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History > 2008 > UK > Police (I)
Schoolgirl killer
suspected of four more murders
Police
reopen inquiries
after tracking handyman's movements
Wednesday
December 3 2008
The Guardian
Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent
This article was first published
on guardian.co.uk at 00.01 GMT
on Wednesday
December 03 2008.
It appeared in the Guardian
on Wednesday December 03 2008
on p6 of the Top
stories section.
It was last updated at 02.14 GMT
on Wednesday December 03 2008.
Police
forces across Britain have reopened a series of unsolved murder cases involving
young women after an itinerant handyman was convicted yesterday of raping and
killing a schoolgirl who went missing 17 years ago.
Peter Tobin, 62, was given a life sentence for murder after a jury found him
guilty of abducting, raping and murdering Vicky Hamilton, 15, who disappeared in
the centre of Bathgate, near Edinburgh, in February 1991. Her body was dug up in
the back garden of Tobin's former home in Margate, Kent, last year.
Detectives are understood to be re-examining at least four cases involving
missing girls and women after drawing up a detailed profile of Tobin's life and
movements since he was born near Paisley, Renfrewshire, in 1946.
Tobin is already serving life for the rape and murder of Angelika Kluk, a Polish
student. Her body was discovered bound and gagged under the floor of a Catholic
church in Glasgow in September 2006, where Tobin had been working as a handyman
under an assumed name.
Detective Supt David Swindle, of Strathclyde police, said yesterday that Tobin
had travelled extensively across Britain during his life and police were working
on "any potential links between Tobin's movements and outstanding missing
females or victims of crime". The detective said no house searches were planned
but that might change "should the intelligence and evidence warrant it".
Detective Chief Supt Malcolm Graham, head of CID at Lothian and Borders police,
told reporters before Tobin's conviction that police across the UK were
re-examining unsolved cases. There had been "information-sharing with a variety
of other forces throughout the UK", he said, and that would continue "to
establish whether Peter Tobin had committed any other crimes".
The jury in Dundee took less than two and a half hours to deliver the guilty
verdict yesterday. It was greeted with cries of "yes" from Vicky's family and
friends. Her father, Michael, shouted "rot in hell" as the judge, Lord Emslie,
sentenced Tobin to a minimum of 30 years in jail.
Lord Emslie told Tobin he was guilty of a "truly evil" crime, adding: "Yet again
you have shown yourself to be unfit to live in a decent society." He continued:
"It is hard for me to convey the loathing and revulsion that ordinary people
will feel for what you have done. Abducting and killing a child on her way home
from a happy weekend with her sister and then desecrating her body must rank
among the most evil and horrific acts."
Tobin was also convicted in 1994 of raping and sexually assaulting two girls
aged 14 and 15 at his flat in Havant, Hampshire, after he drugged them with the
sedative amitriptyline - the same drug found in Vicky's remains - and gave them
alcohol.
In a joint statement read out by her sister, Lindsay Brown, Vicky's family
thanked the jury, prosecutors and police. "Vicky was much more than a girl who
was abducted and killed by a stranger, or the girl on a 'missing' poster. Our
sister was a warm, clever, generous girl who shared many happy years with us.
"We will always remember Vicky as she lived, not as she died."
Vicky's dismembered body was recovered, wrapped in layers of plastic bags, from
a carefully dug pit in the garden of Tobin's former home in Margate in November
last year after Lothian and Borders police uncovered DNA evidence linking him to
her disappearance.
Forensic tests on Vicky's purse, which was found in Edinburgh shortly after she
disappeared, disclosed that Tobin's son, Daniel, then aged three, appeared to
have bitten it while staying with his father in Bathgate. Further tests on a
knife hidden in the attic of the house in Bathgate, found after police searched
the property last year, detected a fragment of human tissue that belonged to
Vicky. Four of Tobin's fingerprints were also found on one of the plastic bags
covering her remains in Margate, and partial DNA fragments similar to Tobin's
detected on her body.
Tobin had denied all the charges and claimed he had been in Portsmouth on the
day Vicky disappeared. His defence advocate, Donald Findlay QC, told the jury
there was "not one solitary scrap" of evidence that Tobin had met, abducted or
killed her.
Schoolgirl killer suspected of four more murders, G,
3.12.2008,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/dec/03/vicky-hamilton-verdict
Sir Ian
Blair resigns
as Met police commissioner
Met
commissioner says decision was forced upon him by failure to win support of
London mayor, Boris Johnson
Thursday
October 02 2008
18:08 BST
Guardian.co.uk
James Sturcke, Jenny Percival and Hélène Mulholland
This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Thursday October 02 2008.
