New article on IMC UK about John's situation - Check it out and take action in solidarity!
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/05/369431.html
Hands off John Bowden!
Sorry, but by not giving full and accurate information about what John Bowden did to get a 25-year life sentence you are risking the reputation of the anarchist movement.
Saying that what he did was "something which happens all too frequently when men quarrel while drunk" and was "a few moments of drunken recklessness" suggests that all that happened was that he killed a man in a drunken brawl.
The 25-year sentence should have been a clue that something much worse was involved. In fact, he and 2 others were sentenced for luring a fellow drunkard to a flat (in other words, contrary to what you say, it was premediated), throwing him into a bath of boiling water, then dismembering him while he was still alive, keeping his head in a fridge and scattering the other body parts around the area. Fortunately, not something that happens all too frequently on a Saturday night. He got 25 years and the other two 15 (which is why they were released earlier, not because he fought the system while they didn't as you suggest). Bowden was also convicted of conspiracy to rob the victim (so it was done partly for personal gain) and for maliciously wounding two other persons. He was in fact the leader of a gang that specialised in robbing and cutting drunkards for money and, what is worse, for pleasure.
Some information about what he did can be found at www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/output/2007/04/18/story9579162t0.shtm More can be found on a Spanish site for ghoulish murders at http://www.todoasesinos.com/Asesinos_y_asesinatos/John_Bowden_y__amigos/John_Bowden_y__amigos.php?pag=0 (but be warned the pictures are not nice).
I assume you didn't know this, otherwise you wouldn't have urged people to write and befriend a psycho like he must be. But even here you were being irresponsible in not checking the facts first.
Personally, I would doubt his anarchist credentials (he's only recently claimed to be one, before that, if the internet is anything to go by, he was associated with some trotskyist outfit). His fight against the prison authorities would seem to be just a continuation of his rage against society that led him to do what he did. Surely, killing a fellow member of the working class for money and pleasure is inexcusable.
Most people will think it the height of insolence for a person who did what he did to argue that prisons should be abolished. No doubt they should be, but is he saying that he shouldn't have been dealt with for what he did? What does he think should have happened to him?
The State knows what he did and when they launch a counter-propaganda campaign it's going to be easy for them to discredit the campaign to abolish prisons and anarchism generally.
Last question, if you think it's irrelevant what he did "more than a quarter of a Century ago", do you think the anarchist movement should take up the case of Ian Brady, Ian Huntley or Denis Nilsen if they became prison rebels?
A terrible mistake has been made here and let's hope it doesn't do us too much harm.
capricorn wrote:
Sorry, but by not giving full and accurate information about what John Bowden did to get a 25-year life sentence you are risking the reputation of the anarchist movement.
as so often.
you can insert your own joke here about the "risking the reputation of the anarchist movement", but being on the right side of the fence doesn't entitle anyone to cook the evidence.
This thread has been umm...interesting. Does anyone have any other (english language) evidence to support what Capricorn has said other than that one news article? I've been trying to look into it, but there's very little information on John Bowden that I can find that isn't from anarchist sources.
Some people I know very well regularly correspond with him and he has written several articles for Now or Never!. All I had been told was that he had killed someone accidentally in a fight and as my information came from reliable people I never had any reason to question this. Obviously, Capricorn's post and the evidence presented alongside it changes matters somewhat...
Here's what the The Times of 16 January 1982 said (back numbers of which will be in most central reference libraries). The more popular papers would have had a field day reporting the case if anyone wants to check them.
Machete murder trio given 'life'
Three men were jailed for life yesterday at the Central Criminal Court for a murder in which they began to cut up the victim's body while he was still alive.
One of them, John Bowden, was led struggling and shouting from the dock after Mr Justice Mars-Jones recommended that he should serve at least 25 years. He shouted: "You old bastard. I hope you die screaming of cancer."
Bowden, aged 24, a labourer, Michael Ward, aged 28, a gravedigger, and David Begley, aged 41, a porter, were found guilty of murdering Mr Donald Ryan, aged 49. The judge recommended that Ward and Begley should serve at least 15 years.
Mr Michael Mansfield, for Bowden, offered no mitigation. The judge told Mr Rock Tansey, counsel for Begley: "This is an appalling case. There never was a more horrific case of murder than this one and your client was fully implicated in it.
"I am prepared to believe that he was not the prime mover. The person who was behind it all was the codefendant, Bowden, who obviously enjoyed inflicting pain and even killing."
Mr Tansey said Begley had no previous convictions for violence; but his life had deteriorated because of alcoholism.
Sentencing Begley, the judge said : "I think this was a horrendous murder and anyone who is capable of taking part in an offence of this kind is a potential menace to the public at large."
He said he was satisfied that Ward had treated the matter as a "great joke" after he had been a party to dismembering Mr Ryan while he was still alive and disposing of parts of his body round the neighbourhood.
The judge told the jury that if they wished he would recommend that they be excused jury service for 20 years. "You have had a very difficult and gruesome task to perform", he said.
