Plea for new investigation into Inverness man's death in London
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The family of an Inverness man who was found dead in mysterious circumstances beside a London car park 18 years ago are calling for a new investigation.
Pat and Ron Ewart want the Metropolitan Police to reopen the investigation into the death of their son Innes following new evidence suggesting the original inquiry may have been flawed.
Journalist Mick Morton has taken a fresh look at the tragedy in a BBC Scotland Disclosure podcast – The Strange Death of Innes Ewart.
Innes (27), a computer programmer, had no money worries and was close to his family and friends, but police concluded that he had taken his own life by jumping from the Stratford car park.
The family refuse to believe this, and at an inquest the coroner delivered an open verdict since she was not satisfied “as to what precisely happened in the few minutes leading to the fall.”
Now, after scrutinising internal police files and Freedom of Information responses, the family and Mr Morton have raised new questions over the original investigation.
Innes had travelled to London from Munich where he worked, and bought a cinema ticket for a film due to play at 2.45pm – 15 minutes before he was found dying.
His parents discovered he had withdrawn around £1000 the day he left Germany but had just £1.10 in his pocket. And he did not have an expensive designer watch given as a Christmas present.
At the time, the area was known for high levels of street crime and there were many CCTV cameras.
Police reports show forensic analysis took place only on the second floor of the car park. However, other footage had shown Innes on the eighth floor.
The Met’s Internal Investigations Command stated “it had been impossible to establish if a forensic examination of the eighth floor was requested but clearly it was not done”.
The internal documents also show contradictory reasons as to why officers were instructed to seize footage only from the cinema and the car park.
In February 2002 police stated that CCTV footage in a shopping mall leading to the car park was checked but was negative.
But this changed in another report in May 2003 which stated the officer in charge had said that since the circumstances seemed non-suspicious, there was no necessity to check the numerous cameras in the shopping centre. As a result two officers received “formal advice from a commanding officer for their failings.”
As part of his investigation, Mr Morton was told by Raheel Butt, a gang member at the time of Innes’s death, that the eighth floor of the car park was a gang meeting place and he could have been in danger there.
Innes’s parents believe the police have not taken seriously the possibility their son was the victim of robbery. The Metropolitan Police dispute this.
Mrs Ewart said: “I hope the police learn something from this. When they don’t investigate somebody’s loved one, they leave the family never knowing and always hoping that somebody somewhere will come forward with just some information to tell us what happened to him.”
