First story from Private Eye

A recent article on the CIB3 anti-corruption squad of which Martin Bridger, who headed up our own fiasco Operation Tempura, was a part.

Grass stains

It finally looks as if Scotland Yard will be forced to investigate serious allegations of  illegality and wrongdoing which have long tainted its CIB3 anti-corruption squad -the so-called “untouchables”- and cost taxpayers many millions of pounds (Eyes passim).

Two detectives have already had their convictions for supplying drugs quashed after the supergrass testimony unravelled amid claims of threats, withheld evidence and malpractice by the anti-corruption squad. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is now expediting the case of three more detectives whose convictions depended on the same discredited supergrasses and tactics.

New evidence has now emerged in yet another anti-corruption case before the CCRC – that of former flying squad sergeant Eamon Harris, who in 2001 was jailed for seven years for theft and perverting the course of justice. Harris has discovered, among other things, documents and tape recordings of supergrasses claiming they were ordered to invent evidence against him and material suggesting courts were misled about a drug sting operation which allowed 26kg of seized cannabis said to be worth £160,000 -back on to the streets.

Harris has also complained that while in prison, the CIB3 squad used a police informant to obtain legally privileged information unlawfully in a bid to undermine his appeal and a second trial. The informant -a former Met detective who used the pseudonym “Joe Poulton”* *- befriended Harris and other inmates, offering to help them prepare their defences. He then passed on the privileged information to the police. On at least one occasion, “‘Poulton” was paid twice for his efforts by the taxpayer – from the Legal Aid budget as well as the anti-corruption squad.

When Harris first took his latest dossier of evidence to Inspector Knacker in 2011, he was told Scotland Yard was “not legally required” under the Police Reform Act 2002 to investigate complaints from one officer against colleagues working for the same chief constable. But last month the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said that was plain wrong and ordered the Met to look into his complaints.

Scotland Yard is still trying to weasel its way out by saying the IPCC should strike out most allegations because they are more than a year old -which ignores the fact that Harris initially complained back in 2001 and has been banging on the door since then. The IPCC, which has previously shown little interest in anti-corruption cases, appears to be taking the matter more seriously since Dame Anne Owers* took the helm earlier this year.

Some of the most senior officers involved with the squad during its unhappy history, such as John Yates and Andy Hayman, have already departed the Met for other reasons. But questions remain about who in the Met sanctioned the dodgy activities of the anti-corruption unit.

For more on this story go to the Private Eye website:

http://www.private-eye.co.uk/

** Joe Poulton was the codename for Derek Haslam – see iNews Cayman’s story of Sept. 17 “News of the World hired detective firm linked with murder to spy on Met Chief (Note: Bridger tie)” http://www.ieyenews.com/2012/09/independent-exclusive-news-of-the-world-hired-detective-firm-linked-with-murder-to-spy-on-met-chief-note-bridger-tie/

Derek Haslam is a former CIB3 officer who worked under Detective Chief Inspector Martin Bridger at CIB3 Operation Ethiopia.

*Dame Anne Owers appointed as IPCC chief

Former chief inspector of prisons to lead police watchdog the Independent Police Complaints Commission

The former chief inspector of prisons Dame Anne Owers has been appointed to lead the independent police watchdog.

The appointment comes after nearly two years in which the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has been without a permanent chairperson, and at a time when the organisation is involved in several high-profile investigations.

Owers, who was chief inspector of prisons from 2001 to 2010, said: “I am delighted to be joining the IPCC at this exciting time of change and challenge for the commission and the police service.

“The IPCC’s independent investigation and oversight plays a critical role in ensuring public confidence in policing, and I look forward to working with the commissioners and staff as they continue to carry it out.”

While chief inspector of prisons, Owers gained a formidable reputation and produced a series of hard-hitting, critical reports. She has recently been carrying out an inquiry into the reorganisation of the Northern Ireland prison service. She labelled the system in Northern Ireland “dysfunctional, demoralised and ineffective”, in a report last October judged by justice ministers as a “watershed”.

