Julian Hayes talks about The Poison Cell
MEET THE AUTHOR
Julian Hayes, a prolific criminal defence and child care lawyer, has added author to his list of endeavours with his debut novel ‘The Poison Cell’ due to be released on 23rd November 2017. The book is the shocking true story about his work as defence solicitor for Algerian teenager, Sidali Feddag, who was wrongly accused of plotting a bioterrorist attack in 2002. The book reveals, in carefully documented accounts, the government pressure which was brought to bear and maintain a fictional ‘ricin poison cell terrorist plot’ in order to justify the UK and US invasion of Iraq. While on the surface this may appear to be a simple David and Goliath story with the defence team battling those in the very highest positions of power it is in fact much more, it is an affirmation of the truth, demonstration of the strength of the British judicial process and a celebration of human spirit triumphing in adversity.
Julian was born in Newcastle, although until he returned there for university he spent his childhood in Zambia, Northumberland, Wiltshire and Hampshire. He was called to the Bar in 1990 and was admitted as a solicitor in 1994. In 1998 Julian moved to London where he opened his own practice, one of the most progressive and exciting firms in London. Hayes’ reputations has continued to flourish, seeing success in many high profile cases as well as the vice presidency of the London Criminal Courts Association. Despite a thriving career it is not all work, no play, a rugby enthusiast, Julian formerly played in the national leagues as well as coaching mini, youth and adult rugby and now turning out for London Irish vets. Julian has also been seen to occasionally pick up a guitar and play in a band although time to pursue his other passion in music has been limited.
Lawyer, dedicated father, musician, rugby player and coach, it took 8 years, initially as a concept and for Julian, to pen ‘The Poison Cell’ which he managed in his very limited spare time and overnight as he’s not a good sleeper. He also needed to see Sidali’s story all the way through from him being acquitted, his fight for freedom, struggle to remain in this country, and finally his qualification as a lawyer and to make a life for himself in this country.
This Dickensian style tale of hardship with a happy ending, is a story for everyone and, in the wake of the Chilcot report, amidst the issues of immigration, not to mention the ever present threat of terror, it is more relevant today than ever.
BOOK SYNOPSIS
You’re 17 years old. You’ve been living in London illegally for the past two years, having been brought from Algeria to the UK by your father and then left with a friend. It’s a nervous, hand-to-mouth existence, and the closest you get to having companionship and a place to belong is by going along to the mosque, not so much for the prayers as for the free food and the football. This, in a nutshell, was the life of Sidali Feddag, a young Algerian teenager, until early on the morning of the 5th January 2003, when there was a heavy knock at his door and his world exploded.
Sidali spent the next two and half years in the maximum security prison of Belmarsh (despite being a juvenile), before going on trial at the Old Bailey. The charges were of terrorism and of conspiracy to murder through the creation and application of ricin. His defence solicitor was Julian Hayes, and it is he who reveals in this carefully-documented account the full extent of the government pressure which was brought to bear to maintain the fiction of this ricin ‘poison cell plot’ in order to justify the US and UK invasion of Iraq a very few months later.
Colin Powell, in his address to the UN calling for support for coalition forces in attacking Iraq and forcing ‘regime change’, used this so-called plot as a key part of his argument. Tony Blair regarded it as the ‘silver bullet’ which would justify committing British forces to the invasion. Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, David Blunkett and countless others all told and re-told the story of this terrorist conspiracy, linking it to the deadly danger they claimed Saddam Hussein posed to the western world.
There was no ricin, there was no conspiracy, Sidali and his co-defendants were no terrorists.
In one way this is a straightforward David and Goliath story, with the defence teams battling the huge pressure brought to bear on the police, the prosecution, the judiciary and the witnesses by those in the very highest positions of power. It took enormous energy, ingenuity and expertise (and some luck) to reveal to the jury the way in which the evidence had been tampered with or was just not there, the extent to which the Home Office expert witnesses had failed to disclose their findings, the possibility that there was an agent provocateur deep at the heart of all that unfolded.
But, fascinating though that is, scrupulously documented here and revealed in all its shoddy detail, this story is much more than that. Rather than being another all-too familiar tale of political corruption, institutional blindness and vicious anti-Muslim prejudice, The Poison Cell is an affirmation of the power of truth, the strength of the jury system and the robustness of the British judicial process and of how human spirit can triumph in adversity.
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