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Some of Bristol’s biggest music names have contributed to the ‘No Justice’ EP tribute to Marlon Thomas

Family and friends of Marlon Thomas, a Bristol man left in ‘a waking coma’ by a vicious racist attack at the hands of a mob of workers from a funfair on the Downs, are marking the 30th anniversary of that attack.

An EP of songs from some of Bristol’s leading music acts is to be released on Friday night to mark 30 years before Marlon’s life changed forever. The EP has been put together by Marlon’s brother, singer-songwriter Rudey Lee, and features members from the legendary Bristol music pioneers Smith & Mighty, among others.

In the week leading up to the anniversary of the attack which shocked Bristol back in 1994, Rudey said Marlon has been readmitted to hospital as a precaution.

The EP release will take place at midnight on Friday night into Saturday morning, March 30 – the 30th anniversary of the date of the racist rampage on the Downs which saw a large number of young black people assaulted by a mob of fairground workers armed with clubs and bats. Marlon, who was just 18 at the time, was the worst injured, and ever since has been in what the judge at the trial of some of those responsible described as ‘a living death’.

This week, Marlon’s brother Rudey said: “The attack left him severely disabled, and totally dependent on others for all of his physical needs, 24 hours daily. He was only a teenager at the time. He is wheelchair-bound, unable to speak or to alert for assistance. His vision is impaired and he is fed through a tube inserted into his stomach.

“Marlon was admitted into hospital on Sunday morning this week, with breathing complications due to displaying flu-type symptoms. He was admitted as a precaution to prevent the possibility of him contracting sepsis. We are always extra-concerned whenever he has to be admitted into hospital, for the fear of him going in with one infection, and returning home with another – which has happened several times previously.

“As a tribute to Marlon, we are releasing an EP featuring productions from Rob Smith, Smith & Mighty, Peter D Rose and Raman, to whom all I would like to express my deepest gratitude for their assistance on the project,” he added. The EP is called ‘No Justice’, and is available initially on Rudey’s bandcamp outlet.

What happened to Marlon Thomas?

Marlon, now 48, was left with very serious injuries in a brutal attack in 1994, which shocked the city. He was 18 years old at the time, and is still described by family and supporters as ‘Bristol’s Stephen Lawrence’. There were two main differences between the murder of Stephen Lawrence on a London street less than a year earlier in 1993.

The first is those responsible for the stabbing of Stephen Lawrence were not brought to justice amid now much-publicised institutional racism within the police, while most of the racist thugs who battered Marlon to within an inch, maybe a millimetre of his life, were caught and convicted.

The second was 18-year-old Stephen was killed, while Marlon was revived at the scene, but suffered life-changing injuries which effectively stop all normal life for him and his entire family. The judge at the trial of his attackers described his condition as ‘almost a living death’, and his family have described his condition as a ‘waking coma’ – and there has been little change in his condition since he regained consciousness in hospital after the attack.

It happened a long time ago, in a different age. There was no Internet or social media in March, 1994, when the funfair came to Durdham Downs in Bristol, so the Thomas family’s ordeal and struggle is not instantly known to many people in Bristol today – especially the next generation.

Part of the battle, his brother Rudey Lee said five years ago, was to keep Marlon’s name and what happened to him in the city’s consciousness, to make sure the younger generation remember and support.

For Marlon, now 48, and the other young black teenagers and children who were attacked that night have all turned or are nearing 50 now – a generation since that violent night.

The sickening night of violence

The Birmingham-based Bob Wilson’s Fair arrived at the Downs in Bristol in the last week of March, 1994.

Like thousands of teenagers, Marlon and his girlfriend went, but on the Wednesday night, the area around resembled a battleground, albeit a one-sided one.

Racist thugs who worked on the fair – including Bob Wilson’s son himself – armed themselves with baseball bats, hammers, spanners, iron bars, wrenches, pieces of wood and other weapons and prowled the fairground and the darker areas surrounding it, looking for young black teenagers – battering any they could find.

The attacking gang shouted racist abuse, and their own intent to hunt down young black people, with sickening slurs. Witnesses later told the court case as many as 20 fairground workers attacked young black people. Five were hospitalised, many more were injured, and Marlon was left for dead.