The appointment of the new chair comes after months in which the IPCC has seemed at times rudderless, with some insiders complaining of a lack of leadership. The last permanent chair, Nick Hardwick, left in April last year, and since then the organisation has faced some of its biggest challenges. It is currently involved in an independent inquiry into the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan last August, which sparked the summer riots. It is also supervising Operation Elveden, the Metropolitan police’s investigation into alleged police bribes – an inquiry that has seen it exercise its powers of arrest.

Owers’s appointment amounts to a straight – albeit very protracted – job swap with the former IPCC chair Hardwick, who took over as chief inspector of prisons in 2010 following his departure from the police watchdog.

It is believed that several other candidates were interviewed and rejected last summer. A second interview process in the autumn with a fresh set of candidates was carried out, but there were still long delays before any announcement by the home secretary could be made.

Owers will take an annual salary of £60,000 for the part-time role.

The home secretary, Theresa May, said Owers “has considerable experience of criminal justice and a formidable public reputation”.

As IPCC chair she would “challenge all parties to get to the truth and ensure that the organisation provides a fair, transparent and trusted service to the public and police”, May said.

Jane Furniss, the IPCC’s chief executive, said: “Dame Anne Owers’ experience of leading organisations based on independence could not be stronger.

“This, coupled with her wealth of knowledge from across the criminal justice system makes for an exciting new era for the IPCC.

“I welcome the appointment and very much look forward to working with her to build upon the last eight years and take the work of the IPCC forward.”

Deborah Glass, the deputy chairwoman of the IPCC, added: “This is timely, with the recently launched review of the way that we investigate our most serious cases, the work we are doing on police corruption and the increasingly high number of independent investigations we are conducting.”

Owers will take over from the current interim chairman, Len Jackson, and was appointed by the Queen following recommendations from the home secretary and prime minister.

Her strong human rights background includes roles as director of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, and co-director of Justice, the UK based human rights and law reform organisation.

Owers was educated at Washington grammar school, County Durham, and at Girton college, Cambridge. On graduating she went to Zambia to teach and to carry out research into African history. While taking time out to bring up her three children, Owers continued to undertake research as well as doing voluntary advice and race relations work.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/feb/16/dame-anne-owers-ipcc-chief

And even under the former Met head…

‘UNTOUCHABLES’OF THE MET DROP CORRUPT SUPERGRASS

Published in The Guardian July 1, 2011

The Metropolitan police’s secretive anti-corruption squad has dropped one of its top supergrasses after two years. The surprise move means the supergrass, the convicted former Met detective, Terry McGuinness, will now be sentenced for his own corrupt activities spanning six years. The decision last week that Mr McGuinness is no longer considered a reliable witness against serving and former officers is an embarrassment for the Met’s much-vaunted drive to root out bent coppers. The complaints investigation branch (CIB3) hoped Mr McGuinness’s evidence against his flying squad colleagues would bolster its faltering anti-corruption drive which has so far secured only seven convictions for major corruption in six years.

Earlier this month a Guardian investigation revealed that CIB3, dubbed the untouchables, was using discredited practices and is now the subject of three internal inquiries. Of great concern is the return of the controversial supergrass system where corrupt officers and criminals are offered inducements such as a reduction in sentence to be served in a safe house, a new identity and financial assistance when freed, to turn Queen’s evidence and implicate others in return. The loss of Mr McGuinness means CIB3 is now relying on two main supergrasses to underpin the anti-corruption drive.

Mr McGuiness, 41, has spent 27 months as a CIB3 supergrass with special privileges. Most of this time will be taken off the heavily reduced sentence he is likely to receive at the Old Bailey in 10 days’ time. He will earn two thirds off his sentence for pleading guilty in September, 1998, to seven counts of corruption, including conspiracy to steal and perverting the course of justice. Mr McGuinness served at the Rigg Approach flying squad office in east London from 1990 to 1997. He cultivated senior officers and before joining the flying squad served with detectives who are now in senior positions at CIB3.