It was last updated at 18:08 on October 02 2008.
Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police commissioner, today announced that he is
to step down after losing the support of the mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
Blair said he would have liked to continue as Britain's most senior policeman
until his contract expired in 2010. But he said that at a meeting yesterday
Johnson had told him in a "pleasant but determined" way that he wished to see a
"change of leadership".
"Without the mayor's backing I do not think I can continue in the job," Blair
told a news conference.
Johnson paid tribute to Blair's record in cutting crime in London but said it
was time for "new leadership" in the force.
The mayor said there was "no particular story or allegation that was uppermost
in our considerations.
"He and I agreed that this was an opportunity – with me taking over the
Metropolitan Police Authority chairmanship – for a clean break and a new start
for policing in London."
Blair has faced pressure to step down over a number of issues, most notably the
botched anti-terrorism operation in July 2005 which saw a Brazilian electrician,
Jean Charles de Menezes, shot dead by police who mistook him for a potential
suicide bomber.
Johnson's predecessor, Ken Livingstone, backed the police chief resolutely, but
the new mayor was always lukewarm in his support, making Blair's position
ultimately untenable.
Blair, who was appointed as commissioner in 2005, defended his record as the
head of the Met and said it was the duty of the commissioner to lead the force
"through good times and bad".
He said he would leave the job on December 1 after the home secretary, Jacqui
Smith, had "reluctantly but graciously" accepted his resignation.
Smith said she had accepted Blair's resignation "with regret" and paid tribute
to his contribution to policing at a local and national level, including cuts in
crime rates and tackling gun crime and terrorism.
"Sir Ian has always had my support," she said.
She announced that Sir Paul Stephenson – the bookmakers' favourite to replace
Blair - would serve as acting commissioner until his successor was appointed.
Smith will appoint the new commissioner after consultations with Johnson and the
Metropolitan Police Authority.
Livingstone criticised the way the commissioner was forced from office.
"I think this is a political decision and in that sense I regret it. The long
term legacy of this political decision will be bad for policing," he told Sky
News.
Brian Paddick, a former deputy assistant commissioner in the Met who ran as the
Liberal Democrat candidate for mayor, said it was a "sad day" for policing.
However, the shadow home secretary, Dominic Grieve, welcomed the news.
"We have been calling for Sir Ian to step down for almost a year," he said,
criticising "a serious lack of judgment about the leadership of the most
important police force in Britain".
Blair's decision comes after allegations in today's newspapers about
inappropriate use of public money in sharpening the commissioner's image.
The Daily Mail claimed this morning that Blair employed a close friend to give
him PR advice prior to taking the job. He denies acting improperly.
Blair's problems stemmed from a series of high-profile mistakes, most notably
his handling of the shooting of De Menezes in the wake of the July 2005 bomb
attacks on London.
He was criticised for an initial insistence that the shooting was "directly
linked" to anti-terrorism operations, despite widespread worries at the time
among other Met officers that an innocent man had been killed.
The family of De Menezes, who are in London for the ongoing inquest into the
27-year-old's death, said Blair bore "responsibility for the lies told about
Jean and the cover-up by police".
Outside the Oval cricket ground, where the inquest is taking place, De Menezes'
cousin, Erionaldo da Silva, said: "Ian Blair should have resigned three years
ago when he and his men killed the wrong man."
More recently, Blair has had to deal with two high-profile cases of alleged
discrimination by his force. In June, the Met's most senior Asian officer,
assistant commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, said he would sue the force for racial
discrimination and victimisation.
Sir Ian Blair resigns as Met police commissioner, G,
2.10.2008,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/02/ian.blair.resigns
12.45pm BST
Two
arrested over head found on beach
Friday
April 4 2008
David Batty and agencies
Guardian.co.uk
This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Friday April 04 2008.
It was last updated at 12:49 on April 04 2008.
Police
today arrested two Lithuanian men over the discovery of a woman's head and hands
on a beach in Arbroath.
Tayside police said the men, aged 19 and 40, were taken into custody this
morning but had not been charged.
Police have identified the dead woman as Jolanta Bledaite, 35, a migrant worker
from Alytus, Lithuania. Her father was informed today.
The head was found in a plastic bag by two sisters playing on the beach on
Tuesday.
Bledaite's employer contacted the police after she failed to turn up for work.
She had been in Scotland for about 18 months and shared a flat in Brechin, about
15 miles away, with eastern Europeans.
