Declan agreed to a meeting? I don’t think so
On Thursday afternoon, while we were having a quick cup of tea in the Dellow Centre of the Sisters of Mercy Providence Row Charity, the charity’s operations manager, Stephanie Harrison, approached Declan to tell him that its chief executive, Jo Ansell, and herself wanted to have a meeting with him to discuss issues raised in his recent emails to Ansell – Declan has, among other things, been robbed of all our money and documents (see blog of 18 June “Declan robbed in the Sisters of Mercy Dellow Centre”), which the police struck out because they didn’t get any CCTV footage whatsoever from the centre. (Since 21 April, Declan has also been writing to the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, in his capacity as Archbishop of the Diocese of Westminster, of which the Dellow Centre is a part – an account of this correspondence was submitted by Declan to the European Court of Human Rights yesterday as part of his second Request for Priority under Rule 41 of the Rules of Court, see previous blog.)
Mindful that on 18 June 2007 we were barred from the Methodist Church Whitechapel Mission by the minister's wife due to concerns about our safety after I was assaulted in an unprovoked attack by a homeless woman in the canteen – and that we were never readmitted, despite Declan writing by registered post to the minister himself and to the head of the Methodist Church in the UK, Rev Graham Carter – Declan emailed Ansell as soon as he got to a computer. Then, yesterday, as Declan was printing his supporting documents for the Court, he received an email from Ansell; he had no choice but to respond. Ansell’s email and Declan’s reply can be read below.
Actually, Declan’s first email letter to Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor of 21 April (see blog of 22 April “Letter to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor”) was out of concern that we could be barred from the Dellow Centre through no fault of our own – Declan drawing to his attention that since 10 April he has been washing and shaving on the streets as a result of all the harassment and threats he has received from other homeless while attempting to wash in the Dellow Centre’s men's washroom. Declan also points out in this letter to the Cardinal that the breakfast the nuns provide the homeless is my only food M-F; whilst he walks 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.
On 24 June, a City of London Police 'No sleeping' sign went up on the back wall of the porch we have been sleeping in since 3 November 2006, which, according to the May issue of The Pavement, a free magazine for London’s homeless, gives police “permission to move on anyone found sleeping in a doorway” (see blog of 25 June “Police ‘No sleeping’ sign in the porch”) – on 9 May police told us they were "cleaning" the City of London of rough sleepers and that we either move to beyond city boundaries or be arrested, despite that Declan had been diagnosed in the Royal London Hospital with a sprained ankle only hours before (see blog of 9 May "Letter to the Mayor of London”); police also told us the same thing on 17 May (see blog of 17 May "Letter to the British Prime Minister"); then the whole approach changed: on 2 and 9 June, we have to move out of the porch (to beyond city boundaries) so that the City of London's Cleansing service can wash and disinfect the porch floor with immediate effect or be arrested (see blog of 11 June “Letter to the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis”).
Although we now go to sleep every night under the threat of arrest (Declan will head off with his bags, but I will be staying put: am I supposed to just walk off for the night carrying all my bags, perhaps even to be robbed?), last night I thought my time in a cell had just arrived: at approximately 9.00pm, as I am cleaning the porch floor (all our bags in a corner), two City of London police officers stopped at the porch to give three very lost people directions – I kept cleaning, and eventually the officers moved a bit up the road, where they stayed for over five minutes. I should perhaps add here that Declan’s second Request for Priority states that “the various attempts by the City of London Police to move the applicant and his wife out of the porch they sleep in at night, culminating in the current ‘No sleeping’ sign on the back wall of the porch, are in fact a violation of his rights under Article 34 of the ECHR” – Article 34 of the European Convention on Human Rights establishes a duty on Convention states not to subject applicants to any improper indirect acts or contacts designed to dissuade or discourage applicants from pursuing a Convention remedy.
Why the police want us out of the porch? Well, a hint may be contained in an email Declan received from Superintendent Lorraine Cussen on 10 June, in which she advises Declan to find accommodation with the help of Broadway, a homeless charity – Broadway, I’m afraid, made an appearance the same night the sign went up in the porch to ask if we would apply for benefits: but as Declan informed the three workers, he would have to withdraw his application to the Court, and who on earth would do that in our situation? (The Department of Work and Pensions terminated our benefits on 27 September 2006 because Declan didn't “sign on” two days before he was due to do so on 29 September, see blog of 8 September 2007 “Application to the European Court of Human Rights”.)
Apart from the matter of spending some time in a cell, I have also been limping for over a week now; the main problem being that I am walking with runners only fit for the dustbin. This week I asked the nun in charge of clothes in the Dellow Centre for a pair of runners but she told me she had none (she gave me the same answer on 11 March). I am being equally unlucky in the Manna Centre: I used to be given a couple of minutes, every two Sundays, to find a maximum of three items from a jumble of second-hand clothes, but now I am told that they no longer do clothes on weekends.
For the record, this is Declan’s email to Ansell yesterday afternoon:
On 7/4/08, Declan Heavey
Dear Ms Ansell
I refer to your email below in acknowledgement of my email to you yesterday (a copy of which is also presented below).
Please note that my email to you yesterday states that "I wish to confine this matter to writing in order to avoid any misunderstanding that may occur".
I can confirm that I have not spoken with any member of your staff subsequent to my email to you yesterday, and wish to maintain my position in respect of same.
Thank you for your understanding.
Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
On 7/4/08, Jo Ansell
Dear Mr Heavey
Thank you for confirming that a meeting is acceptable to you. I will pass the message on to Stephanie Harrison and she will arrange a convenient date with you.
Regards
Jo Ansell
Chief Executive
Providence Row (charity)
From: Declan Heavey [mailto:dheavey@gmail.com]
Sent: 03 July 2008 16:10
To: Jo Ansell; info
Subject: Providence Row Charity
Dear Ms Ansell
I refer to your request this afternoon for a (non-urgent) meeting with me, with your Operations Manager, Ms Stephne Harrison, in attendance.
I reconfirm, in view of the documents I intend submitting this evening to the European Court of Human Rights in support of my second Request for Priority under Rule 41 of the Rules of Court, that I wish to confine this matter to writing in order to avoid any misunderstanding that may occur.
Please would you acknowledge receipt.
Yours sincerely
Declan Heavey
cc Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of the Diocese of Westminster (by email - with list of supporting documents herein referred to)