According to a former CIB3 officer, Mr McGuinness and a fellow officer, Detective Constable Kevin Garner, were put under surveillance in 1995 following a tip-off from an informant inside the Met. Both officers were finally arrested during a CIB3 drugs sting in December, 1997. They were secretly videoed stealing £500,000 of cannabis placed by CIB3 officers in an east London flat. McGuinness and Mr Garner decided to “roll over”, and became CIB3′s first and most important supergrasses. They made self-incriminating allegations against more than 80 officers for various crimes, including the theft of recovered proceeds from a £300,000 robbery. CIB3 mounted a huge clandestine operation codenamed Ethiopia and suspended a large number of detectives.

But last year the crown prosecution service decided not to proceeded against them, thereby raising the first serious doubts about the value of Mr McGuiness and Mr Garner as witnesses.

A defence solicitor in a big CIB3 corruption case said: “The supergrass-informant system is completely flawed. The police try to clean up people who are mainly criminals and dishonest by presenting them as witnesses of truth in return for large sentence reductions and time in a safe house not prison. “The lesson is if you are going to commit offences do so on a large scale otherwise you are not in a position to trade when you are caught. That is unacceptable.” The third CIB3 supergrass is an even more controversial figure than the two flying squad officers. Hector Harvey is a professional criminal linked to various organised crime groups in London.

Commander Andy Hayman, the CIB3 commander, told the Guardian that Mr Harvey was assisting in forthcoming trials against Rigg officers, adding that he had pleaded guilty to 85 counts of armed robbery and related offences. But Mr Hayman will not disclose how many of these robberies were committed while Mr Harvey was a protected witness living in a safe house under a new identity provided by the Met. The figure is believed to be about 30. CIB Chief Superintendent David Wood said there had been no investigation into the handling of Harvey and he described him as a reliable witness of truth who had been “cleansed of his criminality”.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/mar/20/9

 

illegality and wrongdoing which have long tainted its CIB3 anti-corruption squad -the so-called “untouchables”- and cost taxpayers many millions of pounds (Eyes passim).

Two detectives have already had their convictions for supplying drugs quashed after the supergrass testimony unravelled amid claims of threats, withheld evidence and malpractice by the anti-corruption squad. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is now expediting the case of three more detectives whose convictions depended on the same discredited supergrasses and tactics.

New evidence has now emerged in yet another anti-corruption case before the CCRC – that of former flying squad sergeant Eamon Harris, who in 2001 was jailed for seven years for theft and perverting the course of justice. Harris has discovered, among other things, documents and tape recordings of supergrasses claiming they were ordered to invent evidence against him and material suggesting courts were misled about a drug sting operation which allowed 26kg of seized cannabis said to be worth £160,000 -back on to the streets.

Harris has also complained that while in prison, the CIB3 squad used a police informant to obtain legally privileged information unlawfully in a bid to undermine his appeal and a second trial. The informant -a former Met detective who used the pseudonym “Joe Poulton”* *- befriended Harris and other inmates, offering to help them prepare their defences. He then passed on the privileged information to the police. On at least one occasion, “‘Poulton” was paid twice for his efforts by the taxpayer – from the Legal Aid budget as well as the anti-corruption squad.

When Harris first took his latest dossier of evidence to Inspector Knacker in 2011, he was told Scotland Yard was “not legally required” under the Police Reform Act 2002 to investigate complaints from one officer against colleagues working for the same chief constable. But last month the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said that was plain wrong and ordered the Met to look into his complaints.

Scotland Yard is still trying to weasel its way out by saying the IPCC should strike out most allegations because they are more than a year old -which ignores the fact that Harris initially complained back in 2001 and has been banging on the door since then. The IPCC, which has previously shown little interest in anti-corruption cases, appears to be taking the matter more seriously since Dame Anne Owers* took the helm earlier this year.

