The Murder Of Clarke Pearce
By Satpal Ram:
A Chronology

July 18, 1964: Clarke Edward Pearce born.

January 25, 1966: Satpal Ram is born in Birmingham, England, of Asian parents.

1985: Ram is convicted of assaulting a police officer.

July 5, 1986: Clarke becomes engaged.

Sunday, November 16, 1986, circa 2.40am: Ram attacks Pearce with a flick knife in the Sky Blue restaurant.

November 16, 1986, small hours: After the stabbing, Ram attends Sandwell General Hospital for treatment to a wound. He is too drunk and abusive to be treated.

November 16, 1986, 4.23am: Clarke Pearce is pronounced dead at Birmingham General Hospital.

November 16, 1986, 10.10am: A Post Mortem is performed by the Home Office Pathologist, Norman Gower, at Birmingham Central Mortuary. A second Post Mortem will later be performed by Dr Acland, for the defence.

November 18, 1986: Evelyn Schneider walks into Steelhouse Lane Police Station; Birmingham police say they know the name of the killer.

November 24, 1986: Ram surrenders himself to Birmingham police accompanied by his solicitor.

November 25, 1986: Ram appears before Birmingham magistrates for the first time charged with the murder of Clarke Pearce. He is remanded in custody.

December 2, 1986: Inquest on Clarke Pearce.

December 17, 1986: Clarke Pearce is buried; his funeral is extremely well attended, including by many of his workmates, not all of them white.

May 6, 1987: Ram is visited in prison and makes a detailed defence statement for his forthcoming trial.

June 1, 1987: Ram is visited by Leading Counsel Douglas Draycott QC and Junior Counsel Stephen Linehan.

Friday, June 5, 1987: Ram’s trial opens at Birmingham Crown Court.

June 10, 1987: Ram is convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mid-June 1987 to May 1988 (date unspecified): Ram’s application for leave to appeal against conviction is refused.

May 12, 1988: Barrister Patrick O’Connor provides a written advice on Ram’s first appeal.

June 25, 1988: Draycott replies to O’Connor’s written advice.

March 6, 1989: Ram’s first appeal is presided over by the Lord Chief Justice of England. He is refused leave.

July 16, 1992: Ram’s conviction - along with several others - is referred to as a possible miscarriage of justice in an article in the Independent.

August 13, 1992: a report in a local Birmingham newspaper mentions the possibility of Ram’s case being re-opened.

1993: AsianDubFoundation is formed; one of many bands to champion this worthless cause.

1993: Stephen Linehan, Ram’s Junior Counsel, takes silk.

June 21, 1993: A submission is made to the Home Secretary requesting that Ram’s case be referred back to the Court of Appeal.

April 19, 1994: The name Satpal Ram appears for the first time in the NewsBank database – The Independent, (information correct at March 5, 2018).

May 1994: Ram is granted leave to appeal to the High Court. A full hearing is listed for December 15, 1994.

November 24, 1995: Ram’s second appeal is dismissed by the Court of Appeal in a strongly worded judgment.

November 16, 1996: A rally is held by Ram supporters, in Birmingham, “TO MARK A DECADE OF INJUSTICE”.

December 1, 1997: Douglas Draycott dies.

February 9, 1998: AsianDubFoundation release the song Free Satpal Ram.

March 15, 1998: a report in a Sunday newspaper says that rock band Primal Scream raised five thousand pounds for the Free Satpal Campaign the previous month.

November 17, 1999, 7.30pm: a meeting in support of Ram is held at the House of Commons.

December 14, 1999: Lord Desai mentions Ram en passant in Parliament.

2000: Regina v Ram is cited in case law in the Criminal Appeal Office Index.

January 12, 2000: John McDonnell MP submits an Early Day Motion calling for Ram’s release, and an inquiry into the trial. Ram is said to have killed one of the six people who attacked him, but only because the man who died “refused medical treatment”.

January 20, 2000: A total of six MPs have now signed the Early Day Motion.

January 30, 2000: A report in the Observer says that Ram * had been elected a vice-president of the National Civil Rights Movement the previous weekend.

* The original report (later corrected) claimed erroneously that Prisons Minister Paul Boateng had received this dubious honour.

February 8, 2000: Prisons Minister Paul Boateng replies in a Written Answer to a question by David Winnick MP concerning Ram’s behaviour.

September 18, 2000: Ram is interviewed by a member of the Parole Board.

October 27, 2000: The Parole Board recommends Ram’s immediate release.

