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Nearly two years after the American drag artist Heklina was found dead in London, her friends and fans gathered outside Scotland Yard’s headquarters to protest against the force’s handling of the case.
Heklina, whose real name was Steven Grygelko, was found at a flat in Soho, central London, on 3 April 2023, by a friend and fellow drag performer, Peaches Christ, real name Joshua Grannell.
It was not until 21 months later that the Metropolitan police issued a public appeal, releasing CCTV of three men who were at the 55-year-old’s flat on the night she died.
On Monday the performer’s loved ones organised protests in London and San Francisco, where Heklina co-founded the legendary drag night Trannyshack in 1996, to demand answers. They alleged the investigation into her death had been marred by delays, a lack of communication and institutional homophobia.
More than 100 people joined Peaches Christ, the Scissor Sisters’ Ana Matronic, and the former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants Cheddar Gorgeous and Crystal outside New Scotland Yard in central London with placards reading “Justice for Heklina”, “Pride not prejudice, hold the Met accountable” and “End Met police homophobia now!”
Peaches Christ said: “Heklina was one of my oldest and closest friends. We were family and finding her dead in London was truly traumatising, but it has only been made worse by the complete lack of attention from the London Met police.
“For nearly two years, myself and Heklina’s next of kin have been ignored. Only when I went to the media was there a response.”
She added in a speech: “Heklina deserves better service and justice and every queer person and every minority deserves to be treated fairly.”
Crystal, a British-Canadian drag artist whose real name is Colin Seymour, told the crowd: “Are our lives worth less? One of us has died. Our institutions shrugged and moved on.”
She said the group demanded change as she highlighted the Met’s failings in the case of the serial killer Stephen Port and the 2023 report by Louise Casey, which said the force was guilty of institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia.
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She urged the Met to release Heklina’s cause of death, offer a formal apology to her family and friends, and conduct an internal investigation of the case. Paul Fleming, the general secretary of the union Equity who was at the protest, has written to the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, calling on him to “raise as a matter of urgency” the investigation into Heklina’s death in meetings with senior Met officers and “ask what is being done to remedy the litany of failings in this investigation”.
DCI Christina Jessah, who leads policing in the local area, said a full review of the investigation was under way to establish any missed opportunities. She said: “We know that many feel deep distress following Steven’s death and some feel frustration with the pace of the police investigation.
“We are also aware of the concerns of Steven’s next of kin and have apologised to them directly.
“A full review of the investigation is ongoing to establish any missed opportunities. We continue to examine all lines of inquiry in relation to Steven’s death and remain steadfast in our determination to establish the facts.”
