History > 2007 > UK > Police (I)

11.15am GMT

Armed police cut as gun crime rises

Wednesday December 26, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Press Association

Ministers were accused of complacency today for letting armed police numbers fall while gun crime has soared.

The drop in armed enforcement has been most pronounced in "hotspot" areas that have seen the biggest rise in offences, according to figures obtained by the Tories.

The apparent reductions come despite the government boasting that total police strength is the highest it has ever been.

In Northamptonshire, gun offences more than trebled to 128 between 2002 and 2006, but the number of authorised firearms officers has dipped more than a third to 56 since Labour came to power.

In Merseyside, the number of authorised firearms officers fell by 15% between 1997 and 2006, while reported crimes involving firearms rose 62% between 2002 and 2006.

Over the same periods in Avon and Somerset, armed police levels dropped from 165 to 117, as reported gun offences went up 62%.

Overall, the number of authorised firearms officers went down from 6,738 in 1997 to 6,584 in 2006, while total reported firearms offences rose more than 10%.

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said the details, disclosed in response to parliamentary questions, showed ministers were "part of the problem".

"These are yet more statistics betraying the government's complacent approach to gun crime," he said.

"It is clear that when it comes to tackling the scourge of gun crime and other violent crime, Labour are part of the problem, not the solution."

The shadow police reform minister, David Ruffley, said: "Poor ministerial planning means police officers are being thrown into gun hotspots without being properly equipped."

In response, a spokesman for the Home Office said: "Police numbers are historically high and the make-up of a local force, including firearms officers, is an operational matter for the local chief constable based on local factors including the number of firearms offences."

Armed police cut as gun crime rises, G, 26.12.2007,
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/dec/26/
ukguns.politics 

Police accused of firing Taser

into head of innocent man

Tuesday December 18, 2007
Guardian
Robert Booth

Police fired a 50,000-volt Taser into the head of a 45-year-old company director who later proved to be unarmed and innocent. Daniel Sylvester, the owner of an east London security firm employing 65 staff to guard council offices, pubs and nightclubs, was driving home on October 20 when he was stopped by armed police because of "firearms related intelligence".

According to Sylvester, he got out of his car and was surrounded by officers, at least two of whom were carrying automatic weapons. Without warning, one officer fired a Taser into the back of his head which made him drop to his knees, he said. A second shock caused him to fall on his face, breaking a front tooth. A further six shocks made him wet himself and left him lying in the road in pain while the officers and sniffer dogs searched the car and found nothing.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has started an investigation and David Lammy, Sylvester's MP in Tottenham, north London, has written to Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police commissioner, to say he is "deeply concerned".

The incident was part of Operation Neon, a crackdown on guns on London's streets by using armed response units to stop and search cars. Sylvester said the incident had left him traumatised and he now suffered from short-term memory loss. He doubts the police would have stopped him had he not been black. A spokesman for the Met said: "Just after midnight, officers on an intelligence-led operation stopped a car in Bounces Road, N9. The driver got out of the vehicle and was subsequently Tasered. Our information is the Taser was deployed once."

Sylvester had been followed by police cars for about three miles through Tottenham before they boxed him in.

"Armed police jumped out and opened my car door," he said. "I said OK, I'm coming. I asked what was going on and as soon as I stepped out of the car I felt something touch me on the back of the head and then I was on my knees. Then it happened again and I was on my face and I felt somebody pressing my head down with their foot. By the fifth time I realised officers were pinning my arms together. It was like they were trying to break my arms and I was in pain, screaming out.

"I was shocked eight times altogether and I had urinated on the floor. It was like being tortured. It went on and on and I felt they were going to kill me."

According to guidelines set by the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers, Tasers should be deployed "where officers are facing violence or threats of violence of such severity that they would need to use force to protect the public, themselves and/or the subject(s) of their action". Tasers have been used 47 times in London this year, with black people accounting for almost two-thirds of those stunned.

The government extended the right to use Tasers for all firearms officers in England and Wales this summer.

Police accused of firing Taser into head of innocent man, G, 18.12.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2229041,00.html

4.15pm GMT

Man charged

with Rachel Nickell's murder

Wednesday November 28, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies

A man was charged today with the murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common in July 1992, the Crown Prosecution Service said today.

Robert Napper, 41, will appear at City of Westminster magistrates' court on December 4.

The move follows a review of the notorious murder of the former model and lifeguard while she walked with her young son on July 15 1992.

Nickell, 23, was stabbed 49 times and sexually assaulted in a frenzied attack that led to one of the largest murder inquiries ever seen in the UK. Her two-year-old son, Alex, was found clinging to her, covered in his mother's blood.

A total of 32 men were questioned in connection with the murder. Police eventually targeted an unemployed man from Roehampton, south London, called Colin Stagg who was known to walk his dog on the common.

While there was no forensic evidence linking Stagg to the scene, attention soon focused exclusively on him and police attempted to obtain evidence against him through a complex sting operation involving an undercover policewoman.

The case against Stagg was thrown out when it came to the Old Bailey in 1994 on the grounds that police had used a "honeytrap" plot to encourage him to confess. Police subsequently re-opened their inquiry.

    Man charged with Rachel Nickell's murder, G, 28.11.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2218436,00.html

Police: stop more black suspects

· Top black officer urges more searches to tackle gun and knife crime
· Call set to reignite racism row

Sunday October 21, 2007
The Observer
Mark Townsend, crime correspondent

One of Britain's leading black police officers is to demand that more people from ethnic minorities must be stopped and searched if the fight against inner-city gun and knife crime is to succeed.
In a speech that will reignite one of the most contentious issues in British policing, the president of the National Black Police Association will dramatically call for an increase in the policing strategy in black communities. It marks a U-turn by the association, which has previously questioned the high proportion of black people stopped and searched by police.

Speaking at the group's annual conference, Keith Jarrett will ask Police Minister Tony McNulty and Sir Ian Blair, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, to consider escalating stop-and-searches among black people to reduce the number of shootings that have claimed the lives of another two teenagers in the past week.

The disputed use of stop-and-search has arguably caused more conflict than any other modern policing tactic and first achieved national notoriety during the Eighties, when it was blamed for precipitating inner-city race riots. Black people are four times more likely to be stopped than white people, according to Scotland Yard's figures, which continues to give rise to charges of police racism.

Jarrett admitted he was braced for a negative backlash during his headline speech in Bristol last Wednesday. It is the first time that a senior black officer has called for an increase in stop-and-search among the black community.

Traditionally the association, which has 8,000 members ranging from senior figures such as Tarique Ghaffur, assistant commissioner in the Metropolitan police, to backroom staff, has pointed to the 'alarming' and disproportionate numbers of black people who are stopped and searched.

Jarrett told The Observer: 'From the return that I am getting from a lot of black people, they want to stop these killings, these knife crimes, and if it means their sons and daughters are going to be inconvenienced by being stopped by the police, so be it. I'm hoping we go down that road. I am going to be pressing him [Blair] to increase stop-and-search. It's not going to go down very well with my audience, many of whom are going to be black. We have talked about disproportionate use of stop-and-search in the past, but what I am proposing is quite the reverse. The black community is telling me that we have to have a look at this.' Controversially, Jarrett said he would not oppose a random use of stop-and-search when officers had 'reasonable suspicion' an offence had been committed. He argued that, as long as officers used the powers courteously and responsibly, many within the black community would accept it as a necessary evil. He added that the toll of shootings and knife crime meant that deep-seated misgivings over the policing strategy were being increasingly outweighed by fears over mounting violence.

The backlash was led last night by Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg, who said stop-and-search only 'increased community tensions and distrust in the police'.

He added: 'Effective policing depends on good intelligence and smart ways of fostering community co-operation. This suggestion points us in exactly the opposite direction and risks repeating all the worst mistakes of the past'.

