Evening Standard from London, Greater London, England • 174

EVENING STANDARD 22 WEDNESDAY 23 JULY 1997 Drug link in new shooting by JUSTIN DAVENPORT and ANDY GARDNER Room with a gloomy view of marriage on the rocks DETECTIVES launched a murder inquiry today after a 30-year-old man was shot dead in south London The victim who has not been named but is known to police died in hospital shortly after being found outside a block of flats in Oakwood Drive Norwood The man who lived nearby had been shot several times A red car was seen speeding from the scene Police are investigating the possibility that the killing is linked to drug dealing It is the latest in a spate of shootings in south London four in the Brixton area in the last three months A Scotland Yard spokesman said the victim was found outside a block of flats called City Prospect Witnesses are asked to contact DCI Alan Vardy at Cavendish Road Police Station on 0181 649 2667 or Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111 Picture: ALASTAIR MUIR of the most deceived HE walks on wearing bags of sex appeal dressed in a mournfhl black coat and matching gloves still looking like a femme for whom fatale is the natural adjective Youthfulness has obstinately clung to Miss Julie Christie who made her first famous ascent to film stardom in 1965 as if it would not dream of leaving her The role of Suzanna Andler who describes herself as sort of elderly and around whom men have fluttered like dazed moths ought therefore to be suitably hers But no Miss Christie cannot rescue this play from its glum wallowing in non-specific gloom The fiercely Left-wing French novelist and playwright Marguerite Duras who wrote Suzanna Andler is not the kind of playwright whose work you would expect to find thrust in front of the elderly conservative Chichester audiences Her cryptic plays avoid the smack of firm action and their air of desolation is quite at odds with Chichester's love of happy endings Duras instead records the emotional states of fraught women in the grip of passions or emotions they scarcely understand Here the middle-aged Suzanna is viewed through the course of one wintry day in a St Tropez sea-view mansion which she may rent for her summer holiday Johan Engels's design for this expensive retreat looks rather cut-price with just a painted back-cloth to suggest the sea and rocks In the winter light the atmosphere is grey though Suzanna manfully trips to lighten it one of the most deceived wives in St she nonchalantly tells the estate agent alluding to the fact that she's trapped in a marriage which her rich husband has left open wide to a variety of mistresses You might think her smitten by PAUL CHE5T0N Courts Correspondent DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions Barbara Mills was forced into a humiliating U-tum today to reverse her decision in the case of two police officers and the death of a man in custody In an unprecedented move she has agreed to reconsider the decision not to prosecute Pc Paul Wright and Pc Andrew McCallum for manslaughter The Police Complaints Authority has also accepted that its decision not to bring disciplinary charges against the two officers was and should be and has ordered a fresh inquiry The announcement at the High Court is a victory for Olamide Jones the widow of Shiji Lapite who died after an incident with police in Stoke Newington in December 1994 The court was told that the decision not to bring disciplinary charges was taken by a principal crown prosecutor and approved by a number of senior officers including the DPP herself Today she backed down Grip of passion: Christie as "one Suzanna Andler Minerva Studio young journalist amour (Michel) love you Suzanna killing serves as a useful revenge for her defections But for Suzanna this is just an adultery of convenience whose motions and emotions she suffers with very small pleasure THERE are though just occasional signs of distress piercing the calm facade talks with Michel whom Aden Gillet plays as a lurching ill-at-ease lover the telephone call from her spouse and a conversation with Julie impressive Monique who was once her lover lead towards a tentative conclusion: that Suzanna simply longs to be with the man she married Shiji Lapite: Suffered between 35 and 50 separate injuries and agreed to reconsider as lawyers representing the widow launched an application for a judicial review of the decision Ms Jones of Bermondsey said in a statement: am pleased with the decision today but the fight is not yet over I will not give up my fight until justice is done and those responsible for my death are prosecuted for A PCA spokesman said it had agreed for the decision to be reviewed because had been made in the advice Later Lapite family campaigners said the decision and still adores Duras never makes this unexceptional though frustrated wish the stuff of drama Lindy languorous production trails a mood of chronic wistfulness She fashions statuesque stage pictures with people who sit soulfhlly around airing intimate feelings as if they were damp clothes Miss Christie who charmingly has something of the gawky adolescent still about her does not strike a false or histrionic note: only the restless hands and eyes suggests profound unease She preserves the impassive calm of a sinking ship on which all hands have agreed to go quietly down That's just how some suicidal people do behave But her role is emotionally monotonous and she finds no way of giving it interesting depth or range If only she had played Madame Arkadina or Lady from the Sea instead Ratings No stars adequate it good ifif very good outstanding Xpoor More reviews: Page 48 Olamtde Jones: not stop fighting until justice Is was historic turn of and victory in the battle for a more publicly accountable and independent CPS and They added: landmark case represents a major victory for all those particularly in the black community who have for years been critical of the failure of the CPS and PCA to take strong and decisive action against officers implicated in the deaths of black people in police Mr Lapite 32 a Nigerian-born father of two died in custody at Stoke Newington police station 30 minutes after being stopped for Pathologists' reports showed he had suffered between 35 and 50 separate injuries His death was caused by asphyxia after a neck hold fractured the bones in the larynx The postmortem showed he had been taking cocaine and drinking £180000 tag on Hendrix guitar A GUITAR once owned by Jimi Hendrix is expected to fetch more than £180000 in a music sale at in London Hendrix used the Fender Stratocaster on the 196Q album Electric Ladyland which was featured on BBC TV on Monday in a series about landmark sessions from the Sixties The guitar goes under the hammer on 17 September I fiMMMatf ntal WrtKMB SMWNMI HvMM NfeO Ul MMMH Ml At MMf.