A memorial to former Napier protester Blair Peach has been unveiled in London's East End, 28 years after the special-needs teacher was killed during an anti-fascist demonstration. The plaque has been put up at Phoenix special school where Mr Peach taught for 10 years, and was unveiled last weekend by hiswidow Celia Stubbs, who has long claimed the 33-year-old New Zealander was murdered by a police officer, the East London Advertiser reported. Fellow Anti-Nazi League campaigner Terry Fitzpatrick called for the plaque because children were growing up not knowing about Mr Peach. A school had been named after him in Southall, on the other side of London, but children in East London, where he taught and lived, had never heard of him. Mr Fitzpatrick told the newspaper he was now considering a legal challenge to overturn the coroner's verdict in Mr Peach's case and have the death ruled as an unlawful killing. Mr Peach died on April 23, 1979 after being struck on the head during clashes against the National Front at Southall. At the time, the teacher was taking part in counter-demonstration against fascists calling for the repatriation of black immigrants at a rally in the run-up to the 1979 General Election. Witnesses claimed he was clubbed with a baton by a member of London's now-disbanded Special Patrol Group. But one of Britain's longest-running inquests returned a verdict in 1980 of death by misadventure and no charges were brought against officers. The Peach family gained access in 1986 to parts of an internal police inquiry which named six officers, and in 1989 the Metropolitan Police reached an out-of-court settlement with Mr Peach's brother, Roy, a Napier solicitor.
