Keith Blakelock, a London Metropolitan Police constable, was killed on 6 October 1985 during rioting on the Broadwater Farm housing estate in Tottenham, north London. The violence broke out after a local black woman died of heart failure during a police search of her home the previous day. It took place against a backdrop of unrest in several English cities, including Liverpool and other districts of London, and a breakdown of relations between the police and black communities. Three local black men including Winston Silcott were convicted of PC Blakelock's murder in 1987, but their convictions were quashed in 1991, although Silcott remained in prison for a further 12 years for another murder, which he claimed to have committed in self-defence.
