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Leroy Cooper (photographer)

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Leroy Cooper
Born1960s Edit this on Wikidata
Jamaica Edit this on Wikidata
DiedMay 2023 Edit this on Wikidata
OccupationPhotographer Edit this on Wikidata

Leroy Alphonse Cooper (born 1960 or 1961; died May 2023) was a Jamaican-born photographer, active in Toxteth, Liverpool, England, whose arrest there in 1981 sparked the Toxteth riots.

Early life

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Cooper was born in 1960 or 1961 in Jamaica, and emigrated with his parents to Liverpool as a baby.[1]

Arrests and convictions

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Cooper's arrest on 3 July 1981, when he was a photography student in Liverpool, sparked the first Toxteth riot, which occurred while he was in detention.[2][3][4][5] He was prosecuted, with the most serious charge being causing grievous bodily harm,[6] and held on remand in HMP Walton[6] and then at Risley for six to eight weeks, then pleaded guilty to assaulting three police officers causing actual bodily harm, in a trial at Liverpool Crown Court in November 1981.[5][7][8] As a result, he spent nine months in borstal.[5] In 2011, he stated that he made the guilty plea to avoid "a sentence of three to five years".[5] He also described how his conviction led to his "blacklisting" for jobs in Liverpool.[3]

He was sentenced to two years of imprisonment in 1983 for wounding with intent, following further assaults on two police officers, one using a tree branch, and for carrying an offensive weapon, all of which he denied.[9] He was again held in HMP Walton.[1]

Career

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After release Cooper continued to study photography.[2] His work, comprising over a quarter of a million images, focuses chiefly on documents and the people and culture of Liverpool.[2][10] He also worked as a performance poet[4] and as a DJ on Toxteth Community Radio, a pirate station,[3] and was a graffiti artist.[4] One of his acts in the latter capacity was to repaint Toxteth street name signs in the red, yellow and green colours of Rastafari.[4]

Cooper was featured in the 25 November 1985 episode of the BBC Television current affairs programme Panorama, "Voices From The Ghetto", about Toxteth.[11]

A book, Back In The Day Vol. 1, reproducing 44 of his photographs and one of his paintings was published in 2019.[12][13]

An exhibition of Cooper's work, "A Secret Life of Liverpool", was held at the Unity Theatre, Liverpool in May 2018.[14] At the time of his death the Museum of Liverpool was hosting an exhibition of his work, "Liverpool Through the Lens".[2][15]

Death

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Cooper's body was found at his home on 12 May 2023.[2] He was 62.[2] The cause of death was not immediately established.[2]

Works

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  • Back In The Day Vol. 1. Capstone Media. 2019. ISBN 978-1-5272-3696-7.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Toxteh—and the way Leroy sees it". Liverpool Echo. 27 August 1985. p. 13.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Ambrose, Tom (13 May 2023). "Leroy Cooper, photographer whose arrest led to Toxteth riots, dies". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  3. ^ a b c "Toxteth in the 1980s | Photographs by Leroy Cooper". British Culture Archive. 12 May 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d "Leroy Cooper, Artist and photographer". Where I Live – Liverpool. BBC. 24 July 2006. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d Waddington, Marc. "Leroy Cooper: The Toxteth Riots were a wake-up call and did some good". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  6. ^ a b "Accused treated like a convict—claim". Liverpool Echo. 20 July 1981. p. 9.
  7. ^ "Event blamed for Toxteth riots 'was misunderstanding'". Aberdeen Press and Journal. 17 November 1981. p. 2.
  8. ^ "Attacks on Police Lead to Borstal". Liverpool Echo. 17 November 1981. p. 7.
  9. ^ "Jailed for tree assault on PC". Liverpool Echo. 10 June 1983. p. 13.
  10. ^ "Leroy Cooper: Tributes to artist whose arrest sparked Toxteth riots". BBC News. 13 May 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  11. ^ "Schedule - BBC Programme Index". BBC Genome. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  12. ^ "Back in the Day - Leroy Cooper". Uncover Liverpool. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  13. ^ "Leroy Cooper: Back in the Day". Bluecoat Arts Centre. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  14. ^ "Toxteth riots photographer puts work on show". BBC News. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  15. ^ "'Liverpool Through the Lens' by Leroy Cooper". National Museums Liverpool. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
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