Although widely viewed by senior officers as an effective policing tool, stop-and-search use was blamed for the 1985 Handsworth riots in Birmingham which erupted after the arrest of a black man. Its predecessor, the discredited 'sus law' which empowered the police to arrest any person they suspected of loitering with intent to commit an arrestable offence, was abolished after its widespread use against young black men sparked the 1981 Brixton riots.

In the wake of the south London uprising, new rules for stop-and-search determined that officers required 'reasonable suspicion' that an offence had been committed. Yet its use against the black community has continued to attract claims of racism.

Publication of the Macpherson Report in February 1999 into the murder of the teenager Stephen Lawrence, which found that police were institutionally racist, condemned the use of stop-and-search. Racial equality watchdogs have also threatened the police with legal action over stop-and-search, claiming its use has single-handedly poisoned relations with ethnic minorities.

Until Jarrett's speech this week, senior black and Asian officers publicly agreed that stop-and-search risked criminalising and alienating ethnic minorities. Last year Ghaffur warned that counter-terrorism laws, including an increased incidence of stop-and-search, had indirectly discriminated against Asians.

    Police: stop more black suspects, O 21.10.2007, http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2196028,00.html

5.45pm

Fifth teenager

charged over Newlove killing

Thursday September 13, 2007
Press Association
Guardian Unlimited

A fifth teenager was today charged with the murder of father-of-three Garry Newlove.

Mr Newlove suffered massive head injuries after he was allegedly beaten to death by a gang of youths outside his home in Warrington, Cheshire. Mr Newlove, 47, was attacked on Friday August 10, and died at Warrington hospital two days later.

Cheshire police said that a 17-year-old boy was arrested today and charged with the murder of Mr Newlove.

He will appear at Warrington youth court tomorrow morning.

A second male, aged 16, was arrested yesterday and bailed pending further enquires.

The death of Mr Newlove sparked a national debate about the sale of alcohol.

The chief constable of Cheshire police, Peter Fahy, called for the legal age for drinking to be increased to 21.

He later said under-age drinking was a child protection issue and parents who refused to take action should face tougher sanctions through care proceedings and the criminal justice system.

Three youths, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and Adam Swellings, 18, from Crewe, have previously been charged with the murder of Mr Newlove and are remanded in custody.

The trial is expected to take place in November.

    Fifth teenager charged over Newlove killing, G, 13.9.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2168703,00.html

9.30am

Man charged over Tesco bomb scares

Thursday July 26, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Peter Walker

A man has been charged in connection with a series of alleged bomb threats earlier this month, which forced the temporary closure of 14 Tesco supermarkets, police said today.

Philip McHugh, an unemployed man from Clitheroe, Lancashire, was charged last night with two specimen offences of blackmail and two offences of making bomb hoaxes, a Hertfordshire police spokesman said.

"There is no one else being sought in relation to this offence," he added.

The 51 year old, who will appear before Stevenage magistrates court this morning, was arrested following inquiries made by the Hertfordshire force "with support of a number of forces across the country".

On July 14, 14 Tesco stores around the country shut after reports of bomb threats against the supermarket giant.

Stores in Lancashire, Suffolk, Dyfed Powys in Wales, Fife and Strathclyde in Scotland, Leicestershire, Humberside, West Mercia, West Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and London were affected.

    Man charged over Tesco bomb scares, G, 26.7.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2134997,00.html

Caught on CCTV: the police sergeant who said Somalian needed 'a good beating'

· Scotland Yard caught up in new race row
· Community worker derided as 'low life'

Saturday July 7, 2007
Guardian
Diane Taylor and Hugh Muir

By the time Fahmi Hassan was settled into his police cell, having been accused of assaulting a police officer, the atmosphere was highly charged.

His request for a cigarette was rejected out of hand as was his attempt to plead his case with a senior officer. The exchanges were sharp if predictable.

But this week the case of Fahmi Hassan plunged Scotland Yard into a race row as previously confidential surveillance tapes emerged revealing what officers were saying privately about the Somalian youth worker as he languished in his cell.

On the tape, which the Guardian has seen, one clearly agitated supervisory officer says Mr Hassan has "lots of wants, lots of needs, lots of arrogance; nothing a good beating wouldn't put right. Knows his rights, knows the law."

The 23-year-old British born community worker is derided as an "arrogant shit" and an "obnoxious Somalian".

An officer tells colleagues in the custody suite that the prisoner is "an absolute knobhead". The sergeant adds: "There is a great film. Have you seen the film Black Hawk Down about an American helicopter that gets shot down in Somalia? Mogadishu. It is based on the truth. It is when the Americans very foolishly went into Somalia to suppress the warlords. There is no one in charge in Somalia. It's just tribal factions. There's no bugger in charge in Somalia.

"He's a Somalian. They are very violent people I think. If you think about it, the ones who got out of Somalia are either the middle classes with money or the kids with guns. It's that type of environment."

Later, discussing the time when Mr Hassan should be permitted to see a police doctor, the officer says: "he's a piece of low life". He goes on to say: "Because he is a complainer I want him seen by a doctor. He's an obnoxious Somalian. I'm sure there must be nice Somalians but he's an obnoxious ... didn't want to see the doctor, now he wants to see the doctor. Fuck him."

Mr Hassan, a volunteer with a group which aims to keep youngsters away from drugs and crime, is suing the Met alleging that he was wrongfully arrested, assaulted and maliciously prosecuted following his arrest in north London in 2005.

No drugs were found on him and he was cleared at a magistrates court last year of assaulting a police officer. The youth worker claims the supervisory officer set the tone for how he was treated by others at the police station where he says he was manhandled, humiliated and suffered racial abuse. The Met was legally obliged to hand over hours of tape from the custody suite as part of the civil action process.

Mr Hassan, who first viewed the tape on Monday, said he was shocked to hear the comments. "I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was frustrated because I was trying to say that I had been wrongfully arrested. I had done nothing wrong. You just can't make up lies about people and arrest them. Imagine being holed up in a cell when you haven't done anything wrong."

Dan Rubinstein, his solicitor, said the tape showed clear stereotyping and that his client's treatment was influenced by the allegation officers had made against him.

"What is clear is that back at the police station, the custody officer didn't bother to look at the issue dispassionately," he said. "They automatically took the arresting officer's version of events as the truth whereas their job is to query the evidence. The custody sergeant's duty is to ensure the welfare and safety of the person detained. This case gives me very little confidence in their ability to do that."

The tapes reveal conversations in the custody suite that are alternately comic and disturbing. As Mr Hassan, who has previous drug possession convictions, sits in his cell, officers discuss subjects ranging from "black on black shootings" to the quality of Babybel processed cheese.

After fingerprinting him, officers discuss Mr Hassan's request for a cigarette. "Assaulted police? And then he wants a fag?" the supervisory officer says. "A cigarette after he's been very horrible," adds a PC. "I don't think so. Put him back in his cell," says the supervisory officer. "Ooh I love you sometimes," a WPC chips in.

There are strict rules governing the conduct of officers and their behaviour towards prisoners in custody suites. The role of the custody sergeant was created as part of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which dictates how detainees should be treated and how long they can be held. The custody sergeant is a powerful figure because they carry the legal responsibility for prisoners in their care.

A spokeswoman for the Met confirmed that legal proceedings had been initiated and said the force would defend itself against Mr Hassan's claim.

Caught on CCTV:
the police sergeant who said Somalian needed 'a good beating', G, 7.7.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,,2120836,00.html

4pm update

Police smash global web paedophile ring

Monday June 18, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Mark Tran

An international police operation has smashed a global paedophile ring, rescuing 31 children from serious sexual assault, British authorities said today.

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (Ceop) said about 200 of the 700 suspects were based in the UK. The suspects used an internet chatroom called Kids the Light of Our Lives to swap photos and videos of children being abused.

"Hundreds of members worldwide used it to trade a range of material, including photographs and videos of children being subjected to sexual abuse and serious sexual assault," Ceop said in a statement.

The man behind the network, Timothy David Martyn Cox, 27, was today given an indeterminate prison sentence at Ipswich crown court.

