From the Families

Dylan Brock's Letter to Jack Straw

21st December 1999

Dear Mister Jack Straw M P

I am writing to you to say how sad I am about my Dad (John Brock) had been put in jail. He has been put in jail for something he did not do and something he would never do. Here he is doing a job that not many people would want to do. He works for a charity in Cambridge called Wintercomfort for the Homeless. My Dad had been hit, abused and even threatened with a knife but he has always stuck with his job. He had also always taught me that drugs are really really bad. Finally I think it is so unfair and unjust that my Dad should be put in prison for doing his job for caring for the homeless.

Hope you have a happy Christmas and Millennium
but I won't without my Dad
Dylan Brock (age 10)

Louise & Dylan Brock

Jack Straw's reply to Dylan's letter

13th February 2000

Dear Dylan,

Thank you for your letter of 21st December. I am sorry that it has taken some time for me to reply personally. I am sent many hundreds of letters each week, and I do not have enough time to reply to every one.

Of course, I do understand how upset you must feel that your father has been put in jail - and that Christmas must have been very hard without your Dad.

In this country the courts are independent, separate from Ministers like me. The judges in court try very hard to ensure that people get a fair trial. Those - like your Dad - who are found guilty can appeal to a higher court, sometimes people are let off on appeal, or get a lower sentence. I'm not sure whether your father's appeal has yet been heard.

All this must be difficult, very, for you to follow. Prison is hard for people, but it is made easier when those inside know that their family and children love and care about them, as you do.

Yours Sincerely,

Jack Straw

Jack Straw's second letter to Dylan

26th March 2000

Dear Dylan,

Thank you very much for your letter of 20th March, and for the petition with 20,517 signatures on it.

As I told you in my letter after Christmas, I do understand how you feel, and how much you must miss your Dad.

Best wishes,

Jack Straw

Letter from Louise Brock to the visitors to this site

5th April 2000

It has now been over three months since that black day of 17th December 1999. Three months of disbelief and despair, but also of determination.

Disbelief when Judge Howarth sentenced my husband, John to 4 years imprisonment (the legal team had said that they thought it very unlikely that John would get a custodial sentence but if he did it would be between 3-6 months).

Despair and helplessness at knowing that there was nothing immediate that I could personally do to change this outcome, that I and could not be there in prison with John to support him and help him through the anguish and depression that I knew he would suffer. Also despair at knowing that I would not have my loving husband at home, supporting, listening and laughing with me, sharing the next two to three years together. This is because with any sentence of four years or over a minimum of two thirds has to be served, not half as is believed. What could I do?

That is where the determination set in, determination that I would do everything I could think of to get our plight highlighted and to inform everyone that a huge miscarriage of justice had taken place and to ask for their help and support. Thus, with others, the 'Free the Cambridge Two Campaign' was started. And what a comfort and help the campaign has been, although it is hard work especially as the majority of the members have jobs and families. What the campaign has achieved in these three months has been tremendous, I only hope we can maintain the momentum!

The hardest thing for me has been, being thrown into single parenthood. How alien that feels and it is NOT EASY! John and I have a 'team' marriage, both being full time working parents, we shared all the household chores, duties and decisions that have to be made when you have two children, a dog, six chickens, 2 pet rats and a tank full of tropical fish! Lloyd, Dylan, family and friends have helped as much as they can and the basics are being achieved. I now really empathise with all single parents and the isolation, loneliness and exhaustion that we all feel.

At the time of writing this we still have not heard a date to apply for leave to appeal against conviction. It is so frustrating and gives us nothing to aim for. If the QC is successful and he is granted leave to appeal against conviction (we already have leave to appeal against sentence) it will take 4-6 months to get a date. If, for example, the leave to appeal is granted in May, the actual appeal will not be heard until, at the earliest, September when John will have served 9 months. You cannot appeal against sentence when you are perusing appeal against conviction - what a crazy out dated system!

I feel our first success was won when John was transferred from Bedford Prison to Highpoint Prison near Haverhill, a category C Prison with better conditions and facilities. It was a positive step for him and us as a family. Straight away he was granted three visits of two hours duration, per calendar month, a huge improvement from the two half hour visits per calendar month allowed at Bedford. It is wonderful looking forward to visiting day, but it is soon over and I always feel sad, lonely and low for many days afterwards. John is allowed to phone out and write letters but these do not compensate for the hours, days, weeks and months we are forcibly separated. I miss him so much.

Louise Brock