Thursday, May 14, 2009

Letter to Archbishop Vincent Nichols

This morning Declan ventures for the first time in months into the men’s washroom of the Dellow Day Centre of the Catholic Sisters of Mercy Providence Row Charity, and I get fondled by a homeless man!

Declan is just gone when this homeless comes along side me and rubs his hand across my shoulder and down my arm. I shout at him to go away and hit him with the newspaper I was reading. A few minutes later he is back: this time, he touches me inappropriately, right underneath a CCTV camera. I am in disbelief: there are other homeless about the living room; a nun at the kitchen counter and another at reception; and there are two or three workers buzzing about. I am back shouting at him again, and this time a member of staff comes. About 10 minutes later, I am informed by a member of staff that this homeless has been asked to leave for the day, and I ask the guy to put my complaint on record.

This afternoon Declan emailed the new head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, in his capacity as Archbishop of the Diocese of Westminster, to which the Dellow Centre belongs; our concern that we may be barred from this day centre is not unfounded: on 18 June 2007 we were barred from the Methodist Church Whitechapel Mission by the minister’s wife after I was assaulted in an unprovoked attack by a homeless woman in the canteen - the barring was due to concerns about our safety!

For the record, this is Declan’s email to Archbishop Nichols:

Subject: Providence Row Charity

His Grace Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster.

Your Grace,

I refer to my most recent email of 13 April (attached) to the former head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, His Eminence Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, in his capacity as Archbishop of the Diocese of Westminster, to which the Dellow Day Centre of the Sisters of Mercy Providence Row Charity belongs.

This morning my wife was inappropriately touched and fondled by a client of the Dellow Centre, right underneath a CCTV camera, and despite that there were other people around her and staff about. She made a complaint to a member of staff, Mr. Keith Armitage, and requested of Mr. Armitage that he make her complaint a matter of record. She was subsequently informed by another member of staff that the homeless man was asked to leave for the day.

I can confirm that I continue to wash in the street as a result of harassment and intimidation by homeless people in the Dellow Centre and the Catholic Manna Day Centre (whose building is provided rent-free by the Archdiocese of Southwark), which I have been doing since 10 April last year; and my wife has been doing since 27 February. Since my initial letter of complaint to Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor of 21 April 2008 (almost two weeks after I took to washing in the street), the following are just a handful of incidents from these two day centres:

(1) 16 May 2008: I reported a homeless man to the Metropolitan Police for racially aggravated harassment in the men's washroom of the Dellow Centre (crime reference no. 4212667/08);

(2) 18 June 2008: I was robbed in the canteen of the Dellow Centre of all my and my wife's money and documents (crime reference no. 4215697/08); 24 June: I was informed at Bow Street police station that the case had been struck out due to the police being unable to obtain any CCTV footage whatsoever from Providence Row Charity;

(3) 19 June 2008: the day after the robbery of all our money and documents in the Dellow Centre, I reported a homeless man to the Metropolitan Police for assaulting me while I was queuing for food in the Manna Centre (crime reference no. 3021917/08);

(4) 6 November 2008: I submitted a written complaint to the Chief Executive of the Providence Row Charity, Ms. Jo Ansell, against a homeless woman for the verbal abuse of both my wife and me from the reception desk of the Dellow Centre;

(5) 24 February 2009: I reported a homeless man to the Metropolitan Police for assault in the canteen of the Dellow Centre (crime reference no. 4204029/09); 25 March: I was informed by email from Limehouse police station that the case had been struck out due to the police being unable to obtain the identity of the suspect from the Providence Row Charity “even though they do know his details”.

I should again point out that my wife and I were barred from the Methodist Church Whitechapel Mission on 18 June 2007 by the minister's wife due to concerns about our safety following an unprovoked assault on my wife (crime reference no. 4217341/07). Despite that the Whitechapel Mission's website states that homeless people are not barred or excluded and that I wrote by registered post to the minister himself and to the head of the Methodist Church in the UK, Rev. Graham Carter, neither my wife nor I were readmitted.

Please would you acknowledge receipt.

Yours sincerely,
Declan Heavey