Cox hosted the website from his home address in Buxhall, near Stowmarket, Suffolk, masquerading behind the online identity 'Son_of_god'. When trading, he used the name 'I_do_it'.

He was arrested in September last year after information was passed on to Ceop by the Canadian authorities, giving undercover officers the chance to infiltrate the chatroom and gather evidence on other members.

When Suffolk police forensic teams examined Cox's computer, they found 75,960 indecent and explicit images in addition to evidence that he had supplied 11,491 images to other site users.

Over a period of 10 days, officers from Ceop and Toronto police conducted online surveillance and were able to identify further suspects and gather information regarding potential victims before closing down the site.

Ceop, which is affiliated to the Serious Organised Crime Agency, had infiltrated " a very large, very significant and very dangerous paedophile ring", said Jim Gamble, the group's chief executive.

The children involved "ranged from the very, very young - babies - right up to those who were in their early teens", he said.

A "significant minority" of the 31 children rescued from abuse were in the UK, but Mr Gamble declined to give an exact figure.

"From the apparent 'safety' of his home, Cox spent hours each day planning, promoting and encouraging the abuse and exploitation of innocent young victims. In doing so he provided a service to hundreds of like-minded individuals, enabling those with a sexual interest in children to share indecent images and discuss further plans for abuse," he said.

In September last year, Gordon Mackintosh, of Hertfordshire, also became a key subject in the UK inquiry. The 33-year-old attempted to resurrect Kids the Light of Our Lives following Cox's arrest.

Ceop officers, along with investigators in Australia, the US and Canada, infiltrated the chatroom for the second time, undertaking 24-hour online surveillance to track down offenders attempting to trade material.

They managed to identify Mackintosh as the person behind the usernames 'silentblackheart' and 'lust4skoolgurls' and he was arrested in January.

His computer was found to contain 5,167 indecent and explicit images of children, in addition to 392 indecent movie files. He pleaded guilty to 27 charges of making, possessing and distributing indecent images and movies, and is currently awaiting sentence.

The investigation into the paedophile network, which is still active, has been going on for 10 months, involving the cooperation of law enforcement agencies from 35 countries.

Mr Gamble said: "This is the biggest coordinated, collaborative approach on the online environment ever. It sets the standard we will have to follow for ever."

Cox lived at home in a large farmhouse with his parents and sister, carrying out his online trading from his bedroom.

He was employed in the family's micro-brewery which was based on the farm.

    Police smash global web paedophile ring, NYT, 18.6.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2105771,00.html

Special units

to crack down on honour killing

Police and prosecutors target 'hotspots'

Saturday June 16, 2007
Guardian
Karen McVeigh

Dedicated teams of senior prosecutors are to be deployed in the UK's honour killing hotspots in the wake of the failings exposed this week by the case of a young Kurdish woman murdered by her family.

The prosecutors, who have all had experience of complex organised crime cases, will start work this month as part of an overhaul of how cases are handled. The move is designed to boost conviction rates and improve protection for victims.

The Crown Prosecution Service has revealed the changes after the justice system was criticised for doing too little to protect vulnerable women. Senior police officers told the Guardian that there are systemic failures in how cases are handled - measures proposed years ago have been shelved, delayed or ignored, they warn.

Chief constables and the Home Office are also working together with other agencies to ensure that women in danger are identified early and dealt with properly to improve protection for victims. Plans to be published soon by the Association of Chief Police Officers will tell forces to follow new risk assessment models to ensure women are taken seriously if they complain of family violence.

The changes come after Banaz Mahmod, a 20-year-old Kurd, was murdered by her father and uncle because they disapproved of her boyfriend who was not a strict Muslim and was not of their tribe.

She was found dumped in a suitcase, with the shoelace used to kill her around her neck. She had repeatedly told police her family were trying to kill her. In one instance where she had escaped from her father, she was not taken seriously, and described as melodramatic and manipulative by an officer who interviewed her.

A police inquiry is under way.

The CPS will this month pilot its new approach in four "hotspot" areas. A team of 20 prosecutors are to be based in London, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire and Lancashire. Each one will be trained by a number of different agencies including the police, the government's forced marriage unit and the independent victims group, the Southall Black Sisters.

The complex investigation and three-month trial for Ms Mahmod's murder relied on initiatives more often used to tackle organised crime, such as the use of covert investigative techniques and special measures for key witnesses, two of whom needed police protection. Such techniques are increasingly used to deal with honour crimes.

The CPS will also introduce a "flag" for any forced marriage or honour crime cases, so they can be logged and monitored.

Nazir Afzal, the CPS lead on honour-based violence, said that such crimes are often elaborate, pre-planned and can involve many suspects.

One in nine honour killings in the UK is carried out by hit men, he said. It is also common for the youngest member of the family to carry out the murder, with the others playing a lesser role.

"Some families carrying out these types of crimes are very subtle in how they go about it," said Mr Afzal. He said the CPS was determined to prosecute every individual involved. Under the new Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act, if a person fails to intervene to protect a family member they too can face justice.

Mr Afzal said that the CPS was committed to extraditing honour crime suspects who flee abroad and that it was seeking to extradite the two remaining suspects in Ms Mahmod's murder, believed to be in Iraqi Kurdistan. Ms Mahmod named the two, Omar Hussein and Mohammed Ali, as among those she believed were plotting to kill her in a letter she handed to the police the month before she was killed nearly 18 months ago.

However, the service is facing legal obstacles. The new 2005 Iraqi constitution does not allow subjects to be extradited.

    Special units to crack down on honour killing, G, 16.6.2007, http://society.guardian.co.uk/crimeandpunishment/story/0,,2104508,00.html

11.45am

Cop liked Tasers so much,

he took 50,000 volts

Friday May 18, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Fred Attewill

Manchester's most senior police officer took 50,000 volts in his back after volunteering to be shot by a Taser stun gun in an attempt to demonstrate the weapon's effectiveness and safety.

After collapsing in agony from the close-range strike, Chief Constable Michael Todd said: "I was completely incapacitated, and if I was carrying a weapon there was no way I could have done anything, as I just couldn't move.

"And yes, it hurt like hell and no, I wouldn't want to do it again."

The head of the Greater Manchester force wants the controversial weapons, which Amnesty International claim can be deadly, to be issued to frontline police. Currently their use is restricted to firearms officers.

Mr Todd agreed to be shot by one of his own officers after a Sunday newspaper challenged him to prove his claim that he was convinced the weapons were safe.

His force introduced the units in January this year and they have already been used six times. Mr Todd contends the American-made devices save lives in critical situations where officers would otherwise have no option but to shoot a suspect with a gun.

"Just the physical drawing of the Taser from the holster and having the laser sight dot aimed at the subject's torso was enough on four occasions for subjects to cooperate and enable firearms officers to make the arrests safely," he said.

"The Taser has had to be fired on only two occasions when subjects haven't complied with firearms officers' demands. They were both disarmed and safely detained with no ill effect from the Taser."

This week the Home Office announced plans to launch a 12-month trial to begin in September, subject to medical advice, to extend the use of the weapons to specially trained non-firearms officers.

The home secretary, John Reid, declared to a police conference that the weapons were needed to meet the demands of modern policing.

Mr Todd is keen for his force to be included. He told the Manchester Evening News: "Tasers can save people's lives, that of the police officer and the member of the public. We at GMP have saved several people's lives. We had one person in particular who came out of a house with a firearm.

"Immediately afterwards he told the officers he didn't know why he had done what he did, and thanked them for shooting him with a Taser.

"We have also had incidents in the last couple of months where people have been running down the streets with dangerous weapons like a Samurai sword.

"We are not talking about giving Tasers to every single police officer, but perhaps those based in the tactical aid unit, after training has been given. It could provide extra security and safety for officers and the public."

