Justice for Kirsty- Not Achieved

I received this email today. After almost ten years, there will be no justice for Kirsty MacColl. I was last in Mexico during the same week Kirsty was killed, and have purposely avoided the country since. I haven’t been back, nor do I plan to visit the country again. For all things Kirsty, visit http://www.kirstymaccoll.com/

The committee which has led the fight to achieve justice for Kirsty MacColl has agreed to cease campaigning. It will disband and stop collecting money to fund its activities. The remaining funds will be distributed to charities of which Kirsty would have approved.

The committee recently received news that the Mexican government have closed their case file on Kirsty’s death, and regard this as the end of the matter. They said they had exhausted all avenues of investigation and taken statements and affidavits from many witnesses. None of these had led to further information as to who may have been implicated, apart from the boat hand Cen Yam, who had already been convicted of causing the accident.

Once the case was closed there was virtually nothing left for the committee to campaign for. We are not able to bring any more pressure on the Mexicans than we have achieved already.

After Kirsty’s tragic death in Cozumel, Mexico in December 2000, her mother, Jean MacColl, launched the Justice for Kirsty campaign. Its primary purpose was to establish whether the Mexican judicial system had investigated the case sufficiently thoroughly for Kirsty’s family, friends and fans to accept that justice had been done in accounting for her untimely death. It did so by rallying the outrage and anger at the accident, and raised funds to allow Jean and the committee to pay for lawyers, and to approach governments at the highest level.

The committee was successful in achieving most of its aims. The Mexican government was compelled to re-open its enquiries after pressure from the campaign and the British government exposed the clumsy cover-up that followed the accident. In the unstable circumstances in Mexico in recent years, it is unlikely that any more could be achieved: the case has been re-examined very thoroughly.

Jean intends to continue working in a personal capacity to raise public awareness of the key issues in the campaign: committee members have pledged their informal support for her efforts. She wishes to thank everyone who has contributed in any way to helping her and the campaign. The support of The Pogues and Billy Bragg have been especially important in increasing the public profile of the campaign.

The two charities receiving the remaining campaign funds are:

• Casa Alianza Mexico, which provides care and rehabilitation for homeless children and others at risk in Mexico

• Cuba Music Solidarity, which Kirsty had supported enthusiastically.