Keypoints:
- Brother challenges 1990 inquest process
- Claims key evidence, witnesses ignored
- Renews call for full fresh inquiry
THE brother of an Ethiopian exile who died in unexplained circumstances 35 years ago has submitted a formal request for the inquest into the case to be re-opened, arguing that the original 1990 process was deeply flawed. The letter, addressed to Mary Hassel, Senior Coroner for Inner North London, is the latest effort in a decades-long campaign to uncover what happened to 27-year-old Mogous Abay. The move was first reported by Africa Briefing.
Family challenges original handling
In his letter, Alem Abay states that the initial inquest, held at St Pancras Coroner’s Court, failed to test the police account of his younger brother’s death and relied solely on evidence from officers and the pathologist. The hearing lasted only 15 minutes before returning an open verdict.
‘You will appreciate that it is a terrible shock to lose one’s brother to a sudden violent death, especially one which has remained unexplained,’ he wrote. He added that the speed of the hearing raised profound concerns about whether ‘a man’s life is only worth 15 minutes’.
Police at the time claimed Mogous had jumped from the window of the brothers’ fourth-floor flat near Tottenham Court Road. His body was found in the courtyard below by neighbours.
Missing witnesses and lost evidence
Efforts to challenge the ruling date back to 1993, when Alem Abay sought a judicial review. His lawyer at the time, Lincoln Crawford, identified several gaps in the evidence presented to the original inquest. Key witnesses — including a neighbour and the building’s caretaker, both of whom stated there was no blood around the body — were never called. This contradicted the police account heard at the hearing.
Crawford also highlighted the failure to take fingerprints from the window from which Mogous was said to have jumped and the destruction of his clothing before further testing. There were further inconsistencies between the findings of the pathologist and the doctor who certified death. ‘There is a real possibility that a different verdict would be returned if there were a proper inquiry,’ Mr Crawford wrote in advice at the time.
The legal challenge stalled after legal aid funding was withdrawn.
Renewed pressure on coroner
In his latest appeal to Hassel — copied to the Chief Coroner of England and Wales, Judge Alexia Durran — Alem Abay repeats these longstanding concerns, saying the ‘irregularities, restrictions and possible untruths’ in evidence justify a full re-examination.
Originally from Tigray, the brothers fled Ethiopia after involvement with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. They first escaped to Sudan and later sought asylum in the UK in 1979. In London, they joined a community of Tigrayan and Eritrean exiles in the King’s Cross and Bloomsbury area. Mogous worked as an assistant librarian at the School of Oriental and African Studies while studying science at the City of London Polytechnic, though he struggled with homesickness and depression.
On the day he died, three residents — including the caretaker — reached the courtyard before police and paramedics. When Alem returned home later, he found only a brief note from the police informing him of his brother’s death.
Decades of campaigning
Public attempts to secure a new inquest have grown over time. In 2017, supporters of the Justice for Mogous campaign submitted a petition of nearly 12,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street. In 2021, the Greater London Authority opened an inquiry into police handling of the case, but it produced no formal outcome.
A memorial gathering is now held each year at Holy Cross Church in King’s Cross to honour Mogous and continue the call for justice.
With this latest request, Alem Abay hopes the coroner will finally reopen the case and provide a full account of what happened in 1990.