He suffered catastrophic head and chest injuries and stopped breathing. A bystander, Vernon Walker, administered CPR and paramedics took over and saved his life – but Marlon’s head injuries were severe.

He was left in a coma, and when he woke was unable to move or speak, with severe brain damage. It took three years or more for him to be discharged from hospital, in what is effectively a ‘waking coma’. He can now, 30 years on, communicate yes or no through blinking, but the attack robbed him of his future and his family of, effectively, their lives too.

The campaign

A group of family, friends and supporters quickly set up a Justice for Marlon Thomas campaign. In the early days it notched a number of successes, galvanising the city to back their case.

They took the case to the then Home Secretary, got backing from MPs and the city council – and a 10,000-signature petition forced the Downs Committee to ban that family-run fair from ever going on the Downs again.

The campaign also supported the other young people who were attacked, and their families, giving the solidarity and strength to support the police in tracking down those responsible.

The convictions

Stephen Appleton, then aged 46, was sentenced to five years for causing GBH with intent, and two years for violent disorder, to run concurrently. William Wilson, the 19-year-old son of the funfair’s owner, was jailed for four years for GBH, and two for violent disorder – again to run concurrently, rather than consecutively.

Jason Appleton, then 19, was jailed for three and a half years for GBH and two years for violent disorder, while Anthony Thompson, then 20, was sentenced for two years for violent disorder. Given those sentences were handed down with Marlon still in hospital, the city was struck by their leniency.

The CPS decided to drop charges of attempted murder, and go for the easier-to-prove charges of GBH with intent, and there was no – as there is now – extra severity in punishment for the racist element to the attacks. All the sentences were to be served concurrently, which effectively meant the attacks on the other young people that night went unpunished in terms of jail time.

The Justice for Marlon Thomas Campaign fought for an appeal, and that was successful, with a couple of years added to sentence lengths. But it is testament to just how little time those guilty of the attacks spent time in prison that they were all released before the end of that decade, and resumed their lives, while Marlon remained, and still remains, in what the judge at the trial described as ‘a living death’.

Even though Judge David McCarraher’s said: “This was very nearly a murder, and from a practical point of view, the boy has really lost any possibility of enjoyment of life and is suffering in effect, almost a living death,” he still gave what a later appeal court ruled were lenient sentences.

The aftermath

Keeping Marlon Thomas’ name, case and identity alive took many forms. Just three years after the attack, and soon after he was eventually discharged from hospital, a housing association named a little block of one-bed flats for young, single people, after him – Marlon Thomas House still stands in St George.

A documentary film was made about the case, and to mark the tenth anniversary, an exhibition of the case – poignantly including photos of Marlon before the attack – took over the Malcolm X Centre in St Pauls.

But the campaign and the efforts of the family were soon devoted to caring for their son, brother and cousin.

They had to battle to get him home from hospital to live with mum Catherine – after almost four years – and that only happened when a suitable home was found for him to come back to.

And the campaign battled to get criminal injury compensation for those others attacked, the full compensation for Marlon only fully came to the family in 2015 – 21 years after the attack.

In those years since, the family and the campaign had to battle the social care authorities – primary Bristol City Council – to get as good quality and intensive care provision as they could.

“The main reason that Marlon was hospitalized for that long, was because suitable accommodation was not found sooner,” said Rudey, speaking about his family’s ongoing situation back in 2019. “Our family were relieved that Marlon moved into his own home. The property had some minor defects, and was never ideal for Marlon’s needs. Marlon has had chest infections, and pneumonia several time over the years.

“In fact, Marlon had to be rushed into intensive care at Frenchay hospital, the week he was due to move into his own accommodation. He had taken ill, and remained there for a week, being aided with breathing, due to low oxygen levels and breathing difficulties.

“Marlon’s health has to be constantly monitored because his condition makes him more susceptible to infections. Which is why we fought so hard for him to move into his own accommodation. Over the years we have had to gradually make some major alterations to the property, as well as general maintenance,” he added. It is, Marlon’s brother said, a continuing fight, to make sure Marlon gets the best quality of life possible.

“Marlon has needed physiotherapy and hydrotherapy ever since he woke up from his coma, and we were determined to have that continue to date and have managed to do so, as well as to include aroma therapy, which we have maintained until now, with a lot of battling.