    Cop liked Tasers so much, he took 50,000 volts, G, 18.5.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2082952,00.html

11.30am

Police face misconduct hearing

over Woodhams stabbing

Monday May 14, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Matt Weaver and agencies

Two detectives who investigated a knife attack on a young father who pleaded for police protection eight months before he was shot dead will face a disciplinary hearing.

Family members claim police failed to protect Peter Woodhams, 22, of east London, from youths who harassed and intimidated him in the months before his murder.

The two officers, a detective sergeant and a detective constable, could be forced to resign if they are found guilty of misconduct, the Independent Police Complaints Commission announced today.

Bradley Tucker, the teenager who shot Mr Woodhams, was jailed for life earlier this month.

Eight months before his death, Mr Woodhams was stabbed in the neck and had his face slashed by a group of youths because he confronted them about stones being thrown at his new car.

Seven other police, including three officers, two sergeants and a detective sergeant, would receive written warnings for their failings in the first investigation, the IPCC said.

The nine were a mixture of officers who attended the scene on the night of the stabbing and those involved in the investigation.

One detective constable would also be given "words of advice". Three more officers were cleared of wrongdoing but would be given guidance.

One of the two detectives facing a misconduct hearing has since been transferred to Derbyshire police.

An IPCC report on the investigation will be published after the misconduct tribunal ends. It is expected to take place in the autumn.

In the meantime, the report and its recommendation have been sent to the Metropolitan police.

The IPCC commissioner Deborah Glass said: "The Metropolitan police service has assured me that these recommendations will be progressed immediately."

"Mr Woodhams' family has suffered a terrible loss in his death. Despite this, they have acted with the utmost dignity throughout this sad time and I hope that the IPCC investigation and misconduct proceedings, at which members of the family will be expected to give evidence, will be able to answer some of the questions they may have about the way the police investigated the stabbing."

Scotland Yard apologised to Mr Woodhams' family for "any hurt" caused by the way police investigated the knife attack.

Last year the deputy commissioner, Paul Stephenson, told a committee meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority that the response to the initial attack appeared to be "unacceptable".

    Police face misconduct hearing over Woodhams stabbing, G, 14.5.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2079279,00.html

1.30pm update

No charges for de Menezes field officers

Friday May 11, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
James Sturcke

The frontline firearms and surveillance officers involved in the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube station will not face a disciplinary tribunal, the police watchdog announced today.

The decision affects 11 of the 15 officers under investigation for the killing of the innocent Brazilian electrician on July 22 2005.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said a decision on whether to discipline four more senior officers would not be made until after a case against the Metropolitan police for allegedly breaking health and safety regulations comes to court. That trial is expected to start in October.

The IPCC chairman, Nick Hardwick, said that based on evidence available now and that which could be expected in the future there was "no realistic prospect of disciplinary charges being upheld" against any of the firearms or surveillance officers involved.

The de Menezes family is "gravely disappointed" by the IPCC decision, a spokeswoman for the family said.

The Brazilian was shot on in the head seven times on a London Underground train after he was mistaken for a suicide bomber. The killing came a day after the alleged attempted July 21 attack and two weeks after four suicide bombers killed 52 people during rush hour in the capital.

The IPCC added that one of the 11 people cleared today, a surveillance officer, should receive management advice in relation to action he took after the incident.

The Met welcomed today's "move forward" and repeated its apology to the de Menezes family.

Mr Hardwick, notified de Menezes's family, the Metropolitan Police Service and the Metropolitan Police Authority of his decision this morning.

He explained his decision as follows: "In reviewing the original material I am struck again by the challenge facing officers of the MPS following the carnage on 7 July 2005. Set along side this is the fate of Jean Charles and the anguish of his family."

Mr Hardwick said he could not see "anything he [de Menezes] could or could not have consciously done differently" that would have allowed him to escape and that the grief and anger of his family was entirely understandable and "as I have been powerfully reminded - remains unassuaged [sic]".

"I would not do anything lightly that adds to that grief or anger," Mr Hardwick added. "Nevertheless, I do not believe there is anything to be gained by delaying decisions, however difficult and unwelcome for the family, where I do not see any realistic prospect of anything emerging that might change those decisions."

The IPCC has considered three key moments in the sequence of events during its inquiry, Mr Hardwick said - the incident itself from when de Menezes was spotted leaving his home in Scotia Road to his shooting; what was said by officers involved in the shooting; and the planning and preparation that preceded the killing.

"On the basis of the evidence I have available to me now or any development that might reasonably be foreseen, I have concluded that there is no realistic prospect of disciplinary charges being upheld against any of the firearms or surveillance officers involved," Mr Hardwick said in relation to the incident itself and what was said by the officers afterwards.

As for the planning, preparation or control of the operation the IPCC boss said he was conscious that the Crown Prosecution Service had concluded that the organisational failings were so serious as to warrant charges under the Health and Safety Act.

"The CPS charges do not preclude individual failures in the planning, preparation and command of the incident amounting to misconduct," he added. "At this stage therefore, I think it is premature for me to consider the issues arising from the planning, preparation or control of the incident."

In a statement, the Met said de Menezes's shooting was a "matter of very deep regret" and its continued thoughts were with the family.

"We have apologised publicly and in private to them and we would again like to take this opportunity to say sorry for this tragedy," the force said.

"There is no doubt that the events of July 2005 brought significant challenges to the MPS and during this time many officers operated under difficult and dangerous conditions to protect London and Londoners."

The Justice4Jean Campaign said family and friends of de Menezes were furious and bitterly disappointed. A spokesman criticised the timing of today's announcement.

"This is entirely premature and worse still, may potentially prejudice any future criminal proceedings," he said. "This sends out the signal that no action against officers will ever be taken in this case, which is devastating for the family. There are still many unanswered questions about the police handling of this case."

Last year's revelation that no individual officers would be prosecuted but instead the "office of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner" would face a trial for an alleged offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 was a grave disappointment to the de Menezes family.

In December, their legal team argued in London's high court that the decision was "a violation" of the human rights of the family.

Patricia Armani da Silva, one of his cousins, described the CPS decision as "shameful".

The findings of a second IPCC investigation into complaints about comments made by the Met commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, and colleagues following the shooting have yet to be published.

    No charges for de Menezes field officers, G, 11.5.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/menezes/story/0,,2077689,00.html

Shot policeman

had five awards for bravery

PC Richard Gray,

killed while attending a domestic incident

May 7, 2007
From Times Online
Times Online
and Russell Jenkins and Rajeev Syal of The Times

A police constable who was shot dead while responding to a domestic incident had earned five commendations in his four years with the force, it was disclosed today.

Richard Gray, a firearms officer who was shot while attending the incident in the Castlefields area of Shrewsbury yesterday, was described by West Mercia's Chief Constable, Paul West, as an excellent officer who was highly popular with colleagues.

Police said today that PC Gray, a member of West Mercia's armed response unit, had not used his weapons during the incident.

Detective Chief Inspector Sheila Thornes, who is leading the investigation into the killing of PC Gray, said: “The ammunition allocated to the officer is all accounted for and there is no evidence of police weapons being discharged."

The police officer was fatally wounded as he responded to the routine call in Shrewsbury. Then gunman then killed himself. Police have appealed for anybody who saw or heard the incident in New Park Road to get in touch with Shrewsbury Police Station as a matter of urgency on 08457 444888.”

PC Gray, known to his fellow officers as Ricky, was a father of two in his forties who married his long-term partner last year, Mr West told a news conference at Shrewsbury’s Guildhall.

“All his colleagues, both police officers and police staff, are devastated by his tragic death, particularly those who worked with him on his regular shift at Shrewsbury,” Mr West said. “In Ricky’s four years with us his bravery, determination and professionalism as a police officer saw him recognised with a total of five commendations, two from his divisional commander, two from me, and a judge’s commendation. In itself that speaks volumes for the sort of man he was and his dedication and commitment to duty."

The dead gunman was named locally as Peter Medlicott, a former gamekeeper in his thirties known as a shotgun owner. He was said by neighbours to have been arguing with another man before the double shooting.

