16 The Sunday Times June 5, 2022
NEWS
JAMES SPEAKMAN FOR THE SUNDAY TIMESdocumentary series Our Lives
this month, was determined
to take on the challenge, but,
then in her seventies, could
not manage on her own.
Community police officers
suggested she ring up the
probation service, and ask
whether they could send
anyone to help.
“So that’s exactly what
happened,” Murphy said.
“Next thing I knew I had the
most absolutely lovely
supervisor ... He brought his
gang and for some reason
they liked working for me.”
When they start working
with her, Murphy always tells
the young men the same
thing. “I never ask you what
you’ve done, it’s none of my
business... I would prefer to
know you as you are... but
you start taking the piss out of
me, and you’ll get the biggest
hiding of your life. They all
start laughing, and that’s it.”Murphy’s “boys” often
acknowledge they are
learning new skills, and take
some satisfaction from
coming back to see that
flowers have bloomed or
vegetables have sprouted. It
is, they say, much better than
picking up litter or painting
railings by a motorway.
Murphy grows everything
from roses and irises to 28
kinds of fruit and vegetables.
Her influence on the men
goes beyond the allotment.
When one man complained
he had been rejected by the
British Army, she went to see
the recruiting sergeant.
When she was
unsuccessful, she convinced
the man to take French
classes and apply for the
French foreign legion. He was
accepted, and loved it.
When another man asked
for help with a form because
he could not read or write,Dena Murphy’s allotment was
a hive of activity yesterday
morning. As the great-
grandmother tends to the
seedlings in her greenhouse,
two young men are building
and painting a wooden
structure nearby, while
another mows the lawn.
The men, who Murphy, 92,
affectionately refers to as “the
boys”, are young offenders
on community service, and
she has worked with about
5,000 of them on her
allotment in Manchester over
the past 20 years or so.
She stumbled on the
overgrown area while looking
for her dog, Kai, who had
gone missing. Angered that
the land had been left to ruin,
she applied for grants to turn
it around. Murphy, a retired
nurse who will feature in an
episode of the BBCHannah Al-OthmanThe officer in charge of policing football
in Britain has criticised the French
authorities for “unfairly” using tear gas
on Liverpool fans ahead of the Champi-
ons League final in Paris.
Chief Constable Mark Roberts sug-
gested innocent supporters were harmed
last weekend because French police are
much too quick to resort to “significant
force” compared with their British coun-
terparts.
He also said cocaine use was rife
among fans at football matches in the UK
and urged more players to help convict
violent pitch invaders by providing evi-
dence against them.
Last Saturday, police in riot gear fired
pepper spray and tear gas at Liverpool
supporters as they struggled to get inside
the Stade de France to watch their team
play Real Madrid. Kick-off had to be
delayed by more than 30 minutes.
Despite scenes of dangerous over-
crowding outside the stadium caused by
poor security, French authorities later
sought to blame fans who had travelled
from Britain by claiming that many had
been carrying fake tickets.
“There were people [in Paris] who
would have suffered significantly from
gas,” said Roberts, the head of Cheshire
constabulary and the National Police
Chiefs’ Council lead for football policing.
“It is not the way we would treat them.
We don’t want decent fans going away
from any situation feeling that they have
been treated unfairly.
British police
chief takes
aim at French
use of tear gas
“We have never tear-gassed people.
Officers have got cans [of gas], but only
use them on people who are violent.”
He added: “I have worked with the
French police. They will deploy signifi-
cant public force. Once they perceive a
threat, they are very inclined to tear gas.”
European football’s governing body,
Uefa, has commissioned an independent
report into the chaos and on Friday
issued an apology to Liverpool and Real
Madrid fans alike, saying: “No football fan
should be put in that situation and it must
not happen again.”
In a statement, Uefa described the
events at the Stade de France as “fright-
ening and distressing”.
Roberts is separately leading a review
of the UK Football Policing Unit, which
tackles disorder at grounds in England
and Wales. Although excessive drinking
remains the biggest cause of violent con-
duct, use of cocaine is increasing signifi-
cantly, he said.
“When we search trains or queues, we
find lots of small packets being dis-
carded,” said Roberts. “And when we
swab them, almost all toilets [at stadi-
ums] have traces of cocaine.”
He is also understood to be interested
in the results of a “deflection pro-
gramme” pioneered by officers in the
West Midlands.
The initiative, which has led to an
80 per cent reduction in post-match
arrests at Aston Villa, involved a police
unit identifying young hooligans and
explaining to them the potential conse-
quences of their violent behaviour.
Roberts said: “Each club is different
and the way their fans behave is different.
And we have seen a lot of disorder. But it
is not for the police to arrest everyone.
We are looking for holistic solutions.”Senior officer said tactics
used against Liverpool
fans at the Champions
League final in Paris last
weekend were unfair
John Lawless
SPORT
Uefa controversy, page 7she encouraged him to sign
up for adult literacy classes.
Years later, she received a call
to hear that he had been
accepted on an Open
University English language
and literature course. “What
are you going to do at the end
of it?” she asked him, to
which he replied: “Teach
people like me.”
“I could weep thinking
about it now,” she said.
“Whatever he did to get
himself here will have been
long since wiped off.”
But it is not only the young
men who benefit from their
time on the allotment,
Murphy loves working with
them too. “Oh I do [enjoy it],”
she said. “I go home
sometimes, and I’m helpless
with laughter.”
@HannahAlOthman
Our Lives airs on BBC1 from
June 17 at 7.30pmDena’s
allotment
changes
lives for
offenders
Dena Murphy, 92, a retired nurse, teaches new skills to young offenders doing community service. “I never ask them what they’ve done,” she saysMurphy delivers a quick
lesson in horticulture