Police have been talking to members of the area's Polish and Lithuanian
communities to try to establish her movements in the days before her
disappearance.
Detective Chief Inspector Graham McMillan, the officer in charge of the inquiry,
said: "Whilst we have two men in custody, we will be working diligently to
establish the full circumstances surrounding Jolanta's death.
"I'd like to hear from anyone who knew Jolanta, or anyone who had either seen or
talked to her recently, to get in touch with us as they may have information
that is crucial to our inquiry.
"This is a tragic incident involving a 35-year-old woman, a woman who came to
Scotland seeking a better life. As the senior investigating officer, I am
determined to make sure that justice is served not only for Jolanta, but for her
family too."
Tayside police were liaising with the Lithuanian authorities and a police family
liaison officer had been assigned.
Two arrested over head found on beach, G, 4.4.2008,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/apr/04/head.arrests
Man
charged with abducting and imprisoning Shannon
· Uncle of
stepfather to appear in court today
· Police chief defends force against 'fantasist' critics
Tuesday
March 18 2008
Martin Wainwright
The Guardian
This article appeared in the Guardian on Tuesday March 18 2008 on p7 of the UK
news section.
It was last updated at 00:39 on March 18 2008.
A man aged
39 is due to appear before Dewsbury magistrates today, charged with the kidnap
and false imprisonment of nine-year-old Shannon Matthews. Michael Donovan, of
Lidgate Gardens, Dewsbury, was charged with snatching her off the street on
February 19.
Peter Mann, head of the Crown Prosecution Service's West and North Yorkshire
complex case unit, said: "The service has been working closely with the police
since the arrest of Michael Donovan, formerly known as Paul Drake, on March 14.
Having considered all of the material supplied by West Yorkshire police, we have
made the decision that there is sufficient evidence and have authorised that
Michael Donovan should be charged. We will continue to keep this case under
constant review."
Donovan had earlier appeared briefly before magistrates in Halifax, who gave
police a further 24 hours to continue questioning him. He lost custody of his
two daughters, aged 10 and 12, when his marriage broke up two years ago.
West Yorkshire's chief constable, Sir Norman Bettison, yesterday described as
"fantasists" those critics who claim to have pointed the finger at Donovan early
in the huge inquiry, unaware of his detectives' jigsaw puzzle of clues.
Shannon remained closeted with trained officers who are trying to establish what
happened during her 24-day disappearance, which ended last Friday. They are
trying to discover whether Donovan, an uncle of Shannon's stepfather, Craig
Meehan, abducted her on his own.
Shannon's 32-year-old mother, Karen, who has seen her only briefly since her
rescue from the storage compartment of a divan bed, was escorted twice from her
home on Dewsbury Moor by police family liaison officers yesterday.
Sir Norman visited the inquiry headquarters at Dewsbury police station, where 60
detectives were winding down the force's biggest inquiry since the hunt for the
Yorkshire Ripper 30 years ago. He said that he was amazed to have to defend his
officers publicly after the successful finding of Shannon. He was proud of an
inquiry "done by the book", in which officers interviewed 6,000 people and
searched 3,000 houses. He singled out for praise two detective constables, Paul
Kettlewell and Nick Townsend, who led the raid on Donovan's house after
neighbours corroborated suspicions raised by several tip-offs.
Sir Norman said that pieces of the jigsaw were completed when the two officers
were told by a neighbour of Donovan that she had heard a child's footsteps in
the flat where Donovan lived alone. He said that the detectives' persistence,
after initially getting no reply from the flat was "amazing and a matter of
pride for me, given that this was the 700th action they had taken since the
start of the operation".
Sir Norman said Shannon was being questioned gently in sessions of up to 15
minutes, with plenty of breaks. He implied she would not be returning home for a
considerable time, saying that she was "in the place where we think she's safest
at the moment, away from flashing lenses and the glare of publicity".
Man charged with abducting and imprisoning Shannon, G,
18.3.2008,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/18/ukcrime
Rape
cases: police admit failing victims
Senior Met
officer blames scepticism and inertia for low conviction rate
Tuesday
March 4 2008
The Guardian
Clare Dyer, legal editor
This article appeared in the Guardian on Tuesday March 04 2008 on p1 of the Top
stories section.
It was last updated at 00:54 on March 04 2008.
Police are
contributing to the "appalling" conviction rate in rape cases because officers
too often fail to take alleged victims seriously enough and settle for
mediocrity in their inquiries, the senior policeman responsible for raising
standards in rape investigations has told the Guardian.
