n 2006, Martin Myers got in a scrape over a cigarette. He asked a young man if he had a spare fag. The man declined to give him one. Myers came from a well-known Traveller family. The man, Myers says, made a derogatory comment about Travellers, so Myers gave up the niceties. He threatened to punch him if he didn’t hand him a cigarette.and told them what had happened. The police were familiar with Myers. He had previous convictions for dangerous driving, assault, theft and burglary.
She shows me a photographs of two cute boys with dark brown eyes: “That’s Martin with his twin brother. Patrick lives in London. He’s doing OK.” Myers, however, is doing anything but OK.than any other sentenced group in the prison population to seriously self-harm. “He’ll never be able to wear shorts or vests now,” Mary says. In prison, Myers injured his hands so badly that he needed a five-hour operation. His legs are so damaged that he was told an operation could just make things worse.
She says the school victimised Traveller children. Myers was one of a number of her kids who were permanently excluded without having learned to read or write. Mary, who is also illiterate, has a great way with words. She is here with her friend Ann McMaster, a support worker who is helping her to fight for the release of Myers. “Martin was around 11 the last time he went to school. I think the kids were treated unfairly. The other kids used to call them names,” Mary says.
She knows Myers was wrong to threaten the young man over the cigarette. The first time he went to the police station, he said Myers had threatened him when he refused to give him a cigarette. He then returned to the police, this time adding that Myers had threatened him with a knife. “He said he’d seen Martin with a little spud knife. Well, Martin never carried a knife,” Mary says.
Myers has also falsely been accused of taking a hostage at High Down prison. In a letter seen by the Guardian, the head of security and operations at the prison wrote: “This is not something that has happened while Mr Myers has been at High Down,” adding that he could not see “any reason” why it was placed on his file.
He is convinced that prison officers exploited his illiteracy to make false allegations. . Of the 2,796 IPP prisoners in jail as of 31 March 2024, more than half were recalled to custody. Mary returns with tea and biscuits. “You need to put two teabags to make a decent cup these days,” she says. Mary has been listening to the conversation about the prejudices the family has faced. “They just hear your voice. You’ve got a Traveller’s voice, somehow or other. No matter how you do yourself up, you can have diamonds and pearls, as soon as they look at you they know you’re a Traveller. They can pick us out of a million people.
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