Some of the most senior officers involved with the squad during its unhappy history, such as John Yates and Andy Hayman, have already departed the Met for other reasons. But questions remain about who in the Met sanctioned the dodgy activities of the anti-corruption unit.

For more on this story go to the Private Eye website:

http://www.private-eye.co.uk/

** Joe Poulton was the codename for Derek Haslam – see iNews Cayman’s story of Sept. 17 “News of the World hired detective firm linked with murder to spy on Met Chief (Note: Bridger tie)” http://www.ieyenews.com/2012/09/independent-exclusive-news-of-the-world-hired-detective-firm-linked-with-murder-to-spy-on-met-chief-note-bridger-tie/

Derek Haslam is a former CIB3 officer who worked under Detective Chief Inspector Martin Bridger at CIB3 Operation Ethiopia.

*Dame Anne Owers appointed as IPCC chief

Former chief inspector of prisons to lead police watchdog the Independent Police Complaints Commission

The former chief inspector of prisons Dame Anne Owers has been appointed to lead the independent police watchdog.

The appointment comes after nearly two years in which the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has been without a permanent chairperson, and at a time when the organisation is involved in several high-profile investigations.

Owers, who was chief inspector of prisons from 2001 to 2010, said: “I am delighted to be joining the IPCC at this exciting time of change and challenge for the commission and the police service.

“The IPCC’s independent investigation and oversight plays a critical role in ensuring public confidence in policing, and I look forward to working with the commissioners and staff as they continue to carry it out.”

While chief inspector of prisons, Owers gained a formidable reputation and produced a series of hard-hitting, critical reports. She has recently been carrying out an inquiry into the reorganisation of the Northern Ireland prison service. She labelled the system in Northern Ireland “dysfunctional, demoralised and ineffective”, in a report last October judged by justice ministers as a “watershed”.

The appointment of the new chair comes after months in which the IPCC has seemed at times rudderless, with some insiders complaining of a lack of leadership. The last permanent chair, Nick Hardwick, left in April last year, and since then the organisation has faced some of its biggest challenges. It is currently involved in an independent inquiry into the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan last August, which sparked the summer riots. It is also supervising Operation Elveden, the Metropolitan police’s investigation into alleged police bribes – an inquiry that has seen it exercise its powers of arrest.

Owers’s appointment amounts to a straight – albeit very protracted – job swap with the former IPCC chair Hardwick, who took over as chief inspector of prisons in 2010 following his departure from the police watchdog.

It is believed that several other candidates were interviewed and rejected last summer. A second interview process in the autumn with a fresh set of candidates was carried out, but there were still long delays before any announcement by the home secretary could be made.

Owers will take an annual salary of £60,000 for the part-time role.

The home secretary, Theresa May, said Owers “has considerable experience of criminal justice and a formidable public reputation”.

As IPCC chair she would “challenge all parties to get to the truth and ensure that the organisation provides a fair, transparent and trusted service to the public and police”, May said.

Jane Furniss, the IPCC’s chief executive, said: “Dame Anne Owers’ experience of leading organisations based on independence could not be stronger.

“This, coupled with her wealth of knowledge from across the criminal justice system makes for an exciting new era for the IPCC.

“I welcome the appointment and very much look forward to working with her to build upon the last eight years and take the work of the IPCC forward.”

Deborah Glass, the deputy chairwoman of the IPCC, added: “This is timely, with the recently launched review of the way that we investigate our most serious cases, the work we are doing on police corruption and the increasingly high number of independent investigations we are conducting.”

Owers will take over from the current interim chairman, Len Jackson, and was appointed by the Queen following recommendations from the home secretary and prime minister.

Her strong human rights background includes roles as director of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, and co-director of Justice, the UK based human rights and law reform organisation.