Mr Ryan's body had been cut up with a saw, electric carving knife and a machete at a council maisonette in Colby Path, Camberwell, South London, where Ward lived with Shirley Brindle.
On Thursday she was found not guilty of murder. But she was convicted of conspiring to prevent Mr Ryan's burial and will be sentenced on Monday.
Parts of Mr Ryan's body were found in streets and on wasteground. His head, which had been stored in a fringe, was later found in a refuse bag.
The judge directed that outstanding charges against Bowden alleging kidnapping, robbery and wounding be left on the file. Bowden, of Telford Place, Peckham, south London, was given a total of five years' jail for maliciously wounding Mr Robert Egan and Mr Patrick O'Connor in separate incidents, and for conspiring to rob Mr Ryan and conspiring to prevent his burial.
Begley, of Winchcombe Court, Walworth, south London, was jailed for a total of five years for the assault on Mr Egan, conspiracy to rob Mr Ryan, and the conspiracy to prevent his burial. Ward was jailed for a total of five years for conspiracy to rob Mr Ryan and conspiracy to prevent his burial.
During the trial a man who approached a juror and spoke to prosecution witnesses was jailed for 12 months for contempt of court. David Mulvaney, aged 25, of Brindon Estate, Walworth, was arrested after a witness reported the incident in November. An order was made that no publicity should be 'given to the matter until after the trial.
ABC's fundamentalism also led them to support ted kasczynski
I'm not sure newyawka but i remember Earth First having an yearly or maybe a bi-yearly big journal/book type thingy called Do or Die.
I think its Leed's ABC that support him the most cos they put out his new pamplet - Tear Down The Walls.
But i mind of Brigton ABC being in contact with him as well.
in solidarity
ugh you're right those other two ABC sites do have him
Ted is serving multiple life sentences for the infamous Unabomber bombing against individuals involved in developing destructive technologies
even the fact that they added the word "destructive" ...
ugh
no platform for primitivists / deep ecologists / green fash
MJ wrote:
ugh you're right those other two ABC sites do have himTed is serving multiple life sentences for the infamous Unabomber bombing against individuals involved in developing destructive technologies
even the fact that they added the word "destructive" ...
ugh
no platform for primitivists / deep ecologists / green fash
There isn't consistent abc politics outside of ABCF.
madashell wrote:
Fucking hell!Kind of makes me wonder what ABC aren't telling us all about other people they've listed on their site.
To be fair, they're mostly mental enough that they list what the dicks they support did, and still expect people to support them.
Altho he's not quite as vile as some of the others, my personal hatred is of Jeff 'Free' Luers. What a penis.
I think the worst thing is that some of the groups that support these cunts contain decent social anarchists, who just have some fucked up views about supporting 'class struggle prisoners' 
Jack wrote:
Altho he's not quite as vile as some of the others, my personal hatred is of Jeff 'Free' Luers. What a penis.
To be fair, he's not really any worse than (for instance) mental Greek insurrectionists who've thrown a petty bomb at a police station. Misguided, but not exactly at the level of the Unabomber.
madashell wrote:
To be fair, he's not really any worse than (for instance) mental Greek insurrectionists who've thrown a petty bomb at a police station. Misguided, but not exactly at the level of the Unabomber.
I know, I can't really justify it, I just fucking hate the piss of shit so much.
I reckon it's because there was so much shit about him (hundreds of zines, articles, websites etc.) when I was first into politics, and it just wound me up. Some stupid cunt burnt a bunch of cars, and and went to prison. It's hardly the Birmingham six, but to listen to anarchists and it's like the Nazis are back.... and more evil than ever before.
Fuck I hate Free. Im glad his stupid nickname is so ironic.
Twenty-two years, though it might be reduced in the near future.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Luers
Jack wrote:
If you don't want to be the victim of the reprisals to an eco-terrorist scare, then don't be a dickhead eco-terrorist during an eco-terrorist scare.
so therefore 22 years for torching a few SUVs is fair enough 
he had his muppet phase, and will be paying for it the rest of his life. imagine if you'd have got 22 years for robbing that wedding buffet 
Hands Off John Bowden!
An update on the latest situation with long-term prison resister John Bowden.
More than a quarter of a Century ago, John Bowden, then a young man, who had already spent most of his life in the “care” of the State, committed what might be characterised as a ‘stupid, drunken, murder’. There was nothing even slightly political about this act, but it was neither premeditated nor committed for personal gain. It was, unfortunately, something which happens all too frequently when men quarrel while drunk. Particularly when they have been brutalised by, marginalised from, and pushed to the very edges of society. In his recently released pamphlet, Tear Down The Walls! John describes the killing as “a senseless, almost gratuitous killing”, which “reflected the extent of my brutalisation after years of brutalising treatment in state institutions.”
The two older men convicted along with John of the murder were released long ago. Possibly, had John been less of a man than he is, if he had grovelled his way through the prison system, turned a blind eye to the injustice all around him, ignored the suffering of others, and tugged his forelock to every worthless turn-key in the system, he might too have been released early. But that did not happen.