The incident has shocked the town, which has experienced an increase in gun crime. It will lead to demands for further protection for police officers.

PC Gray lived in Shrewsbury where he was described by neighbours as a quiet man who loved gardening. His wife, Jennifer, a bank worker, is being comforted by friends and senior officers.

The police officer was less than an hour from finishing work when he was asked at 6.10am to intervene in a domestic dispute in the Castlefields suburb. Karen Walker, 49, who lives opposite Medlicott’s house, said: “Everyone was woken up by the racket. We heard one shot and then there was loads of shouting. Then we heard another shot. I looked out of the window with my daughter and you could see the other two officers pulling the policeman who had been shot along the road. The officer was bleeding badly. Then we heard another shot a couple of minutes later.”

Residents described Castlefields as a quiet area that had recently begun to attract the same kind of social problems as larger inner city areas. Two workers in a massage parlour in the neighbouring Frankwell area were murdered last year.

Medlicott was seen drinking heavily on Saturday night at the Plough pub, a short walk from his rented first-floor flat. He had to be asked to leave by the landlord when he started arguing with his girlfriend and became rowdy.

Rory Wallin, the landlord, said: “Peter came in with his partner. They had both been out on the town. They had been listening happily to the karaoke but then they began to argue up by the pool table and it got out of hand. They were both arguing and following each other around the pub.”

George James, 53, a pub regular, described Medlicott as an “oddball” who had previously been questioned by the police concerning allegations of arson. “He was known for the hassle that followed him around. He was unemployed and used to carry a rifle in a case down by the river.”

PC Gray was commended for rescuing a man who was trying to jump into the River Severn from Shrewsbury’s English Bridge and was also praised for his professionalism, decision-making and teamwork after the rescue of two women from the same river last July. He also received a Chief Constable’s Commendation and a judge’s commendation for his part in the arrest of an unstable man with a firearm. A Chief Constable’s Certificate of Commendation, the highest award given by West Mercia Police, had also been bestowed on PC Gray for his part in arresting a violent man who confronted officers with a semi-automatic pistol in Shrewsbury in April last year. Mr West had been due too present this award to PC Gray in a ceremony later this year.

    Shot policeman had five awards for bravery, Ts Online, 7.5.2007, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article1757894.ece

Police call for tougher gun crime laws

Move to break down 'wall of silence'

Friday April 20, 2007
Guardian
Helen Carter

One of the UK's most senior police officers has called for new laws that would compel the public to give information to the police about gun crime - whether they want to or not.

In an interview with the Guardian, Bernard Hogan-Howe, the chief constable of Merseyside police and a contender to be next commissioner of the Met, said it was clear that more and more young people were getting involved in gun crime and that they were being protected by a wall of silence.

He said the only way to address this was to adopt laws similar to those in Australia "where people have a duty to report information about gun crime to the police". He also believes the laws should extend to victims of gun crime who survive being shot but refuse to make a complaint because of fears of reprisals.

"The challenge is: people who survive do not want to complain and the best witness is quite often the victim who can help provide a description and motive. By refusing to help it can put the investigation on to the back foot."

Mr Hogan-Howe, who was at the gun crime summit at Downing Street in February, said his force had been pioneering moves to disrupt the activities of those involved in gun crime.

Families are being evicted from their homes if they live with young people who possess firearms. They are moved out to other areas, while suspects are regularly stopped and searched by officers.

Mr Hogan-Howe is also a critic of any loosening of the laws relating to cannabis use and possession. He said there was evidence that the potency of cannabis is increasing and there needed to be more research about its long-term effects on people with mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia. "If people are under 18 when they take skunk cannabis they are four times more likely to suffer mental illness and if they are under 15 they are 10 times more likely," he said.

However, it is his intervention on gun crime that is bound to be draw the ire of human rights campaigners. It reflects growing concern among the country's most senior officers about the difficulties of tackling the use of firearms among young people.

A fortnight ago Scotland Yard launched the hard-hitting "blood on your hands" campaign, aimed at turning children away from gun crime and encouraging them to speak to the police. It was unveiled on the day of the funeral of 15-year-old murder victim Billy Cox who was gunned down in south London, one of a number of shootings involving teenagers in recent weeks.

"If you know someone who has got a gun and don't report it, you could have blood on your hands," the ad says.

Last week Tony Blair sparked controversy when he said the spate of gun murders was being caused not by poverty, but as a result of a distinctive black culture.

The Home Office has already announced it is looking at the possibility of banning membership of gangs, tougher enforcement of the supposed mandatory five-year sentences for possession of illegal firearms, and lowering the age from 21 to 18 for this mandatory sentence.

Mr Blair's remarks appeared to put him at odds with Lady Scotland, a Home Office minister, who has argued that gun crime is a problem for the country as a whole and produced statistics to back up her view.

In 2004-05, there were 78 fatal shootings in England and Wales: 40 victims were white, 25 black, seven Asian. The figures do not record the ethnicity of the killers but, by and large, murderers tend mostly to target members of their own ethnic group. In 2005-06, there were 50 fatal shootings: 18 victims were white, 19 black and four Asian.

    Police call for tougher gun crime laws, G, 20.4.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2061735,00.html

11.30am

Third arrest over teenager's stabbing

Monday April 9, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies

Police investigating the murder of a 14-year-old boy stabbed to death by a gang in east London have made a third arrest, Scotland Yard said today.

Paul Erhahon collapsed in the street in front of his screaming mother after he and a friend were stabbed repeatedly in Leytonstone by a group of up to 15 youths, just before 8pm on Friday.

Today, a Metropolitan police spokesman said the latest arrest was of a 14-year-old youth. Officers are continuing to question two others, a 19-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy, in connection with the attack in the foyer of a block of flats.

Paul and his friend, who has not been named and who remains in a critical condition, had been cornered in the foyer.

They were found in the street, yards from where Paul lived. He later died in hospital, becoming the sixth Londoner under 17 to be murdered since the end of January. Boys of that age group are being shot or stabbed to death in the capital at the rate of one every 10 days.

Paul had been transferred to a new school by his concerned parents after "bullies" stabbed him last year, his aunt, Jackie Mustapha, said yesterday.

She said her nephew had been attacked last year after a "personal quarrel".

Mrs Mustapha confirmed that Paul's mother, Ivy, had been with him as he lay dying in the street. She said: "His mum was there kissing him, cuddling him, trying to see if she could revive him. They are a very responsible, loving, close family and they love their kids to bits."

Local teenagers said Paul was moved to Kingsford Community School - the same one attended by 15-year-old Adam Regis, who was stabbed to death last month.

Detective Superintendent Andy Dolden, leading the murder inquiry, said he was keeping an open mind about a connection to gang crime, but there were "no obvious links" with the stabbing of Adam Regis or the claims that Paul had been stabbed before.

    Third arrest over teenager's stabbing, G, 9.4.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2053182,00.html

Four teenagers charged over stabbing

Saturday March 17, 2007
Guardian
Duncan Campbell

Four teenagers have been charged with the murder of west London schoolboy Kodjo Yenga, Scotland Yard said last night. The youths, two aged 13, one aged 15 and a fourth aged 16, will appear at west London magistrates court today.

Another five people who had been held for questioning, aged between 13 and 21, were bailed to return to a London police station later this month.

The officer heading the inquiry into the fatal stabbing of the 16-year-old described it as "meaningless and despicable" yesterday. "This was a young man who had his whole life in front of him," said Detective Superintendent Vic Rae.

He said 40 witnesses had come forward. "At least 10 of them we believe to be significant," he added.

Kodjo, who was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was stabbed to death in Hammersmith Grove. Yesterday the murder scene was covered in flowers, tributes and messages to the dead boy.

One card, signed: "Love you loads. Your wife 4 life. Cookie", was attached to several photographs of Kodjo.

