From UK Mail on Sunday: The great Sunshine Squad fiasco: Taxpayers face £500k legal bill for Met’s bungled probe in the Cayman Islands

Senior Scotland Yard officers were sent to Cayman Islands seven years ago
It came after Foreign Office asked the Met to investigate alleged corruption
Arrested a judge and suspended two local police chiefs but no convictions
Now-retired police chief who led probe being sued but Met to cover legal bill
By MARTIN BECKFORD

British taxpayers face a legal bill of up to half a million pounds over a disastrous undercover Metropolitan Police investigation into corruption in the Caribbean.

Senior Scotland Yard officers were sent to the Cayman Islands and their inquiry eventually resulted in the arrest of a judge and suspension of two local police chiefs.

But there were no convictions, the judge and police chiefs sued successfully for damages and the Met team were nicknamed the ‘Sunshine Squad’ when pictures emerged of them relaxing on the beach during the failed two-year operation.

Seven years on, the now-retired policeman who led the probe, Martin Bridger, is still being sued in England and the Caymans – and The Mail on Sunday can reveal that his legal costs of up to £448,000 will be picked up by the public after the Met agreed to keep paying them.

Last night one insider said: ‘I’m astonished that the taxpayer is still paying for something like this after all these years.’

The debacle began back in September 2007 when the Foreign Office asked the Met to help investigate alleged corruption in the Cayman Islands, which is a British Overseas Territory.

A team from the elite Directorate of Professional Standards, posing as estate agents, was sent on the 4,800-mile trip to look into claims that a deputy police commissioner was leaking sensitive information to a local newspaper editor.

Detective Chief Inspector Bridger, who had been commander of Lambeth borough in South London, was Senior Investigating Officer.

In March 2008, a Briton serving in the Cayman police, Stuart Kernohan, was suspended and later sacked. Six months later Judge Alexander Henderson was arrested by the Yard team and his office and computer were searched.

Neither was ever charged with any offence, and British judge Sir Peter Cresswell ruled Judge Henderson’s arrest had been illegal. He was awarded $1 million damages.

In May 2009, Mr Bridger and his 12-strong team returned home. In October that year an auditor found ‘significant deficiencies’ in the management and accounting of the police investigation, with the cost to the Caymans put at £8 million.

Since then the case has descended into a blizzard of lawsuits involving Mr Bridger, Mr Kernohan and the Cayman authorities, with criminal complaints, misconduct claims and employment cases lodged.

A spokesman for the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime said: ‘Payments have been made amounting to £180,000 and authorisation has been given in respect of further costs up to £268,000. This financial assistance reflects the Metropolitan Police’s support to an officer in respect of legal proceedings arising out of an overseas posting.

‘This latest sum is conditional upon Mr Bridger taking steps to bring these matters to a swift conclusion.’

Speaking about the saga earlier this year, Mr Bridger said: ‘I have done nothing wrong other than trying to expose the truth and to defend myself as best as I can.’

For more on this story go to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2707090/The-great-Sunshine-Squad-fiasco-Taxpayers-face-500k-legal-bill-Met-s-bungled-probe-Cayman-Islands.html