“Marlon has two carers 24 hours per day, which we have been demanded and fought for, since he was discharged from hospital, because we know these are absolutely necessary to meet his needs,” he added.

Getting this level of care was a relatively recent development – for years until they waited for the compensation claims to come in, the family effectively did the bulk of the care themselves, while they ‘battled the system to fund it’.

For years, getting Marlon the care he needed and deserved was a daily battle. “We have had to have countless meetings with the authorities on an almost several days per week basis, for years, to get funding for Marlon’s care needs to be met,” added Rudey in 2019. “Then cuts were made, and we had to go through of all these meetings again to get these needs met again, for further years.

“And we did all of this while attending court for many years, trying to finalise Marlon’s compensation claim, so that he could fund his own care, and while attempting to keep Marlon’s situation in the public eye. to maintain The Justice for Marlon Thomas Campaign, and The Justice for Marlon Thomas Campaign premises,” he added.

Selecta has been involved in carnival for as long as he can remember. He went from a child helping out at a family stall to being a key member of the organising committee, and staging the most popular and enduring sound system.

“I think the first time properly helping and doing something for the carnival was when I was about nine or ten,” said the St Pauls Carnival legend, who is now 49. “My uncle ran a stall on Brighton Street back then, and I would help him all day on that.

“I kept to that until I was maybe 18 or 19, and I was starting to get more and more into music. I was playing at christening and weddings and parties. My uncle’s good friend Rene ran a sound system called Godfather Sounds, which was always set up outside the Inkerman’s pub, and I think in about 1990 or 91 he said to me ‘why don’t you play with me at St Pauls Carnival?’ he asked me and I went along that first year, and started doing that every year,” Selecta said.

Looking back now, Rene was mentoring Selecta to take over what at the time was an already well-established and important sound system at carnival.

“He was an old guy back then and he took a step back a bit, but he was so important for me. He taught me how to set it all up, doing all the wiring, create a good sound system, and he showed me how to do things. I have just got so much love and respect for Rene. He said to me he wanted me to keep things going, and I promised him I would. He would just be so happy if he could see how it’s grown now,” he said.

Selecta took over in the early-1990s, and in the mid-90s he joined famous Bristol pirate radio station Ragga FM, and for two years used the stage at the Inkerman as a platform for Ragga FM DJs.

By around 1998, it became the Ghetto Force stage, and for the past 25 years that’s been the name now synonymous with Selecta, through music nights at venues around Bristol and beyond, and there’s even a range of clothing with the GF brand.

“The stage has had changes over the years,” he reflected. “Back in the 2000s we were the only ones doing competitions, the dancehall king and queen, and I built it up so we had a national reputation – artists would want to play on the Ghetto Force stage. When I first started we had maybe ten people dancing in front in the street, and I remember that vividly. Now, we have thousands,” he added.

In the 2000s, Selecta got involved in running the entire event, and was a prominent figure in the carnival organising committee for many years. “I knew that it wasn’t enough for me to just do my stage, that if the event was to happen, then it needs people to step forward and help, so I did,” he said.

The carnival went through a few turbulent years in the 2010s, and has since been taken forward with a new organisation and board, but Selecta will still be heavily involved on the day, but in a different location.

After 2017, such was the crowds of previous years, organisers re-jigged the spaces and decided that Ghetto Force was so popular it needed to be in Portland Square. So in 2018 and 2019, thousands danced the day and evening away in the stage’s new location, only for the pandemic to cut the party short since then.

This year, Selecta is back with the motivation of three missed years to make up for, and determined to make the Ghetto Force stage the place to see Bristol artists shine.

“It’s all about giving Bristol artists a platform, and showing the people what Bristol is all about. I want to get Bristol artists to a certain level, and it will be a wide range of music, we’ll have reggae, R&B, hip-hop, Afrobeats, garage, drum n bass and jungle, and be a good mix of MCs, artists and DJs,” he said. “Portland Square is going to be crazy.”

The list of artists already set to appear on the Ghetto Force stage includes K*Ners, Asher Simmons, Rass Kelly, Frilla, Dash Villz, reggae singer Alicia Scott, from Cardiff, Bristol’s top drum n bass and jungle syndicate Urban Front Sound, and other sound systems and artists. “It’s going to be amazing. I know Rene would just be so happy,” said Selecta.