WHO KILLED BLAIR PEACH?

Blair Peach was a New Zealander murdered by a unit of the British police Special Patrol Group.

He was beaten over the head while he was protesting against a meeting of the anti-immigrant far right in Southall, London, forty years ago this month, April 23, 1979.

No one has ever been charged with his murder.

Who Killed Blair Peach? is a docu-drama being presented by Michael Hurst and Donogh Rees upstairs at the Grey Lynn RSC, 1 Francis St, on Easter Monday night, April 22, 7.30pm, the eve of the anniversary of his killing, England’s St George’s Day.

This is an excerpt, the dialogue taken directly from the police record—

INVESTIGATOR: Constable, do you remember how the van you were in, SPG Carrier U1/1, was first driven into Beachcroft Avenue?

POLICE: No.

INVESTIGATOR: Did it stop?

POLICE: I can’t recall.

INVESTIGATOR: Did it slow down?

POLICE: Can’t recall.

INVESTIGATOR: Did it make a clean sweep of the area?

POLICE: I really can’t recall.

INVESTIGATOR: Who was in the van?

POLICE: I don’t remember.

INVESTIGATOR Who was in charge of the van?

POLICE: I don’t know.

INVESTIGATOR: Were you ordered to get out of the van?

POLICE: I don’t know.

INVESTIGATOR: You must have been ordered out.

POLICE: I can’t remember.

INVESTIGATOR: Which door did you get out?

POLICE: I can’t recall.

INVESTIGATOR: But you do remember—this is your statement—you do remember getting out of the van, seeing a white man holding a brick as if to throw it at you, then chasing the man, who had turned and run away, back toward the Broadway, thus taking you out of the area where the incident occurred and hence in no way involved in the death of the deceased?

POLICE: Yes.