests with the Attorney General's Office
and whilst we take some comfort from the fact that the case is
being continually monitored we fear Gonzalez Nova’s influence
prevails.
Justice for Kirsty has become a test of the Méxican Judiciary
effectiveness .We trust that Justice will prevail but if it does
not we will continue our fight for Justice by taking a case against
México at the Inter American Commission for Human Rights in Washington.
How can you help?
Two down, one to go …….the big one
Justice for Kirsty!
With our sincere thanks for your continued support - Justice
for Kirsty Campaign
10 October 2005
 Various
items of Kirsty related worth were auctioned during the day on
Sunday 9th October as part of the annual Kirsty fan reunion in
and around Soho Square.
 The
most exciting of these items was a mirror donated by Philip Hardacre,
typical of his mosaic art style, featuring creatures of the sea.
It went for auction at £375, and was chased to the line by
a personalised gold disk for around £300 and an acetate of "Sun
on the water" for around £200. In total around £2,000
was raised to assist the Justice Campaign. Pictures: Jean with
Cuban musician Omar Puente and with Fred, Louis, Alan, Philip and
John from the JFK team.
13 September 2005
The Pogues will be doing another Christmas tour and after the
success of last year's fundraising we hope to once again be present
at these shows to raise awareness and collect funds. If you have
fund raising experience with shoogling buckets, or just if you
think you have the enthusiasm (and forceful personality!) needed
please get in touch. You would be asked to collect both inside
and outside the venues (before and after really).
The tour dates are as follows:
- 13 & 14 December: Glasgow Academy
- 16 December: Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
- 17 December: Manchester MEN Arena
- 18 December: Birmingham NIA Arena
- 20 & 21 December: London Brixton Academy
3 August 2005
.Croydon singer Pete Baldwin performed some of Kirsty's best-known
work including Fairytale of New York, accompanied by Garry Davis
on harmonica, in front of a rain-sodden crowd at the local Ruskin
House 15th annual folk and blues festival.
Organiser Garry Davis said: "There has never been a concert in
this town to celebrate the music of Kirsty and we wanted to put
that right. We are also showing our support for the campaign of
Jean MacColl to seek justice for her daughter."
The weather did not stop more than 200 people including Kirsty's
mum Jean MacColl from attending the event. Ms MacColl spoke about
her campaign to discover the truth about her daughter's death and
her renewed optimism following talks with Government officials
in México last month.
Jean said her campaign to discover the truth about her daughter's
death has made progress following top-level talks with Méxican
government officials. "The Méxican Government are trying very hard
to put things right and they hope to have a resolution by October," she
said.
Ms MacColl is demanding that motorboat owner Guillermo Gonzalez
Nova, who was on board, be brought before the court to answer questions.
Gonzalez Nova is one of México's most prominent businessmen. "I
am not asking for any money. I just want him to stand up and speak
the truth," she said. "That is the reason why I have been doing
this for five years and I will go on until the end."
A £450 donation was made to the Justice for Kirsty campaign,
and the dancers from McPartland School of Irish Dancing donated
their £100 fee to the charity. Money was also given to Ruskin
House in Coombe Road.
Stories:
Croydon Guardian on 3 August and 27
July
07 June 2005
Jean, Fred and Louis have been visiting México for a second time
over the past week, good progress was made.
06 April 2005
Jean will be interviewed on GM-TV on Thursday 7th April.
21 March 2005
Jean & Fred Shortland will be interviewed on the following
programme tonight.
BBC Radio London 94.9FM
The Late Show with JoAnne Good
10 - 10.30 pm
18 March 2005
JFK Campaign Update
Dear Friends
Since returning from México in March last year we have continued
to lobby and campaign at the highest levels of government both
in the UK and México and thanks to your invaluable support managed
to achieve one of our key campaign objectives; to raise awareness
at the highest levels in both governments.
Raising awareness is one thing, obtaining justice
sadly continues to evade us!
Before we left México we had meetings with the Office of the President
of México. The Minister of Tourism, Minister of Government, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Human Rights and the Méxican Attorney Generals
Office plus the British Embassy in México.
At each meeting we made two very specific requests:
- Monitor ongoing proceedings at the Federal Prosecutors office
in Cozumel with regard to our requests to open a new case- and
to ensure no more irregularities occurred.
