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Abstract

Nearly 1,000 people have signed a petition calling on The Spectator magazine to retract an article describing Henry Hicks as a “thuggish white lad” – a slur which has left the family furious.

Following pressure by the family and their supporters, The Spectator printed an apology on its letters page yesterday (Thursday), describing the comment in a column by commissioning editor Mary Wakefield last week as “unsubstantiated”.

But it has refused to take down or edit the online version. Henry’s sister Claudia, 23, said: “It’s not good enough.”

In the article, entitled “Machetes and the middle classes”, Ms Wakefield, who moved to Canonbury in January, contrasts the anger over the death of the 18-year-old with what she claims to be indifference among N1 middle-classes to recent knife deaths.

“Not to worry, just a gang killing… this has become the mantra of London’s middle classes,” she writes. Liberal N1 property owners are opposed to stop-and-search, she suggests, and because of their silence “the police focus… has been on cyclists”.

Turning to Henry, who died after his moped crashed into cars belonging to members of the public following a chase by two unmarked police vehicles near Pentonville Prison in December, she adds: “By far the loudest outcry is still over Henry Hicks. Hicks was a thuggish white lad, often stopped by the police for driving his scooter dangerously.”

The comment has infuriated Henry’s family. Sister Claudia said: “Where is the proof for this? I don’t know why she felt the need to call someone who just died a ‘white thug’. We are a grieving family.”

On Monday, a handful of supporters of the Justice for Henry Hicks campaign staged a loud protest outside The Spectator office in Westminster.

A petition calling on the magazine to retract the article and apologise quickly rack­ed up 800 signatures.

The following day Claudia re­ceived a call from deputy editor Freddy Gray saying the magazine would print an apology, but would not re­move the piece from its website.

After seeing the apology on the letters page yesterday, Claudia said: “This is not an apology at all. It’s not good enough. There will be people going up to the offices.

“They will be there until they delete it online and print a proper apology.”

She added: “It’s not just about Henry, but the way she writes about Islington. To say there has been no outrage over the knife deaths is complete rubbish. She doesn’t know Islington at all.

“The reason we have a big campaign is because we don’t have justice, whereas in the cases of Alan [Cart­wright] and Stefan [Apple­­ton] people were arrested within a week and are in prison await­ing trial.”

Ms Wakefield lives in sought-after Canonbury with husband Dominic Cummings, who worked as special adviser to Michael Gove between 2007 and 2014.

Ms Wakefield said she described Henry as “thuggish” because he had sped away from pursuing officers and because he had been repeatedly stopped by officers.

In retrospect this was “unsubstantiated”, she said, adding: “I have apologised to the Hicks family. I was trying to raise awareness of knife crime in the area to readers who would not normally be aware of the issue. I fully support what police are doing to combat knife crime.”

Islington South and Finsbury Labour MP Emily Thornberry describ­ed the piece as “provocative”. “Her analysis is completely superficial,” she said. “If you don’t spend much time in the community, you don’t develop an understanding of what makes us unique. We are more mixed than other London communities.”

She added: “The Right is confident at the moment. It’s part of the script to have a pop at Islington. But she’s ignoring the reality that is right under her nose.”

Ms Thornberry added: “For the record, I am in favour of stop-and-search.”