Shelley Mitchelson

NAME: SHELLEY ANN MITCHELSON
ADDRESS:
AGE / DATE OF BIRTH: 20 19111970
OCCUPATION: PACKER
Who states: - This statement consisting of 11 pages, each signed by me, is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that if it is tendered in evidence I shall be liable to prosecution if I have willfully stated in it anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true.

DATED: 030391

S MITCHELSON (SIGNED)

I am the above named person; I am a Packer at R.G.Packers, King's Lynn. I live at the stated address, with my mother ILENE, younger sister AMY, my older brother CLIFFORD, my brother JASON who is 21 years old and my younger brother TONY. I am 20 years of age, about 5*4" tall, slim build and I have short dark brown hair. I am engaged, a have been for about 14 months to Gary DAW. During the incident: that I am going to describe, I was wearing a flowered pattern dress, that in fact has a shorts lower part & this was a various brown colour. About 9.30 pm on Friday 1st March 1991, I left my home address with my fiancé, GARY we walked into King's Lynn town centre & went to the Maids Public House, arriving between 10-15 minutes later. GARY & I stayed in the Maids for about 30 minutes, having just the one drink. I drink brandy & lemonade, Gary drinks lager & lime. On leaving the Maids we walked across to the Cellar Bar, in Paige Stair Lane. On going into the bar area I was surprised to find that it was not packed. On previous occasions that I have been into the Cellar Bar it has always been packed, but on this occasion this was not the case. I cannot say how many people were there but it was easy to move about & get to the bar. We got our drinks & stood at the bar, where we remained all evening. Between 10-30 pm-11 pm, I think about 10.45 pm, GARY & I were joined by my brother CLIFF, whose surname is ELLIS, GARY'S brother Wayne DAW, Mark BRANHAM, Jason COLEMAN & 2 other boys who I only know as TERRY & COLIN, who are Mark BRANHAM's friends. They stayed with or around us all evening, apart from now & again popping off to speak to other people they knew. By 11 pm the bar was absolutely packed & I had thought about leaving because I am asthmatic & I was having slight difficulty breathing. GARY persuaded me to have another drink & having had that, I felt much better so decided to stay. During the evening the only other people that came into the bar, that I know, were GARY's cousin, SANDRA, I don't know her surname and DAWN I don't know her surname but I know she works at Bespac. DAWN was wearing either a black suit or black dress; she has blonde hair & is in her 20's. Sometime during the evening I have no idea of time, I heard quite a loud bang. I did not see what caused the bang, as the bar at the time was packed, but from what other people said, in the bar at the time, I gathered that one of the TV / video monitors had been either knocked off its stand or punched off but, it had most certainly been damaged. The monitor damaged was the one furthest from the main entrance door, at the disco end of the bar, the other monitor being at the main entrance door end of the bar. Not too long after this had happened, I saw a bouncer, who I will describe, have hold of a man by his shirt, around the throat. The bouncer pulled this man, who I will also describe, through the bar & towards the main entrance / exit door. I did not see him go outside as the gangway that the people had made closed up as he was pulled through. The bouncer I would describe as being well built, average height, aged 35 onwards, blonde short hair. He was wearing a light coloured shirt, a dark colour necktie & dark trousers. The man who he'd had hold of was, I remember best by his shirt. The shirt he was wearing was a red & white striped rugby shirt, the stripes being fairly thick, about 3 1/2"-4" in width a going around the body, rather than up a down. He was also wearing jeans & I think trainers. He had blonde hair that was cut short, not in a skinhead style, but very short & due to the colour you couldn't really see his hair. He was fairly well built & I think shorter than the bouncer. I would add that I did see the bouncer have hold of the man, by the shirt, pressed up against an upright pillar / staunchon in the middle of the bar. This pillar has a shelf around it, used by customers to stand their drinks on. Having thrown the man out, the bouncer returned into the bar area within a matter of seconds, indicating to me that the bouncer had just thrown the man out & returned. Standing at the bar I was able to see a T.V. monitor, that is positioned on a shelf behind the bar that enables the Cellar Par staff to see who is outside the main entrance door. On the monitor, which shows the bottom of the stairs & about 2/3 steps up; I could see the man who the bouncer had thrown out. He just stood, on the first step, for about 15-20 minutes, at which time I looked & he was not there. From the time the man disappeared off the monitor to the time GARY & I left the Cellar Bar, which was about 30 minutes later, there were no other incidents inside the bar that I am aware of. The procedure at closing is just for the staff & the bouncers