Soon after his imprisonment, in his own words, John “began to become politicized, to emerge from the hopelessness, violence, and rage that had characterised my life thus far.” As John’s self-awareness and politicization grew, he began to emerge as an effective prison organiser and an articulate spokesperson for prisoners’ rights.
But prisons are not run like liberal democracies, they are run like absolute police states, where dissent is outlawed, and those who speak out against injustice are targeted and punished. What John Bowden has suffered over the past 25 years; the savage beatings at the hands of prison guards; the solitary confinement; the continual attempts to break him psychologically, amount to torture. John has never been broken by these outrages however, he has never been unafraid to write in support of other prisoners being brutalised in segregation units, for example; to show solidarity with those facing injustice in jail systems all over the world; to stand up and be counted when it was needed. And for that he has been punished; punished for being an articulate prison writer; punished for having a deep political insight and intelligence which outstrips his captors; punished for having the respect of other prisoners and that of many political activists beyond the prison walls. John Bowden has paid a heavy price, not just for a few moments of drunken recklessness, but for his integrity, his empathy, his solidarity, and for his radicalism.
Time and time again, John’s politics, and his contact with political activists, has been highlighted by the prison system as a “risk factor” and a reason for keeping him in jail. Nonetheless, after more than a quarter of a Century behind bars, John Bowden, now aged 50, had progressed through the system to an open prison, Castle Huntly in Scotland. He has worked outside the prison walls, been regularly released on weekend ‘home leaves’, and was being prepared for possible release in June of this year. All that has recently changed though, with John being moved back to ‘closed conditions’ at HMP Glenochil.
In the closed world of the prison system, where justice is a stranger, and where abuse routinely goes unchecked, a man or woman’s life may be held in the hands of the corrupt or incompetent. At times, even the most lowly turn-key may assume god-like authority, and the word of every single prison employee, no matter how ridiculous, counts infinitely more than that of any prisoner.
Recently at Castle Huntly, a newly-arrived right-wing social worker submitted a report on John Bowden, for consideration when his application for release on ‘life licence’ is heard by the parole board. In this report Matthew Stillman claims: “Bowden has written for a self-proclaimed anarchist website called ABC Brighton, and says he supports many of their ideals and actions. A review of this website brings into question the nature of this group. The members of this group appear to be primarily eco-terrorists or para-military members involved in what they see as battles against political systems and principles.”
In any other walk of life, were someone to make such an unfounded and blatantly defamatory statement against a legitimate prisoner support organisation, the best they could expect is that they would be laughed at. Unfortunately, in the Kafkaesque world of prison, the words of this individual carry real weight, and real danger. Therefore it is important that they are challenged.
While Indymedia chose to report this as an attack on both John Bowden and the Anarchist Black Cross (ABC), and prisoner support groups and political activists around the world rallied in support of John, The Dundee Courier chose a different approach. In a piece headlined, “Castle Huntly Killer’s Terror Links”, the Courier chose to basically invent a story out of Stillman’s own fantastic perception, doubly libelling the ABC, and no doubt choosing John Bowden as an ‘easy target’.
Seizing on this publicity as an excuse, the Scottish Prison Service immediately transferred John Bowden back to ‘closed conditions’ at HMP Glenochil, where he has been told he will remain for 3 months. While, bizarrely, they claim this is not a ‘punishment move’, it is blatantly clear that John is being punished because the spotlight has fallen on the defamatory and malicious nonsense authored by a Castle Huntly social worker.
As someone who has stood up for countless others during his time in prison, often at great cost to himself, and who is now being punished for his politics and for refusing to renounce the ABC, John Bowden deserves our fullest possible support.
At the very least please send a card or letter to John at his new address (below) and a card reading ‘Hands Off John Bowden!’ to the Scottish Prison Service. All constructive support actions are encouraged. Please show solidarity with John Bowden at a time when he needs our support most.
“For having stood up to and resisted unlawful and inhuman treatment in prison, and retained some basic human integrity and humanity in the process, I probably shall now remain imprisoned far beyond what even a reactionary judge deemed an appropriate period of time all those years ago. Hell will freeze over, however, before I surrender that part of myself that had the courage and integrity to fight back and resist when resistance often seemed futile.”
John Bowden (from Tear Down The Walls!)
Related story at: https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/04/368208.html
John Bowden, 6729, HMP Glenochil, King O' Muir Road, Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, FK10 3AD. Scotland.
Scottish Prison Service Headquarters, Communications Branch, Room 338, Calton House, 5 Redheughs Rigg, Edinburgh, EH12 9HW. Scotland E-mail: gaolinfo@sps.gov.uk
If you wish to make a fuller complaint you can also e-mail the Scottish Prisons Complaints Commission at spcc@scotland.gsi.gov.uk as well as contacting the Parole Board and HMP Glenochil (contact details given in Indymedia link above.)
Tear Down The Walls! is available from Leeds ABC, price £1.50 plus 50p UK postage (blank postal orders only please.) It is free to prisoners. Please contact us for bulk orders.
Leeds ABC, PO Box 53, Leeds, LS8 4WP. England.
LeedsABC@riseup.net www.myspace.com/leedsabc