The Green Party and the family of a seven year old boy killed in Surrey in 2014 during severe flooding are yet to receive a reply from the Prime Minister for a request for legal aid intervention.
Party leader Natalie Bennett wrote to David Cameron last month outlining why there is an “overwhelming argument” for him to intervene and approve the Gbangbola family’s request for legal aid to be properly represented at the inquest into the death of their son. [1]
Zane Gbangbola died in the early hours of 8 February 2014 during flooding that struck Surrey and many other parts of Britain. At that time, high levels of hydrogen cyanide were detected at Zane’s home by incident response teams, however, the emergency log read in the coroner court pre-inquest meeting had mostly been redacted.
Green Party leader, Natalie Bennett said:
"I'm very disappointed that David Cameron has not responded, which I'm sure is a big disappointment for the Gbangbola family.
"Last week, they had to face a pre-inquest hearing without legal aid backing. That's not right - indeed it is inhumane.
"In different circumstances, I know what it is like to attend the inquest of a loved one. My mother was killed in a car crash and there were times in the inquest that the evidence given made me feel like I'd been kicked very hard in the stomach by a piece of evidence, despite the best efforts of the coroner and court staff to be gentle and sympathetic.
"The Gbangbolas face all of that, but also high-powered legal representatives seeking to defend public institutions looking after those bodies' interests, against which they are currently standing without the public funding they need."
"We know that David Cameron called an emergency Cobra meeting after Zane's death - with that level of national interest it is clear that it is in the public interest for the family to have the best possible support in explaining their detailed and full knowledge of what happened to Zane."
On the night of 8 February 2014, all three family members were taken to hospital. Both Kye (father) and Zane had suffered a cardiac arrest. Zane died and Kye remains paralysed from the waist down.
More than 30,000 people have signed a petition calling for an investigation and public debate into the death of Zane.
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