November 16, 2000: Ram’s campaigners hand in a petition to 10 Downing Street calling for his release.

November 18, 2000: A benefit concert is organised in London by Ram’s campaigners to mark (according to a press release) “the 14th anniversary of the attack on Satpal Ram”.

November 28, 2000: The Criminal Cases Review Commission was set to decide on whether or not to refer Ram’s conviction back to the Court of Appeal. [This decision is deferred indefinitely.]

January 2001: FROM MURDERER TO MARTYR... published in Identity magazine; the first exposé of the Free Satpal Campaign’s lie machine.

January 16, 2001: Home Secretary Jack Straw writes to the Parole Board seeking clarification regarding its recommendation to release Ram; he was subsequently to reject it.

April 21, 2001: satpalramisguilty website opens for business.

May 10, 2001: Ram’s lawyers are informed of Straw’s decision, (see January 16, 2001 above).

June 28, 2001: It is revealed in Parliament that Ram has been allowed escorted visits to his (terminally ill) mother on a number of occasions.

July 2001: Ram is moved to an open prison (according to Carf, Oct/Nov 2001).

August 10, 2001: Ram’s solicitor lodges a challenge to the Home Secretary’s decision at the High Court, (see January 16, 2001 above).

August 17, 2001: A report dated thus on the Free Satpal Ram website says that Ram has been moved to an open prison, (see July 2001, above).

September 2, 2001: A report dated thus on the Free Satpal Ram website says that Ram has been moved back to a Category B prison.

September 7, 2001: This is a bad day for Ram, and under other circumstances one might have felt some sympathy for him:

the Criminal Cases Review Commission declines to refer his case back to the Court of Appeal,

and

his mother dies of leukaemia,

a substantial tranche of the main Channel 4 news at 7pm is devoted to an extremely biased and misleading analysis of Ram’s case. It includes a telephone interview with the great man.

Monday September 9th 2001: a report dated thus (September 9 was actually a Sunday) on the Free Satpal Ram website says that Ram had been allowed eight home visits in the previous two months without handcuffs (to visit his dying mother).

September 11, 2001: The World Trade Center in New York is bombed, the greatest single peacetime act of civilian mass murder in history; Ram’s picture appears on the front page of the following issue of Indiaweekly.

May 28, 2002: The European Court of Human Rights delivers its ruling in the case of Dennis Stafford. This decision leads to Ram’s release on licence.

June 18, 2002, 7pm: Ram walks through the gates of HMP Blantyre House.

December 9, 2002: Clarke’s mother dies at the age of seventy-nine.

April 3, 2003: Ram’s Judicial Review proceedings are settled.

April 17, 2003: The order in the Judicial Review proceedings is sealed; Ram is to receive £20,000 compensation.

April 24, 2003: A report is received from the London Probation Service recommending Ram’s recall to prison following allegations of assault and criminal damage.

May 7, 2003: Ram’s life licence is revoked; as of now he is unlawfully at large.

September 3, 2003: Home Secretary David Blunkett inform’s Ram’s solicitors that their client can collect a cheque for his outstanding compensation and interest in person at Islington police station, London.

September 12, 2003, 10am: Ram fails to turn up at Islington police station.

January 12, 2004: The High Court throws out Ram’s attempt to have his compensation paid while he is still unlawfully at large!

April 18, 2005: Ram is arrested in London.

June 9, 2005: I receive a telephone call from Nadine O’Neill. After contacting the relevant agency in Birmingham, she was told Ram was arrested in London on April 18, 2005, during which process he assaulted two police officers. [In my notes, I wrote April 16, 2005 as well as April 18, 2005, but the date is not important. There is no mention of this arrest in NewsBank].

November 19, 2007: I spoke to Mrs O’Neill. She said she’d heard recently that Ram had been granted day release. The terms of his licence included that he not visit Birmingham. He is believed to be living in London somewhere.

November 15, 2011: In a telephone conversation this evening, Mrs Nadine O’Neill said she had heard recently from the authorities that her brother’s murderer is still in prison, and probably won’t be moved to an open prison for at least a couple of years.

July 23, 2013: Nadine O’Neill is informed that her brother’s murderer has been paroled again. Without any fanfare this time.

January 5, 2016: The files relating to Ram are opened at Kew. I can probably claim responsibility for this. Years ago I contacted the Public Record Office (as it then was) asking they be collected and preserved. I found this entry on December 9, 2016.


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