Police station vigil for ex-paratrooper who choked to death in custody suite

FAMILY, friends and campaigners who have fought for justice for Christopher Alder will hold a vigil on Sunday outside the police station where he died.

The event will be held at 1pm outside Queens Gardens Police Station in Hull, 14 years to the day since the black former paratrooper choked to death on the floor of the custody suite, with his arms handcuffed behind his back and his trousers around his ankles.

Mr Alder’s sister Janet, 50, will speak alongside other campaigners at the vigil, which will be followed by a public meeting hosted by Hull and District Trades Union Council at the Unison offices in Alfred Gelder Street at 2pm.

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Miss Alder said she hoped anyone who had followed her brother’s case would attend.

She said: “It’s for anybody that’s been touched by Christopher’s case over the years and really wants to show some respect to an ex-paratrooper that lost his life in such an inhumane way and wishes the best for the ongoing investigation being a successful one, and for the family to get some justice and find peace. They are invited to bring flowers and show respect.”

In a shocking blunder which is still the subject of a criminal inquiry, Mr Alder’s body was found in a mortuary last November, 11 years after his family thought they had buried him.

The grave in Hull’s Northern Cemetery was exhumed and tests confirmed that Nigerian woman Grace Kamara, 77, had been wrongly buried in his place.

She died of natural causes at her home in Hull in 1999.

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The Ministry of Justice has now granted permission for Mrs Kamara’s remains to be re-interred in the plot, which is owned by Miss Alder.

Christine Omoregie, the Kamara family’s representative in Hull, said she was pleased that her friend could now be laid to rest.

“It’s good for both parties,” she said. “Janet is happy because Janet has no use for the grave any longer. Let her go back and rest in peace.

“We are very happy and we are making arrangements (for the funeral). We want to make it something of a celebration of her life.”

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Mr Alder was finally laid to rest after a private ceremony in Hull on February 9.

The body mix-up was discovered after Mrs Kamara’s family asked to see her before her funeral and were told she could not be found, leading to the discovery of Mr Alder’s corpse.

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