Audrey Edwards' account of her struggle published next week

Audrey Edwards has been presented with the inaugural Lord Longford award for prison reform.

Audrey's mentally-ill son Christopher was kicked to death by his paranoid schizophrenic cellmate while on remand in Chelmsford prison in 1994. Since then, she and her husband Paul have campaigned tirelessly for improvements in the treatment of mentally-ill people in custody, and to find out the truth about their own son's death.

In March, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a landmark judgment criticising the UK authorities for its failure to protect Christopher's life and failure to investigate properly after his death.
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"No Truth, No Justice", Audrey Edwards' own account of her campaign, will be published by Waterside Press Ltd later this month. It recounts events from the day that a police officer brought news of Chistopher's death.

It describes her campaign; warns of the way individual rights are permanently at risk of being over-ridden by the state; and acknowledges the supreme efforts of dedicated individuals to preserve the integrity of public services.
It also makes a number of recommendations for preventing similar tragedies in future.
Price £12 (&£2.50p&p). Foreword by John Wadham, Liberty. Contact Waterside Press Ltd on 01962 855567. Details at www.watersidepress.co.uk
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The Longford award was presented by Lady Longford at Church House, Westminster, prior to Cherie Booth QC's widely-reported lecture on "The Law, The Victims and The Vulnerable". Ms Booth met Audrey before the lecture.

Audrey Edwards said:
"I'm overwhelmed. I feel the granting of the award recognises the importance of our battle, together with Liberty, through the European court to get a positive decision for the benefit of vulnerable prisoners and their families".

The citation for Audrey's award reads: "The judges were struck in particular by the manner of Audrey Edwards' response to [Christopher's] murder ...

"Audrey together with her husband Paul has with great courage and single-mindedness moved forward from this personal tragedy to focus public and political attention on the neglected area of mental health and prisons, a field Frank Longford himself wrote and campaigned about extensively.

"The European Court of Human Rights ruling she won in her son's case in March of this year - that he was denied his right to life - has been widely hailed as a landmark judgement.

"The prize judges were impressed by her success in making the system sit up and take notice, and by her fearlessness in going against society's current hostility to offenders to embrace ideas of restorative justice, understanding and forgiveness. As one judge put it, she has worked to make good out of evil".

Audrey continues through the Essex Restorative Justice Group (as Chair) and the Churches Criminal Justice Forum. Liberty represented the Edwards family, taking their case to the European Court.

John Wadham, director of Liberty, said:
"The death of a loved one is tragic enough: then to have to fight to find out the truth, to struggle for every scrap of information from the responsible authorities, is not acceptable.
"Audrey and Paul Edwards had the tenacity and the skills to fight on through this mess to get at the truth: they deserve this recognition. Liberty was privileged to be able to help them.

"The relatives of those that die in custody are entitled to an open system, that gets at the truth and allows them to get on with their lives and to deal with their loss. The system doesn't work: Audrey and Paul have tried to change that. No-one should be forced to go through that process again".

The event was organised by the Prison Reform Trust and the Frank Longford Charitable Trust .