PR475: Statements from Mark Gibney's family

news: for immediate release

Following the North Wales Police row over photographs of a dead biker, I have
been telephoned by a man claiming to be Mark Gibney's brother, Paul. I have
considerable confidence that he is genuine. He provided the following
statements and asked me to send them to the press:

Paul Gibney said: "Did you ever consider Mark's Children and Mark's wife
Eileen? Also his mother - who had no idea how Mark really died. It was kept
from them by me and my father William. The irresponsible and callous Chief
Constable, Richard Brunstrom has forced us to relive the nightmare from four
years ago. Coming to terms with such a death is hard enough, but Brunstom's
interference has made it ten times worse. Brunstrom is in breech of the
Police's moral duty, he has given no respect for the deceased or his family. We
have a right to our privacy. These pictures were meant to be for evidential
purposes only. What right does this man have to show anyone, even journalists,
these pictures? We will not, as a family, let this rest until this lunatic, who
they call a chief constable is sacked. Resignation won't be good enough."

Paul Gibney told me that this statement is also on behalf of Mark Gibney's
other brothers Carl and Shawn.

Paul Gibney also gave me the following statement from 'Eileen' (Mark Gibney's
widow): "The last four years have been the hardest four years of my life. I'm
still trying to be strong for the sake of my young children - I'm raising them
without their father. I knew that Mark died in a motorcycle accident, but I
didn't know the extent of his horrific injuries.

My eldest son Mark is devastated over the death of his father and the injuries
he suffered, which he now knows for the first time because of the unacceptable
behaviour of the Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom.

He had no feelings toward me, my children and my partner. To say that I am
angry about his actions is an understatement. I hope Richard Brunstrom is
removed from his position because I wouldn't want any other family to go
through what I'm going through now because of his disrespectful and callous
behaviour.

The man is not human and he has no heart."

Paul Smith, founder of http://www.safespeed.org.uk, said: "The damage to the
Gibney family is immeasurable. It cannot be put right. Chief Constable Richard
Brunstrom is responsible. If he won't do the decent thing and resign
immediately, he must be sacked."

"This demonstration of gross misjudgement proves that Richard Brunstrom is
quite unsuitable for his role as North Wales Chief Constable."

<ends>

Notes for editors
=================

The Gibney family DO NOT want to be contacted by press or media. I have a cell
phone number which I an not authorised to divulge.


About Safe Speed
================

The Safe Speed road safety campaign is primarily the work of engineer-turned
road safety analyst Paul Smith.

Since setting up Safe Speed in 2001, Paul Smith, 51, an advanced motorist and
road safety enthusiast, and a professional engineer of 25 years UK experience,
has carried out over 20,000 hours working on the campaign with well over 5,000
of those hours researching the overall effects of speed camera policy on UK
road safety. In addition to those 20,000 hours, Paul has funded to campaign to
the tune of £10,000.

We believe that this is more work in more detail than anything carried out by
any other organisation. Paul's surprising conclusion is that overall speed
cameras make our roads more dangerous. Paul has identified and reported a
number of major flaws and false assumptions in the claims made for speed
cameras, and the whole "speed kills" system of road safety.

The inescapable conclusion is that we should urgently return to the excellent
road safety policies that gave us in the UK the safest roads in the World in
the first place. Far from saving lives, speed cameras are a dangerous
distraction.

Safe Speed does not campaign against speed limits or appropriate enforcement
of motoring laws, but argues vigorously that automated speed enforcement is
neither safe nor appropriate.

Safe Speed is very slimly funded by voluntary contributions to the web site.
We are urgently seeking improved funding.

The Safe Speed web site contains more than 350,000 words of road safety
analysis and information. We are seeking publishers for 'the book of the web
site'.

It has turned out to be quite an amazing story and there are opportunities for
journalists and broadcasters to explore how all this came about, what it
means, and where road safety has gone so badly wrong.



Contact Safe Speed
================

description: Safe Speed road safety campaign
web: http://www.safespeed.org.uk
email: psmith@...
telephone: > 01862 893030 < primary number
ISDN Audio: 01862 894772
mobile: 07799 045553

Location: North Scotland

We are always available for further comment on your road safety story.

To be added to our PR distribution list send an email to
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Scrap Speed Cameras Petition: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/scrapcam
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