In Memory of John O. Founder of MOJUK
I first heard of John a long time ago in the 1990s when an early supporter contacted him about a demonstration, and from that point we were in regular contact. He wrote to me for many years, and I received his newsletter, a straightforward, no-nonsense publication that went out to prisoners inside and to supporters beyond. It cost him his time, his effort, and sometimes his own money. All he ever asked for in return were stamps.
John founded MOJUK, Miscarriages of Justice UK and ran it without government funding, without lottery grants, and without any of the infrastructure most organisations depend on. He did receive donations from people who wanted to help, and he was from a generation of those people in the MOJ community from long ago, like the late Paddy Hill of the Birmingham Six. What John had was commitment. He featured cases on his website for years, giving a platform to people who had very little voice elsewhere. He never applied a filter based on who he liked or who was high profile, if you were maintaining your innocence, John would give you a voice to tell the world, and keep you in touch with the community of others maintaining innocence. In the days before the internet became what it is now, that mattered enormously. He connected people who would otherwise never have found each other, prisoners, families, campaigners, journalists. He was a bridge when there were very few.
John is one of those rare people you simply never forget. He made a real difference, one newsletter, one stamp, one letter at a time.
He was a lovely kind man. He is gone but never forgotten.
Jeremy