Kodjo's headteacher described the A-level student as "friendly, gentle and peaceful". Paul O'Shea of St Charles Catholic sixth form college in west London, added: "His teachers said that he was a pleasure to work with. He was a credit to his mother and wider family, to whom all the students and staff offer their heartfelt condolences. He was a fine young man and we will miss him greatly."

    Four teenagers charged over stabbing, G, 17.3.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2036210,00.html

10.15am

Officer who accused Met of racism

denied promotion

Wednesday March 7, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Vikram Dodd

A controversial senior police officer has failed in his bid for promotion to the highest ranks of the service, The Guardian can reveal.

Ali Dizaei this morning failed to become a commander in the Metropolitan Police. Chief superintendent Dizaei is a stern critic of the police service's record on race. This week he released a book in which he attacks the force for subjecting him to a four-year investigation after accusing him of corruption.

Mr Dizaei runs policing in a west London borough and is legal adviser to the National Black Police Association.

He was one of nine candidates for six vacant posts at the rank of commander. Some will see his failure to gain the promotion as revenge by the force for his critical book.

In his book, Not One of Us, he accused the Met of harassing NBPA members, and attacked those who subjected him to the investigation, which cost at least £3m.

He was suspended amid headline-grabbing allegations of drug use, corruption and threatening national security, but was cleared of minor criminal charges by a jury.

The Met's anti-corruption squad bugged his phones, investigated his bank accounts, tracked him to the US and set him several integrity tests which he passed.

Ch Supt Dizaei was born in Iran and holds dual UK and Iranian citizenship. The Met's investigation was branded a racist witch-hunt by supporters of Mr Dizaei. When he was suspended in January 2001, he was legal adviser to the National Black Police Association and helped officers sue forces for discrimination.

After his acquittal in 2003 the force paid him £80,000 in compensation. In return he dropped a racial discrimination case against the Met.

In a deal reached after pressure from the home secretary at the time, David Blunkett, he also returned to work with the Met declaring his integrity was intact.

    Officer who accused Met of racism denied promotion, G, 7.3.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,,2028346,00.html

1.45pm update

Man arrested over toddler murder

Tuesday February 13, 2007
Press Association
Guardian Unlimited

A 21-year-old man has been arrested over the murder and serious sexual assault of a two-year-old girl found dead in a pool of her own blood, police said today.

The child, named locally as Casey Leigh Mullen, was found at her home in Gipton, Leeds, on Sunday night.

A post-mortem examination was completed in the early hours of this morning but the results were being withheld for operational reasons, a West Yorkshire police spokesman said.

Two other men, aged 19 and 20, who were initially arrested on suspicion of murder, have been released without charge.

A Leeds City council spokesman said social services had been briefly involved with the family following an incident in 2005.

Neighbours today spoke of their shock over the girl's death. "They were just like any normal happy family," 23-year-old Kieran Jackson, who lives two doors away, said. "We are all shocked."

Describing the events of Sunday night, Keith Beaumont, 58, said: "There was a lot of commotion going on, and a lot of shouting.

"There were lads banging at the window, shouting and carrying on. The police and paramedics came and there was an ambulance. They brought the baby out and she was looking very ill. She was a lovely little girl. She was an angel ... she will be very sadly missed."

He said the girl's mother, named locally as 21-year-old Samantha Canham, lived with her partner, the girl and a three-year-old boy.

Sarah Pringle, 22, said she found the mother screaming hysterically when she went to investigate a disturbance at the house. She told the Sun she had attempted to resuscitate the child, who was bleeding heavily from her ears and nose, while they waited for an ambulance.

"[The girl's mother] went upstairs and all of a sudden I heard her screaming: 'She's dead, she's dead. Somebody's killed Casey,'" she said.

"I ran up to the bedroom and found Casey covered in blood. [The mother] picked her up and cradled her while crying uncontrollably. It was horrible. [She] was too shocked to give her mouth-to-mouth, so I did it while we waited for an ambulance."

    Man arrested over toddler murder, G, 13.2.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2011996,00.html

Four held over murder of boy, 15

Friday February 9, 2007
Guardian
Matthew Taylor

Four men have been arrested in connection with the murder of a 15-year-old boy shot in the bedroom of his south London home. Michael Dosunmu, described by police as an "innocent boy", was murdered by two gunmen who burst into his family's home in Peckham in the early hours of Tuesday.

The men, understood to be in their 20s, were being questioned at police stations in south London yesterday.

Detectives believe the killing may have been a case of mistaken identity.

Police said two men forced their way into Michael's house just before 1am in what they described as "a targeted attack". Michael's older sister was at home and gave first aid but he died in hospital. Yesterday well-wishers left flowers at the teenager's house as police continued the search for clues.

Michael's mother was on holiday in Nigeria at the time of the attack and his father, Rasak Dosunmu, was due to break the news to her when she arrived back in the UK.

Yesterday friends and neighbours described Michael as "quiet, gentle, honest and easy going".

The shooting follows another in Peckham at the weekend when a man in his 40s was shot dead and a second injured in the early hours of Sunday.

Another teenager was shot dead on Sunday at an ice rink in nearby Streatham.

Orando Madden, 23, from Peckham has been charged with the murder of Javarie Crighton and is due to appear at the Old Bailey on May 16.

    Four held over murder of boy, 15, G, 9.2.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2009324,00.html

Police hunting for gunmen

who killed boy in his bed

Wednesday February 7, 2007
Guardian
Vikram Dodd

Detectives were last night hunting two men who shot dead a churchgoing schoolboy in his own bed in what is believed to have been a case of mistaken identity.

The 15-year-old was shot in his home in Peckham, south London, just after midnight yesterday. The gunmen are believed to have forced the door to the house in Diamond Way, before shooting the teenager who was at home with his sister. She tried to save his life before calling the emergency services.

Police believe the house was targeted by the killers, but there were no clues from the 15-year-old's seemingly exemplary life to explain why he should have been the victim of a callous gangland-style killing.

The teenager regularly worshipped at the Celestial Church of Christ, in nearby Bird In Bush Road, and attended St Michael's secondary school, Bermondsey.

His parents were not at home, and he was found by his sister who heard the shots and the gunmen escaping. She found her brother bleeding in his bedroom and struggled in vain to save his life, talking to him as she waited for an ambulance.

The schoolboy, who had turned 15 on Sunday, was taken to King's College hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

On Sunday in south London a teenager was killed in front of scores of people as he ice skated in nearby Streatham.

Police yesterday said there were no obvious links to other killings in the Peckham area.

Detective Superintendent Gary Richardson said: "We believe the boy went to bed at around midnight. At this point we assume the suspects forced entry into the house. The boy was shot while he was in bed.

"This boy was not known to police. We believe he was a quiet, well-mannered schoolboy who went to church and was not involved in any criminality in any form. The sister heard gunshots and two men running out of the premises, and then discovered her brother in his bedroom.

"We believe he was able to communicate with her for a time after the shooting but obviously it's a dreadful, dreadful incident for her. She is distraught and she's with police who are trying to get a full account, but obviously it's very difficult."

A neighbour of the schoolboy said the whole community was shocked. The mother-of-two, who asked not to be named, said: "I knew the boy and I know the family. Everybody around here is horrified by what has happened.

"For him to be shot as he slept in his bed beggars belief. As far as I know he was a good boy. He went to church regularly and was always pleasant when I saw him in the street. This was just a child. What can he have done to deserve to be killed?"

The shooting just after 12.30am yesterday follows a series of recent murders in the area. On Saturday, a 21-year-old man was stabbed to death in the adjacent road to Diamond Street, Southampton Way. In the early hours of Sunday, a man in his 40s was shot dead and another injured less than a mile away in Flamborough House, Clayton Road. James Andre Smartt-Ford, 16, died after he was was shot at least twice at an ice rink.

A murder inquiry into the latest shooting has been launched by Scotland Yard's Operation Trident team, which investigates gun crime in the black community.