to announce that the bar is closing. Within about 5 minutes of being made aware the bar was closing, GARY & I finished our drinks & made our way outside.I would say that we must have been one of the earlier people to leave, due to the amount of people left inside, the bar. I think we left before CLIFF & the rest of our little group. As GARY & I were walking up the steps, from the Cellar Bar, I saw the man with the red & white rugby shirt leaning against the wall of the building, between the steps down to the Cellar Bar & the doors of the Snooker Club. GARY & I walked passed him & having got just passed, I heard someone, another man, who I will describe, say "I don't want no trouble'. GARY & I stopped & turned to see what was happening. I saw the man with the rugby shirt, had grabbed hold of the other man by his jacket. This man, the one who had been grabbed, I would describe as having black curly hair that had obviously bean permed. His hair was cut in a way that it was cut short, infact shaven, at the back, to the top of his ears. The sides had also been shaved, but, the permed hair laid over the shaven area, leaving a distinct stop hair & flesh / skin / scalp. He was shorter than the man with the rugby shirt, aged about 20 years & he was wearing a light coloured, possibly a khaki colour, jacket. I cannot remember what other clothes he was wearing. GARY & I wanted no part in any trouble so, having stood there for only a matter of a few seconds we turned & started to walk towards the Tuesday Market Place. We had only walked a few paces when I heard some shouting so we turned again & walked back towards the Cellar Bar & stopped at the railings looking down the steps at the main entrance door (the railings look into the main entrance which is about 10' below road surface level), We stopped at the railings, level with the middle flat of the stairs. On looking down I could see the man with the rugby shirt, laying on the steps between the middle flat & the bottom. I could also see DAWN who I have mentioned earlier, being helped to her feet by a man. DAWN was on the middle flat. The man who helped DAWN to her feet could have been the man with the permed hair. I could see that DAWN was crying. I saw the man, the one wearing the rugby shirt, trying to get up but I walked away from the railings before he had made it to his feet. I cannot say how the man got to be laying on the stairs or for that matter how DAWN came to be there as well, due to the fact that when GARY & I walked back to the railings my view of the incident was blocked, by people between us & the 2 men at the top of the stairs. I would say that there were 12 or more people closer to the area of this incident & because they would have been so close, many of them couldn't have failed to see what actually happened. On walking away from the Cellar Bar, GARY & I walked across the T.M.P. diagonally down Market Lane, where at the end we turned right, walked alone Chapel Street & we went into Phoenix Taxi's office. This journey I would say took us between 2-3 minutes. We stopped at the door, as there were 4-5 people inside already & when GARY asked the man behind the desk, for the taxi, he was told it would be 15 minutes wait. The people waiting inside the taxi office I can only say were 1 female; who had light brown hair was down to her shoulders. The others were men & they, all were all aged 20-25 years. I said to GARY that we could easily be home, walking, in 15 minutes so that is what we decided to do. We walked back into Chapel Street, from the taxi office & we walked along the pavement, the taxi office side, towards the Lattice House. At that time there was nobody else on the street, either in front, or, behind us. As we were walking passed the car park, at the roar of The Dukes Head, & before we reached the junction of Chapel Street & Market Lane, I saw in front & running me towards, 4 people. When I first saw them they were running across Chapel Street diagonally from St. Nicholas Street heading straight towards the council offices. It became quite clear to me that it was one man being chased by 3 others. As the 4 men were running across Chapel Street I got the impression that the man being chased was the same man who had been thrown out of the Cellar Bar & involved in the stair incident. The one wearing the red & white rugby shirt. GARY & I had kept walking as the 4 ran towards us & as we reached the junction of Chapel Street Market Lane, the man being chased tripped on the pavement, & fell to the ground & ended up on his back. At this stage I took hold of my fiance's arm as I felt rather anxious because I felt that a fight was going to occur. My fears were well founded because within 1 second of falling the 3 men chasing him were on him. I saw the man on the ground move his head & arm & one of the 3 men, who was wearing a blue & white hooped rugby shirt (who I will describe later) kicked the man on the ground in the side of the head, above the ear. The kick was a very hard, deliberate, vicious kick. I saw his head move, with the power of the kick & I certainly gained the impression that this first kick had knocked him out. I certainly did not see