- Enforcement of existing regulations and laws to protect all
divers & tourists which was clearly not being implemented
as we experienced first hand from our visit to Cozumel.
Without fail all the officials we met treated us with dignity
and respect and agreed to our requests. We left México quite optimistic
that having made our concerns to the highest levels of Government
that matters would be resolved.
Sadly this has not been the case and regrettably we have experienced
yet more obstacles, violations in legal proceedings, highly questionable
rulings and our lawyers have been denied certified copies of the
resolutions in an effort to impede our progress.
The Federal Prosecutor in Cozumel has clearly failed to do their
duty and have closed the case based on highly questionable rulings
that have once again brought the Méxican Judicial system into question.
Whilst we cannot disclose details at this stage for legal reasons
it concerns us greatly that Subpoenas delivered through the Federal
Police could not be served upon key witnesses Sr. Guillermo Gonzàlez
Nova and his daughter- in- law Norma Haggas it
was stated “they could not be found?”
Sr Guillermo Gonzalez Nova is one of the most prominent businessmen
in México, his company, a quoted company, yet the authorities could
not find him? As a key witness, captain of the speedboat that killed
Kirsty how could they possibly close the case without interviewing
him and his daughter- in- law who were on the boat when Kirsty
was killed?
It is clear that the MacColl family have once again experienced
a further gross miscarriage of justice whilst Gonzelez Nova and
his family enjoy impunity from investigation and prosecution!
Since June last year we have been making very strong representation
to the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the Méxican Embassy
in the UK and the Attorney Generals Office in México.
In November last year we met with Sir Michael Jay, Permanent Under
Secretary and Head of the Diplomatic Service at the FCO who advised, “the
case was at the very centre of British
and Méxican relations”. The FCO Consular division
in London and the British Embassy in México have been helpful and
supportive and continue to monitor proceedings on an ongoing basis.
On February 15 th our lawyer met with the Office of the Attorney
General in México City and filed a brief requesting the intervention
of this office to issue an instruction to the Federal Prosecutors
Office in Cozumel to resolve the matter. To date we have not had
any response and have instructed our lawyer to proceed with a
Constitutional lawsuit of Amparo against the Federal Prosecutors
Office.
More delays, costs, and frustrations in dealing with a corrupt
and ineffective judicial system!
Having little faith in the Méxican Judicial system we successfully
applied to the FCO Pro Bono Lawyers Panel to assist us with the
next stage of our legal battle to take a case against the State
of México at the Inter American Commission of Human Rights. Ms
Parosha Chandran, a leading human rights barrister based in London,
has been appointed to the Justice for Kirsty Campaign team. Her
appointment is a significant development.
Ms Chandran has worked at the European Commission for Human Rights
(Strasbourg), The UNHCR (London) and the UN International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (The Hague), she is Trustee
of the British Institute of Human Rights and a member of the legal
team of the Kurdish Human Rights Project. Further details of Ms
Chandran’s expertise can be found at http://www.10-11gis.co.uk.
Next month we return to México with renewed vigour and stronger
team including Louis, Kirsty’s youngest son who was diving
with his mother and brother Jamie when Kirsty was killed………..our
quest for Justice for Kirsty continues!
Meanwhile the Méxican tourist industry had a record year in 2004
with visitor numbers up by 10% to 20.6 million spending £5.73
billion and in December President Fox proudly presented the National
Human Rights Programme.
Expressing México’s continued commitment to uphold human
rights. President Fox said, “ This programme has as it’s
goal a state in which human rights will become the guiding axis
for national policy; a state in which we are all jointly responsible
for their respect, promotion, and protection, through dialog, action
and social participation; a state in which together we will ensure
the progressive reduction of inequalities”. I know that human
rights belong to everybody, but I also know that we are all responsible
for authorities guaranteeing them.” He went on to say, “We
want to make México a country where freedom and dignity are fully
respected but to do this we must all renew our commitment and implement
precise actions”
Fine words Mr President ….How about making
a start by delivering Justice for Kirsty and
prosecuting those who make a mockery of your judicial system
and bring shame on your wonderful country.
How you can help
Send the appeal letters and emails
Make a donation
Boycott Méxican tourist resorts ………they
are not safe!
2 March 2005
JFK Documentary to be shown on BBC2 this month
The documentary, Who Killed Kirsty MacColl, is to be shown on
BBC2 on Friday 18th March, at 23:40.
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