“I want justice…”
Those three simply words rang out as Ciara Ryan launched the Justice for Jack Ryan campaign during an emotional interview on Good Morning Britain today.
Speaking to presenters Susanna Reid and Ed Balls, Ryan outlined the campaign’s twin aims: to secure killer Rashid Ali’s extradition from Pakistan and to reform the Bail Act to ensure defendants facing serious charges are not able to leave the UK before a trial.
“What we’re aiming to do with this campaign is to make it mandatory for passports to be surrendered in serious criminal cases, such as the case of my brother,” Ryan declared.
The campaign, which is being run in partnership with The Chelsea Citizen, comes more than five years after Jack was killed on 13th January 2021 at the junction of Cheyne Walk and Battersea Bridge.
As he crossed the bridge at around 6pm that evening, Jack was hit by a black Range Rover driven at speed by Ali. Police later proved that Ali was driving south down Beaufort Street and had accelerated as the traffic lights switched to amber. He drove over the crossroads and hit Jack at a speed estimated at 40mph in a 20mph zone.
Jack’s death prompted an outpouring of grief and a large flower memorial appeared on the bridge near where he died. It also sparked a petition and a road safety campaign led by The Citizen’s editor Rob McGibbon.
Andy Byford, the then Commissioner of Transport for London, reacted to the campaign by instigating a review of safety at the junction. Ultimately, TFL installed Green Man pedestrian crossings across all four arms of the junction. Before the accident, there were none.
Ali was convicted at the Old Bailey in September 2024 of causing death by dangerous driving and sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison. However, he had fled the UK before his trial and remains in his native Pakistan. At the time of the accident he had been living in Britain on a student visa.
Before the interview on Good Morning Britain, a video of Rashid Ali talking to reporter Matt Shea on last week’s Channel 4’s Dispatches documentary was shown. This proved that Ali is living a carefree life abroad. Susanna Reid then asked Ryan for her reaction to the footage.
“It’s painful, but it’s also quite surreal, to be honest,” she said. “I can only describe it as a living nightmare for the past five years, and I think seeing something like that just adds to the sense of this not being real.”
Ryan said one of the greatest shocks for the family came when they discovered Ali had left the UK before standing trial.
Reid told viewers she had been unaware that a defendant facing serious charges could retain their passport and travel abroad. Turning to Ryan, Reid asked: “Did you have any idea that a defendant, once charged, who was from abroad, could still hang on to their passport and travel? Because I have to admit, until I found out about your story, I didn’t know that.”
Ryan said her family had shared the same assumption. “We assumed that he would not be able to leave the UK, especially in a case that someone’s life has been lost,” she said. “I was naive in thinking that he would not have the freedom to travel outside of the UK whilst he was waiting for his trial.”
Ryan also dismissed Ali’s explanation to Shea that he had returned to Pakistan because he was ‘terminally ill’. “In the documentary, you also see that he’s travelling quite freely outside of the UK as well,” she said. “He’s going on holidays and things like that.”
The Justice for Jack Ryan campaign is calling for changes to the Bail Act that would make the surrender of passports mandatory for anyone facing charges that warrant a custodial sentence.
During the interview, Ryan said that her family had spent years attempting to raise the issue with government ministers, but had got nowhere. “We have throughout the past five years written to local MPs. We have had it passed on to the Home Secretary, but the response is very much that it’s being dealt with by the independent judiciary – the Crown Prosecution Service,” she said.
Balls questioned why ministers had not yet met with the family to discuss the proposed reforms.
“I think the individual case is being handled independently of ministers,” he said. “But the policy you’re talking about here, that the seizing of the passport should be mandatory, that’s not an individual case, that is a policy rule, that is for ministers.
“You should have a meeting with a Justice Minister, explain the wider campaign and see what they say.”
Reid also reflected on the impact the case has had on Jack’s family.
“That’s devastating,” she said. “You’re dealing with the grief, you think the person responsible is going to finally be held accountable. And not only do you find he’s not there to be in court, but he hasn’t been in the country for a number of months.”
Reflecting on the campaign’s aims, Ryan stressed that her motivation was not revenge.
“It’s not about retribution, it’s about someone doing the morally right thing,” she said.
The Justice for Jack Ryan campaign will now seek heavyweight political support within Parliament to change the law, as well as backing from the government of Pakistan to establish what needs to be done for extradition proceedings to begin, so that Ali can be brought before the UK courts.