Peckham has tried hard to improve its image since the killing of 10-year-old schoolboy Damilola Taylor in 2000. That crime came to symbolise the extent of violence that was blighting certain parts of inner city Britain. He bled to death in a stairwell of the run-down North Peckham estate after being jabbed in the leg with a broken bottle. Yeterday's killing is less than a mile from the estate.

    Police hunting for gunmen who killed boy in his bed, G, 7.2.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2007400,00.html

Yard fury at No 10 over smears

January 21, 2007
The Sunday Times
David Leppard and Robert Winnett

OPEN warfare has broken out between Downing Street and the police over attempts by allies of Tony Blair to “coerce” detectives in the cash for honours inquiry.

Angered by senior Labour politicians who criticised the arrest of a key No 10 aide on Friday, police leaders and senior former officers yesterday openly accused the government of playing “Big Brother” politics by improperly interfering in a police investigation.

Len Duvall, a senior Labour insider and chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority which oversees Scotland Yard, said the behaviour was reminiscent of the government’s actions over the Hutton inquiry into the death of David Kelly, the government scientist.

He warned politicians including Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, and David Blunkett, the former home secretary, to “shut up” and “stop “whingeing and whining” about the police investigation. “No one in this country is above the law,” he said.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Duvall, who is also chairman of the Greater London Labour party, said Jowell, Blunkett and Lord Puttnam, the film producer and Labour donor who was ennobled by Blair, would look stupid when the police made their evidence public.

His intervention came after Blunkett, Jowell and Puttnam criticised police officers’ dawn arrest of Ruth Turner, one of Blair’s senior aides. They claimed the police actions were unnecessary and “theatrical”.

Four Scotland Yard officers arrested Turner, Blair’s director of government relations, at her home at 6.30am and questioned her about alleged breaches of the 1925 Honours Act and on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.

Sir Chris Fox, former president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said it was “suspicious” that the three senior Labour figures had all made similar points within a short time. He said the dawn raid was justified as normal practice for such a serious allegation.

“I find it really quite depressing if politicians are smearing or coercing or trying to influence a police inquiry which was instigated by an elected member of parliament in the first place and which the public expects to be straight down the line without any suggestion that politics is influencing it,” he said.

“It’s really important. If a chief constable can’t investigate without this sort of media, coercive pressure, I worry for a free democratic country. They should keep their mouths shut and await the answer.”

Some of the Met’s fury focused personally on Jowell, whose husband David Mills has faced a long-running police inquiry into allegations of bribery in Italy. Duvall said: “Others might say that Tessa Jowell ought to be very careful. Quite frankly, at one stage we could have been investigating her, or the Italians could have been. Talk about glass houses and all the rest of it. Others might not think her defence of Turner] would go down very well if she ever goes before a judge as a character witness.”

In comments which suggest for the first time that the police are confident that they have sufficient evidence to press charges, Duvall said: “They [the Met’s inquiry team] are not after a political scalp. People like Blunkett, Puttnam and Jowell ought to be very careful about rushing in to make any statements at this moment. At an appropriate time, stuff will go into the public domain that will justify the police’s approach.

“When information comes into the public domain they will need to reflect very carefully on what they have said in the past 24 hours. I think they are going to look f****** stupid. Quite frankly, this is a mess created by the people involved in the situation. This childish, ‘we’re being picked on’ [attitude] is like Big Brother.”

One Whitehall insider said that No 10 was “petrified the police were going to arrest [Jonathan] Powell”, Blair’s chief of staff and one of his closest confidants for the past 13 years. Powell has already been questioned under caution. The police have apparently also not ruled out the possibility of re-interviewing Blair, who was questioned last month.

The insider said that some of the aides in No 10 “were in deep poo”.

The source added: “The police think they have lied and lied
and now it’s coming home to roost. They believe the case is looking strong and they have very good evidence. Things are going to get even more difficult for the police and No 10 in the near future.”

Some Labour MPs warned that if anyone from No 10 were to be charged, Blair’s position would be untenable: “The mood in the PLP [parliamentary Labour party] is that as soon as one of the key players is charged, then there is no way out for him.”

The police are understood to be investigating e-mails and conversations between Blair’s most senior aides discussing which financial backers of the Labour party should be honoured.

Detectives have established that Lord Levy, Labour’s chief fundraiser who is on police bail, was party to these discussions, despite having no formal role in the process. They also have evidence revealing that Levy discussed peerages with at least one donor at “social functions”.

Friday’s arrest indicates police believe that Turner and, potentially, other key aides may have sought to conceal crucial information. However, the police actions have provoked a furious and apparently co-ordinated attack led by the prime minister.

One No 10 official said: “This behaviour does put the police in a bad light in public relations terms. This is trial by insinuation, when no one has been charged. It seems like a dramatic attempt to trawl for evidence.”

An insider close to Turner said: “It was totally out of order. It strikes me as old-fashioned intimidation and bully-boy tactics. They are behaving like the secret police.”

Blunkett said he was demanding “thoroughness not theatre” from the police inquiry: “The people who authorised it must have known what the reaction would be.” He added that they should “put up or shut up”.

Jowell said she was “slightly bewildered” by Turner’s arrest, saying Blair’s aide was “a person of utter decency and conscientiousness and I am surprised”. Puttnam, who is a potential contender to chair the BBC Trust, savaged the raid, saying that it was “the stuff of movies”.

Duvall, whose intervention is likely to have been authorised by the Met, compared the Downing Street offensive with the battle with the BBC over the Iraq war, which formed the backdrop to Kelly’s death and led to an inquiry by Lord Hutton. “It’s exactly what they did with Hutton,” he said.

“They think the best form of defence is attack. Actually the best form of defence for these people now is to shut up, co-operate fully with the police and clear this matter up.”

Duvall was backed by Glen Smyth, chairman of the Met’s Police Federation which represents 30,000 officers in London. He said the politicians’ comments were “particularly disturbing” and added:

“One is left with the distinct uneasy feeling that they are trying to influence this inquiry and encourage the police not to use their powers in the way they believe they should.”

    Yard fury at No 10 over smears, ToS, 21.1.2007, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2558281,00.html

Panic at No 10 as police get tough

The dawn arrest of the head of government relations
has upped the stakes in the tense poker game
between the police and Downing Street
over cash for peerages

Sunday January 21, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Gaby Hinsliff and Mark Townsend


It should have been a good day for an obsessive Liverpool fan like John Yates. But the detective leading Britain's most sensitive police inquiry had little time for savouring his team's 2-0 victory over Chelsea yesterday.

Yates was the man who authorised the arrest of Ruth Turner, the rather earnest daughter of a theology professor and, more importantly, head of government relations at Number 10, on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. The move has set the government and the Metropolitan Police at war. What began with four police officers banging on the door of Turner's flat in Waterloo at dawn now threatens to end in a constitutional standoff, raising fundamental questions about the relationship between politicians and the law.

Amid wild talk of a new Watergate, the big guns rolled out to defend Turner within hours of her release. Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, criticised the nature of the arrest, the ex-home secretary David Blunkett said he was 'bewildered' by it, while the Labour peer Lord Puttnam said detectives were turning the inquiry 'into a version of Big Brother', a drama played out in public.

Retired chief constable Chris Fox, who remains close to Scotland Yard, responded by accusing politicians of browbeating the police. And by last night, the row had come full circle with counter-charges that if the Met's deputy assistant commissioner is under pressure, it is from within his force as the investigation into the sale of political honours enters its ninth month without results.

For this is turning into a very high stakes game of poker. If anyone within Downing Street is nominated to face charges, Labour MPs are now threatening to force Blair from office. 'We have been up and down this hill before, but this time I think it really is it,' says one well-placed party source. Yet, if nobody is charged then Yates will be accused of trampling an elected prime minister's name through the mud for nothing. It could be even worse. If Labour loses the next election, his inquiry may have altered the course of British democracy. 'It could affect the outcome of the next election,' says Puttnam. 'And there's another factor - who is going to repair the damage to Ruth? Apologies are no good.'