Owers was educated at Washington grammar school, County Durham, and at Girton college, Cambridge. On graduating she went to Zambia to teach and to carry out research into African history. While taking time out to bring up her three children, Owers continued to undertake research as well as doing voluntary advice and race relations work.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/feb/16/dame-anne-owers-ipcc-chief

And even under the former Met head…

‘UNTOUCHABLES’ OF THE MET DROP CORRUPT SUPERGRASS

Published in The Guardian July 1, 2011

The Metropolitan police’s secretive anti-corruption squad has dropped one of its top supergrasses after two years. The surprise move means the supergrass, the convicted former Met detective, Terry McGuinness, will now be sentenced for his own corrupt activities spanning six years. The decision last week that Mr McGuinness is no longer considered a reliable witness against serving and former officers is an embarrassment for the Met’s much-vaunted drive to root out bent coppers. The complaints investigation branch (CIB3) hoped Mr McGuinness’s evidence against his flying squad colleagues would bolster its faltering anti-corruption drive which has so far secured only seven convictions for major corruption in six years.

Earlier this month a Guardian investigation revealed that CIB3, dubbed the untouchables, was using discredited practices and is now the subject of three internal inquiries. Of great concern is the return of the controversial supergrass system where corrupt officers and criminals are offered inducements such as a reduction in sentence to be served in a safe house, a new identity and financial assistance when freed, to turn Queen’s evidence and implicate others in return. The loss of Mr McGuinness means CIB3 is now relying on two main supergrasses to underpin the anti-corruption drive.

Mr McGuiness, 41, has spent 27 months as a CIB3 supergrass with special privileges. Most of this time will be taken off the heavily reduced sentence he is likely to receive at the Old Bailey in 10 days’ time. He will earn two thirds off his sentence for pleading guilty in September, 1998, to seven counts of corruption, including conspiracy to steal and perverting the course of justice. Mr McGuinness served at the Rigg Approach flying squad office in east London from 1990 to 1997. He cultivated senior officers and before joining the flying squad served with detectives who are now in senior positions at CIB3.

According to a former CIB3 officer, Mr McGuinness and a fellow officer, Detective Constable Kevin Garner, were put under surveillance in 1995 following a tip-off from an informant inside the Met. Both officers were finally arrested during a CIB3 drugs sting in December, 1997. They were secretly videoed stealing £500,000 of cannabis placed by CIB3 officers in an east London flat. McGuinness and Mr Garner decided to “roll over”, and became CIB3′s first and most important supergrasses. They made self-incriminating allegations against more than 80 officers for various crimes, including the theft of recovered proceeds from a £300,000 robbery. CIB3 mounted a huge clandestine operation codenamed Ethiopia and suspended a large number of detectives.

But last year the crown prosecution service decided not to proceeded against them, thereby raising the first serious doubts about the value of Mr McGuiness and Mr Garner as witnesses.

A defence solicitor in a big CIB3 corruption case said: “The supergrass-informant system is completely flawed. The police try to clean up people who are mainly criminals and dishonest by presenting them as witnesses of truth in return for large sentence reductions and time in a safe house not prison. “The lesson is if you are going to commit offences do so on a large scale otherwise you are not in a position to trade when you are caught. That is unacceptable.” The third CIB3 supergrass is an even more controversial figure than the two flying squad officers. Hector Harvey is a professional criminal linked to various organised crime groups in London.

Commander Andy Hayman, the CIB3 commander, told the Guardian that Mr Harvey was assisting in forthcoming trials against Rigg officers, adding that he had pleaded guilty to 85 counts of armed robbery and related offences. But Mr Hayman will not disclose how many of these robberies were committed while Mr Harvey was a protected witness living in a safe house under a new identity provided by the Met. The figure is believed to be about 30. CIB Chief Superintendent David Wood said there had been no investigation into the handling of Harvey and he described him as a reliable witness of truth who had been “cleansed of his criminality”.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/mar/20/9