The Metropolitan Police's assistant commissioner John Yates said detectives
don't apply the same professionalism to rape as they do to other serious crimes.
He blamed police for too often greeting complainants with scepticism and
inertia, and said officers "must absolutely accept the victim's version of
events unless there are very substantial reasons to do otherwise".
He added: "If you've just been through the horror of a rape and you've plucked
up the courage to see the cops and the body language is sceptical, the voice is
sceptical, what is that saying to you?
"First impressions count: is this person going to care for me; does the officer
believe me?
Yates, who leads on rape for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and
conducted the loans-for-peerages investigation, said: "We've got to get a better
understanding of how victims react: don't expect consistency, don't expect
victims to report right away, and don't expect victims to scream and shout."
Yates is trying to raise the professionalism of rape investigations to the same
level as that in murder cases amid a strong concern about low levels of rape
convictions that has prompted ministers to pledge to introduce reforms.
Proposals from the ministry of justice and the solicitor general, Vera Baird,
include giving juries information to dispel rape "myths".
Juries will be told that victims are often slow to report the attack to police
and may appear surprisingly unemotional while in the witness box. Victims will
also be allowed to substitute a videotaped interview with police for their
initial evidence in court.
However, while these reforms concentrate on the court process, Yates has been
urging improvements in investigations and police techniques.
He told the Guardian that standards had changed in murder and child protection
cases in the light of the Stephen Lawrence and Victoria Climbié cases, but it
should not take a tragic case to produce the same result for rape inquiries. "I
can't imagine anything more serious than this," he said.
The investigation of murder cases had become specialised and officers were
specially trained in CCTV, forensic recovery, family liaison and exhibit
handling. "But in spite of some excellent advances in some police areas, rape is
still seen in some areas as an omnicompetence to which you can turn your hand
because you're a detective."
Police had made "enormous advances" in investigating rape. "But it's still not
good enough", he said. "There are pockets of excellence but in many areas we
have been satisfied with mediocrity. Victims absolutely deserve the proper
professional caring service which is available in some parts of the country."
Only 5.7% of rape cases reported to police lead to a conviction and research
shows that attrition - or cases dropping out - happens at every stage from
initial complaint to trial. But Yates said the biggest attrition rate was with
the initial police investigation.
If inertia followed a complaint, "what was always going to be a difficult case
can often become an impossible one", he added. There was a "golden hour" after
which key evidence would be lost if action was not taken quickly. "Most of the
attrition and the best evidential opportunities occur in the first 48 hours,
even the first hour."
"There doesn't have to be such an appalling conviction rate. We can do something
about it," Yates said. But it would take "energy, passion, commitment".
A 2006 review of the handling of investigations by the police and Crown
Prosecution Service inspectorates found that frontline officers had received
"very little training in responding to rape offences" and few officers,
including some specialists, were aware of ACPO guidance on recording early
complaints from victims.
The inspectorates also found that early-evidence kits, for taking urine samples
and mouth swabs before a medical examination takes place, were used on just over
one-third of the occasions they could have been deployed.
He said every force in the country had had two visits from his team. "You've got
to drive it down from the top to the bottom. It is a leadership issue. We need
to have ambition around it. We need to up the game. We have a window at the
moment when people appear to be suddenly 'getting it'.
"We're looking at every possibility to push the boundaries back. However, let's
concentrate and get the basics right. Cases are often lost when the first steps
are not done properly, when the victim thinks the police didn't believe her or
inadequate attention is given to forensics."
He said it was not possible at present in every area to come up to the standard
set by the 20 sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) such as St Mary's in
Manchester or the Haven in London, which provide a holistic service for rape
victims along with forensic excellence.
But every area could be encouraged to provide the basic necessities: to do all
the medical tests and take all the samples needed, to provide female doctors and
to arrange for an examination place where the forensics would be secure.
Rape cases: police admit failing victims, G, 4.3.2008,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/mar/04/ukcrime.law
1.15pm GMT
update
Police
'failed to protect murdered couple'
Friday
February 22 2008
Guardian.co.uk
James Orr and agencies
This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Friday February 22 2008.
It was last updated at 15:39 on February 22 2008.
Joan and
John Stirland, who were shot dead in a gangland revenge execution in 2004
A couple murdered on the orders of a gangland boss had been offered inadequate
protection by the police, a report published today concluded.
John and Joan Stirland were shot dead at their seaside bungalow in Lincolnshire
a few months after fleeing their previous home when it was targeted by gunmen.