The police have been accused of what one senior Labour source called 'mob-handed' tactics before during this inquiry: Lord Levy, Blair's fundraiser, complained of the 'media circus' surrounding his own arrest at a police station last year. That amused detectives, who thought Levy should realise he would be treated like any ordinary suspect; at Labour grassroots, there was not much more sympathy.

But Turner is different, and not just because she is a woman living alone who, say friends, was initially frightened by the raid. Even friends outside politics say she is being scapegoated. 'So she's the fall guy, is she?' said John Bird, the Big Issue founder who hired Turner as a volunteer straight from university. 'I just don't believe this. She was religiously straight - almost like a zealot.'

Scotland Yard, however, decided to act. Turner's arrest follows the arrival on prosecutors' desks last week of a fresh dossier from police, said to be the most compelling evidence yet received. Turner, who helped draw up a list of potential peers and liaised with them, is understood to have been questioned over what police believe to be missing correspondence and about dealings with the biotech tycoon Sir Christopher Evans. Her arrest may be the fourth - following Des Smith, the headmaster caught by an undercover journalist discussing peerages for academy donors, Evans, and Levy - but it is the first to trigger real panic among Blairites. When the woman described by one aide as 'if anything, a touch naive' is arrested, who is next?

And crucially, hers was the first arrest on suspicion of perverting the course of justice - a charge covering misleading or lying to police, or withholding information. Downing Street is reasonably confident the police cannot make charges of selling honours stick. But ministers fear obstructing the investigation is easier to prove, for offences that could fall well short of shredding files. Comparing notes with other witnesses on police interviews could, for instance, count. Suddenly, Downing Street no longer knows where the police are headed.

'You can't imagine how bad this is: we're all in the dark,' says one source close to Blair. 'To arrest an aide to the Prime Minister at dawn, that's not something you do if you don't have something.'

Turner herself dutifully turned up for work shortly after being released without charge around midday. But few now expect the trail to end here. If she did conceal something, did someone make her do so? If she didn't, and police are merely turning the screws to see if someone cracks, who is the real target? And critically, can Tony Blair survive much more of this?

It is the kind of knotty constitutional debate that, in other circumstances, Ruth Turner might enjoy. The daughter of Denys Turner, a theology professor now teaching at Yale University, she has inherited her father's love of dense philosophical argument. 'She always wanted to know what the meaning of anything was,' says Bird.

There is little in her background, however, to explain her current predicament. The other trait she inherited from her father was a strong sense of ethics. While her contemporaries partied, by 21 she was spending nights on the streets working with the homeless. After a brief unsuccessful attempt to become an MEP, she was elected onto Labour's ruling body, the National Executive Committee.

When Sally Morgan - Blair's former director of government relations - was elevated to the Lords in 2005 and recommended Turner as her successor, it seemed the perfect answer. Ferociously hard-working, Turner's religious upbringing also gave her common ground with Blair.

Nonetheless the job came with a cost. Turner had bought a house in Manchester and had a strong social life and a good career with time for the odd serious boyfriend. She traded that for gruelling work hours and the single life at 36. 'She sacrificed everything to come down to London. Now she just lives for work,' says an old friend. 'She's doing it out of belief and not furthering her own career. That's why those who know her are so shocked.'

Could even the straightest employee have been swayed by loyalty to others? In a rare interview five years ago, Turner admitted getting over-involved in work: 'I get exhausted, take on too much and then get worried about letting people down,' she said. Bird however rubbishes suggestions that she would have blindly followed orders. '[When I was her boss] she would tell me if she thought I was an arse, believe me.'

Nonetheless, she has been repeatedly contacted by police over the past few months and put under intense pressure. One colleague who saw her hours before her arrest says: 'She was looking rather white and wan, but then she usually does these days.'

Her boss, too, has seemed oddly distracted. Questioned by Sky earlier this month over his environmentally-unfriendly winter holiday in the United States, he retorted that it was 'impractical' to stop taking long-haul flights, an uncharacteristic misjudgement of the greening national mood. Then he refused to give an opinion on the Big Brother racism furore - leaving it to Gordon Brown, supposedly lacking the common touch, to connect rather more skilfully with the public by suggesting Britons vote to evict Jade Goody. Blair's reactions caused surprise. 'It makes you wonder if he just doesn't care as much now,' says one party aide.

The arrest has renewed questions about how Blair can continue in office, as he wishes, until June or even July. Could Labour enter May's Scottish elections, where the SNP has led the charge over corruption - its MP, Angus MacNeil, triggered the original police investigation - still led by Blair? What if charges against any of the people so far arrested were announced during the campaign?

Among Labour MPs, there is private talk of revolt if the police recommend charges against anyone close to the prime minister - and of a delegation appealing for Blair to quit early. 'The Labour party has got to be bigger than Tony or anyone else, and this is really, really damaging,' says one senior Labour MP.

Nonetheless, without support from Brown, attempts forcibly to evict Blair would probably fail - and the relaxed, smiling Chancellor on show in India this week appeared a man at peace with his role as leader-in-waiting, not one plotting a coup.

Turner, meanwhile, is said to have no intention of quitting until Blair does. As the police finalise their inquiry, that may be sooner than either expects.

Panic at No 10 as police get tough, GUtld, 21.1.2007, http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1995495,00.html

Inquiry:

Met should have prevented hit

Gun policy revamped
as investigation finds force
failed to act on intelligence

Wednesday January 3, 2007
Guardian
Hugh Muir

Britain's biggest police force has been forced to overhaul its entire firearms strategy after a confidential inquiry made scathing criticisms of its procedures.

The Metropolitan police has quietly conducted a comprehensive reform of the way it deals with gun crime intelligence and firearms incidents after Sir Anthony Burden, a former chief constable, found serious shortcomings that probably led to a man's death.

Sir Anthony was commissioned to investigate the background to the murder of Jason Fearon, 26, who was shot dead after leaving a nightclub in London three years ago. The case triggered widespread concern because police were warned four days before the shooting of a plot to murder Mr Fearon's associate. But they failed to stop the attack because officers at Scotland Yard and borough level miscommunicated and downgraded the intelligence, despite being told the time, the location, the motive, and even the types of weaponry likely to be used.

When the murder took place, there were only two unarmed officers near the scene. A marked but empty police car had been parked outside as a deterrent. The intended target escaped and was later offered police protection.

Relatives of the dead man now plan to sue the Met. Imran Khan, the family's solicitor, said: "They had a duty of care and they failed." An internal inquiry, supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, is under way and may lead to officers being disciplined.

Scotland Yard's firearms strategies were already under scrutiny following the shooting in July 2005 of Jean Charles de Menezes, the innocent man mistaken for a terrorist bomber.

In his review of the Fearon case, Sir Anthony, former head of South Wales police, said the murder would probably have been prevented "if a proportionate police response had been provided to match the threat level that existed".

As part of a new regime:

· Officers in charge of firearms incidents are being obliged to undergo more intensive training and to gain accreditation as proof that they are competent to handle such assignments.

· All specific "threats to life" must be referred to an officer of commander rank. During investigations into the Fearon case, it emerged that there was no central organising figure and that departments used different standards to assess the same piece of intelligence.

· Met departments have been obliged to sign a "memorandum of understanding" amid concern that some units have been reluctant to share information with others.

· Two 24-hour operations offices have been set up, one to coordinate officers engaged in territorial or borough policing and another for the serious crime directorate, which deals with major and organised crime.

The Met has been forced to devise a forcewide policy for dealing with intelligence. An operating procedure for "threats to life" has been created and placed on a database for officers to access.

Measures have also been taken to ensure officers can track what advice and intelligence has been shared and to ascertain where and when. It is known that some exchanges relating to the Fearon case were never recorded.

Annette Williams, 48, Mr Fearon's mother, said the force should have prevented her son's death. "If the police had done something with the intelligence, then he would not be dead."

Inquiry: Met should have prevented hit, G, 3.1.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,1981732,00.html