Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Letter to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor

For the record, this is the email letter that Declan sent yesterday to the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor (Abhreception@rcdow.org.uk), in his capacity as Archbishop of the Diocese of Westminster, regarding the Sisters of Mercy Providence Row Charity, of which the Dellow Centre is a part:

Subject: Providence Row Charity

Dear Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor

Previous correspondence refers. I wish to confirm that at 9.30am this morning I made a complaint for verbal abuse against a client of the Dellow Centre (of the Sisters of Mercy Providence Row Charity); this client is known to Mr Mohammed Choudhury, a member of staff of the Providence Row Charity, to whom I made the complaint. (I understand from Mr Choudhury that such a breach of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, while my wife and I were eating our breakfast in silence in the canteen of the Dellow Centre, was rightly ignored by the both of us and reported to him by me.)

I reconfirm: (1) since 10 April, I have been washing and shaving on the streets as a consequence of harassment and intimidation in the Dellow Centre ("the centre"); (2) on 28 April, I submitted a written complaint to the chief executive of the Providence Row Charity against a homeless man for verbal abuse in the canteen of the centre; (3) on 16 May, I reported a homeless man to the Metropolitan Police for racial aggravated harassment in the centre's men's washroom (crime reference no. 4212667/08); (4) on 18 June, I was robbed in the canteen of the centre of all my and my wife's money and documents (crime reference no. 4215697/08); and (5) on 24 June, I was informed in Bow Street police station that the case in respect of the robbery of all my and my wife's money and documents had been "struck out" due to the police being unable to obtain any CCTV footage whatsoever from the centre.

As I stated in my initial email letter to you of 21 April, my wife and I are especially concerned that we could be barred from the Dellow Centre through no fault of our own – the breakfast provided by the centre is the only food available to my wife for the entire day; whilst I walk a two-hour round trip every weekday to the Manna Centre (whose building is provided rent-free by the Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark) to avail of the free lunch provided to homeless people.

I should again point out that my wife and I were barred from the Methodist Church Whitechapel Mission on 18 June 2007, by the minister's wife, due to concerns about our safety following an unprovoked assault on my wife by a homeless woman in the canteen of the premises (crime reference no. 4217341/07). Despite that the Whitechapel Mission 130th Anniversary Review states that homeless people are not barred or excluded, and that I wrote by registered post to the minister himself and to the head of the Methodist Church in the UK, Rev Graham Carter, neither my wife nor I were readmitted.

Kindly note that the case of Heavey v the United Kingdom is currently before the European Court of Human Rights (Application no. 22541/07).

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
Chain no. 69828

cc Ms Jo Ansell, Chief Executive of Providence Row Charity (by email)
Mr Erik Fribergh, Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights (by registered post*)
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* Supporting Documents, p 17, Second Request for Priority under Rule 41 of the Rules of Court