Ian Brown in his first interview since being released from Strangeways Prison, Manchester on Christmas Eve claims that he is innocent and spent time in jail for nothing.
Speaking exclusively to NME about his conviction for threatening behaviour on an aeroplane said: “I didn’t do it. I told the truth. I didn’t do what they said I did.”
“There’s a lot of bullshit been written about me. Firstly, I got put away for something that I never said. My mother’s been reading lies about me,” he said. “I didn’t do it! I didn’t swear at the woman, I didn’t approach any cockpit. They claim I banged on the cockpit door and charged me with endangering lives. I swore at no woman. I’m saying what they charged me with, I didn’t do.”
He also criticised the press for what he saw as taking sides with the magistrate. He said he felt victimised.
“NME and all these papers, they’re supposed to be representing the youth which in turn is anti-establishment and all, yet these papers are calling me a hooligan and such. They’re taking the words of the captain of the plane and using them against me,” he said.
“It’s like, when I was in jail, I got a letter from the kid who did that original interview where I’m supposed to be this homophobe, man (This is referring to an article published last year when Brown was quoted as saying that he distrusted the British obsession with homosexuality and painted a picture of world history where all the major imperialists such as the Romans and Nazis were gay).
“He was telling me that he was told by his paper to write the piece as if there was a confrontation – y’know, ‘Do it this way, make out he’s bad’. They can’t tell you to write in a certain way! You’ve got to be careful.”
However, Brown did say that he now felt he could put his ordeal behind him and that he has already started work on four tracks with 808 State. It is not known when or if they will be released.
A miscarriage of justice? Is Ian Brown the new Derek Bentley or Birmingham Six? Tell us what you think. Post a message on Angst!
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