Oral Account

Marcia Rigg

Marcia Rigg was born in 1964 in Gloucestershire; her parents were originally from Jamaica. Among other jobs her mother worked as a nurse and her father as a bus driver. The eldest of six children, Marcia worked as a model and later as a legal secretary. She raised five children and cared for her brother, Sean Rigg, who had a mental health condition.

In these interviews Marcia talks about Sean, who was a musician who loved to travel. During a mental health crisis, Sean died of cardiac arrest after being restrained by police officers in the prone position. He was pronounced dead in Brixton Police Station on 21 August 2008.

Over the course of three in-depth interviews about her part in the Rigg family’s campaign for justice, Marcia discusses the immediate aftermath of his death, including the first and second autopsies performed on Sean’s body.

She recounts the family’s interactions with the police and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), the inquest, the Casale Report into the IPCC investigation into Sean's death, followed by legal action to quash the first IPCC report and a criminal investigation, the trial of one of the police officers for perjury and finally a gross misconduct hearing involving five police officers.

Marcia talks about her involvement with INQUEST and the United Friends and Families Campaign (UFFC). In the final part of her interview, Marica reflects on the impact of 15 years of campaigning on both her personal life and wider society, alongside her hopes for the future.

Marcia Rigg was interviewed by Rosa Schling.

You can listen to more of her oral history in Series 2: Episode 4 of the Unlawful Killing podcast.

You can listen to the full oral history interview at the Bishopsgate Institute.

We cannot all be going crazy and be mad when the evidence is, is compelling. And you have to talk truth to power. There isn't any accountability. There isn't justice, obviously. And we are denied that. Families have been denied that. And we gather at Trafalgar Square, we come with our banners and our T shirts. And that's where some families meet. That's when you realise how, how rampant this issue is for this in this country. When you meet the families that understand, and you know, that hug is genuine. It's really important. It was what keeps you strong. And it’s powerful. And you'll see, it's actually a memorial, it's not a protest.

It's a memorial in remembrance of our loved ones to tell them that, you know, we remember our loved ones, whereas in the legal challenges and the cases, they’re just a statistic. But they're not they're actually real human beings and somebody that is loved. And all families share that. And we go to Downing Street and we handed over a letter to Downing Street, demand justice, because we realised that there isn't any, and we asked to meet with the Prime Minister. And that's been happening for over 25 years. We've never met the Prime Minister they've never afforded to meet with us.