The pair, originally from Nottingham, were forced into hiding when Mrs
Stirland's son, Michael O'Brien, murdered a man connected to a criminal gang in
2003.
Eight months later, after beginning a new life in Trusthorpe, Lincolnshire, they
were tracked down to their new home and killed.
Today, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said police had
failed to take "structured action" to protect them.
"The report has concluded that the protection provided to Mr and Mrs Stirland by
Nottinghamshire police was below an acceptable level.
"They did not receive any professional advice on witness protection and their
care was left to untrained officers."
Nottinghamshire police had offered protection to the Stirlands on condition that
O'Brien's mother, 51, gave evidence against her son. Mr Stirland, 55, was
O'Brien's stepfather.
The couple declined to join a witness protection programme and instead decided
to leave their Nottingham council estate.
On the day of the murders, they called the police because a neighbour had
spotted a prowler. It took three hours for an officer to return the call, and
they were shot shortly afterwards.
The killings in August 2004 came less than a week after the death of Jamie Gunn,
nephew of the Nottingham crime boss Colin Gunn.
Gunn, 19, died of pneumonia having turned to drink and drugs after his friend
Marvyn Bradshaw was shot dead by O'Brien.
Colin Gunn, 40, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in June 2006 for conspiracy
to murder.
During the investigation of the Stirland murders, police found that corrupt BT
workers had given out details of where the couple had moved. As a direct result,
Gunn was able to track them down.
Today's report said: "It is accepted that the protection afforded to them (the
Stirlands) on the night of the shooting at their home was good and the advice to
move house was also sound.
"However, it was ill-conceived to allow them to leave Nottingham when their
destination was unknown.
"There is evidence that Joan Stirland was confused at the time and didn't know
what to do.
"The police should have closely managed their movements at that vulnerable time
by taking some form of structured action to reflect their vulnerability and
provided a degree of immediate support and protection, eg by accompanying them
to a hotel or place of refuge."
The IPCC commissioner Len Jackson said today: "It is important to note, however,
that none of the failings identified within the investigation amounted to
serious misconduct by any individual officer.
"These were errors of judgment which, if more robust information-sharing had
been undertaken across the organisation, may have resulted in different
decisions being taken by the officers concerned.
"That said, I cannot categorically say that even this would have changed the
outcome of events on August 8 2004."
The Crown Prosecution Service has said it will not charge any officers over the
case. Jackson said it was up to Nottinghamshire police to decide whether
individual officers were disciplined.
Police 'failed to protect murdered couple', G, 22.2.2008,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/22/ukcrime1
Thousands of police
march in pay protest
Wednesday,
23 January 2008
By James Tapsfield, PA
The Independent
Nearly
18,000 police officers from across the UK set off from London's Park Lane where
they were jeered by a small group of anarchist counter-protesters.
The unprecedented day of action organised by the Police Federation saw off-duty
officers walking through Westminster and Whitehall to protest over Home
Secretary Jacqui Smith's decision to delay a 2.5 per cent pay rise.
One protester, Pc Michael Ramsden of Thames Valley Police, said: "I feel we have
been lied to. We have no confidence in her at all."
Mick Powell, a West Midlands Federation Official, said 43 coachloads of officers
had travelled to the capital from his force alone.
He said: "Our message to the Home Secretary is that when you go through a
binding agreement, you should stick to it."
The Police Federation urged participants not to react to taunts from anarchist
groups.
Former Labour MP Tony Benn joined the marchers, who queued part-way up Park Lane
and back down to Hyde Park Corner as the march set off - a distance of about
half a mile.
Mr Benn said: "Seeing the police without their uniforms, you realise they are
just part of the community like everyone else.
"They are going to win this. It's clear that this is driven by Gordon Brown
telling Jacqui Smith what to do."
He insisted there was no contradiction in the police staging a protest march,
when they have been criticised in the past for the way they have policed other
demonstrations, particularly the miners' strike in the 1980s.
"During the miner's strike I used to welcome the police, saying that when you
are on a demo we will be there with you," Mr Benn said.
But Ian Bone, from London, one of the group of about 20 counter-protesters from
anarchist group Class War, said: "We remember what they did for other workers in
the 1980s - the printers, the dockers, the miners.
"If the media had not been here, we would have been clobbered by the police a
long time ago."
The counter-protest at the southern end of Park Lane was circled by about 50
on-duty police officers.
Thousands of police march in pay protest, I, 23.1.2008,
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/thousands-of-police-march-in-pay-protest-772668.html
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