the man move, at all, after this first kick. He did not see him, try to shield his head with his arms or try to defend himself or get up in any way. His arms were laying somewhere down by his sides or at least away from his head. Immediately after the first kick, the one by the man wearing the blue & white hooped rugby shirt, 1 of the other men joined in the kicking, kicking the other side of the man's head. Both men were kicking the man continually, in the head & face. Throughout this the man was still laying face up on the ground. He made no movement at all, which reinforced my original belief that the first kick had knocked him out. All the kicks, by both of the men, were really hard, vicious kicks. I would say that both men kicked the .man on the ground about 7-8 times each. During this kicking the third pursuer was partly hidden from my sight by the man in the hooped shirt so, I cannot honestly say whether he took part in the kicking. I tend to think he did not. During the kicking we walked very slowly to the Lattice House side of the Market Lane junction, I was terrified to go passed them, but was reassured by GARY that we would be okay as the kicking was taking place on the opposite side of the road I can say that throughout the kicking, GARY & I were little further than just the width of Chapel Street away. I could see quite clear what was going on as the road is well lit by the street lights. My view of the kicking was not obscured at any time; there were no cars or other vehicles pass by to obstruct my view. Immediately after the head kicking finished, I saw the man, who I tend to think did not take part in the kicking, bend down & lift up the fallen man's head, think by the back of his neck (he was still face up). I then watched this man punch him in the face about 6-7 times. I could clearly see, from my position directly opposite, that the puncher had his right hand under the fallen man's neck & he was punching him with his left fist. All the punches were reasonably hard but not in anyway as vicious as the kicks had been. During the punching I heard the man doing the punching say "Don't ever". If he said anything else I did not hear what it was that he said. GARY & I still walked very slowly passed the Lattice House & as far as I can remember all 3 men were at the side of the fallen man & the puncher was still bent down. I then looked away. GARY & I crossed the road, to the same side as the council offices, as we walked passed the small garden area at the side of the Lattice House. As we crossed the road I looked to where the fallen man had been punched & kicked a saw that the 3 men, who had kicked & punched him, had disappeared. I noticed that the fallen man's head was now on the road, his neck over the edge of the kerb & his body was on the pavement, not as it had been throughout the whole incident when his body & head were wholly on the pavement. His body was now laid not parallel with the kerb line as it was but, diagonally across the pavement & kerb. What I can say, for certain, is up until this time nobody had touched him other than his 3 attackers. It was at this stage that I then saw my brother CLIFF, MARK & some others, who I took no notice of, walked into Chapel Street from around the corner of the solicitor's building on the corner, of Chapel Street & St Nicholas Street. CLIFF walked over to GARY & I, the others remaining on the Lattice House side pavement. I still had a complete & clear view of Chapel Street, towards Norfolk Street & I can say that there were no other people in the street. CLIFF decided to walk home with GARY & I & we left the others walking along Chapel Street, as we walked down Austin Street, Pilot Street & home. GARY should be able to give an account of the whole incident, as we were together throughout the evening that is very similar to mine. Going back to the attacker who was wearing the blue & white hooped rugby shirt. The hoops / bands were about 2" wide & ran across the body. The blue was a pale blue colour. I can clearly remember that the hoops on his shirt were much narrower, in width then the hoops on the fallen man's shirt. I am fairly sure that the hoops were all over the body of the shirt & ran alternatively white & blue. The man himself was 6’-6’1” tall, stocky build & he had short dark hair. He was also wearing jeans & he was aged early 20's. I am very sure that I saw this man earlier in the evening in the Cellar Bar, standing only a few feet away from me at the bar. Unfortunately I am unable to give much of a description of the other 2 attackers; however, I would say that they were both aged 19-20 years, smaller in height & build compared to the attacker in the blue a white hooped shirt. I cannot separate, in my mind, between the second kicking man & the man who was the puncher, other than one of these 2 may have, I can put it no stronger than that, be the man with the shaven & permed hairstyle involved in the stair incident.
This statement was made from my recollection & as a result of questions put to .me by DC's ABBS & CHAPMAN in an office at King's Lynn Police Station, between 3.05 pm & 7.45 pm on Sunday, 3rd March 1991.
S MITCHELSON
SIGNED