A SERVING Bodmin police officer has been found dead in her car near St Austell.

Officers were called to Hornick Hill in High Street at about 9.15am on Saturday after concern was expressed for the welfare of the 46-year-old and they were notified of a car being parked in an unexpected location.

The body of a woman, believed to have lived in St Stephen, was found in the car. A police spokesman confirmed she was a police constable (PC) serving for Devon and Cornwall constabulary but said her family did not wish her identity to be made public at this time.

Inspector Robin Hogg said she was based at Bodmin and he knew her personally.

“Once we have a bit more perspective on the situation, and once the family has had more time, I will be happy to give a tribute about how good she was,” he told the Cornish Guardian.

At this time, there are not thought to be any suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident. Her family has been informed and police are preparing a file for the coroner to conduct an inquest into the death.

Local Cornwall councillor Des Curnow, who represents the parish of St Stephen-in-Brannel, said: “I’m very sorry this incident should have happened.

“Our sympathies are with the family at this time.”

Kim Wonnacott, St Stephen-in-Brannel Parish Council chairman, said: “It’s a great regret that such a traumatic thing has happened.

“Obviously, my thoughts go out to family members and colleagues.”

More details are expected to be released later this week.

Police officer found dead

A clutch of police forces is expected to hand the management of their cells to the private sector for the first time as they seek to meet stringent government cost saving targets.

Thames Valley Police, one of the UK’s largest, is set within weeks to announce the winner of the £60m to £80m competition to run its 600 cells for six years.

Six other forces – West Mercia Police, Warwickshire Police, Staffordshire Police, Gloucestershire Constabulary, Wiltshire Police and Hampshire Constabulary – have also joined the framework agreement on the outsourcing of so-called custody suites, where people arrested by police are processed and detained.

Private sector companies competing to win the Thames Valley contract include Capita, Serco and G4S and they are confident that the cuts to police budgets mean authorities will have little alternative but to outsource some areas, if they are going to reduce costs and preserve frontline services. Thames Valley Police declined to comment.

Andrew Haldenby, director of Reform, a think-tank, said: “The election of the police and crime commissioners put a break [sic] on outsourcing but there is now life in the market. It’s important that police forces are starting to club together to do deals.”

About eight police forces have already outsourced their custody suites. Reliance, which is now owned by Capita, had held the Thames Valley contract but the deal expired in April, since when the announcement of the new winner has been delayed.

Police outsourcing became highly politicised last year after the West Midlands and Surrey forces dropped a mooted £1.5bn deal, after concerns were raised about the inclusion of operational police duties such as patrols.

The election in November of police and crime commissioners, who have responsibility for procuring services, meant progress stalled further as the PCCs settled into their roles. However, a study by the University of Leeds found that fewer than a third of PCCs said in their manifestos that they opposed outsourcing to the private sector.

Companies argue that much of the political controversy is unwarranted and that the biggest savings come from administrative improvements rather than operational and frontline services. Staff costs account for about 80 per cent of police expenditure.

However, experts say the controversy may mean that police forces pursue smaller, less noticeable deals on a piecemeal basis. “In the new environment, police forces will do deals separately or in coalitions of the willing,” said Mr Haldenby. “Some deals may be relatively small but at least the market is opening up.”

Private sector providers have already been used extensively by some forces.

Lincolnshire police is expected imminently to publish a report on the first year of its 10-year partnership with G4S. The £200m contract involved the transfer of half the force’s civilian staff to the private security company, in a deal that encompassed the widest spectrum of services offered in a single contract by a British police authority.

But the deal had been preceded by smaller administrative ones. In June 2010, Cleveland entered into a 10-year outsourcing arrangement with Steria for the provision of IT, call handling, criminal justice and finance-related services.

Meanwhile, Hampshire already has a partnership with the Thames Valley Police that covers IT as well as dogs, firearms and roads policing. A recent report into police custody in Hampshire by the Ministry of Justice found that their cells showed significant signs of “wear and tear”.

G4S recently pioneered a new form of custody provision in which mobile units are delivered by crane and “bolted on” to existing cells. The system – now in place in Boston, Lincolnshire – allows forces to expand their custody capacity at short notice in response to events.

Police poised to hand cell management to private sector (…£)

This idea was suggested in Scotland during April 2008 but the response then from Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, was: “We don’t think privately run police custody facilities are any different to privately run prisons, and we don’t support them.”

The mother of police killer Dale Cregan and a police call handler have both been charged with conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office.

Anita Cregan, 56, and Kathryn Smith, 25, who works for Greater Manchester Police (GMP), were remanded in custody by magistrates.

A third defendant Sean Booth, 30, was also remanded in custody on the same charge.

All three will appear at Manchester Crown Court on 28 June.

A GMP spokesperson said Ms Smith had been suspended since 8 September 2012. An internal investigation has opened and will be completed once the criminal case is dealt with.

Dale Cregan was given a whole life sentence on Thursday for the murders of PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone and of father and and son David and Mark Short.

Dale Cregan: Killer’s mother on conspiracy charge

A police officer was heralded a hero yesterday after he disarmed a knife-wielding attacker at a mosque despite being stabbed in the chest and stomach.

The incident is understood to have occurred during the final prayer session of Saturday evening at the Washwood Heath Muslim Centre.

The 31-year-old officer was attacked after being called to the Birmingham centre where a mentally ill man had allegedly gone beserk attacking worshippers and shouting “don’t mock Islam”.

Three people had already been stabbed when the officer arrived.

He was confronted by a man armed with a large combat knife who bypassed officer’s stab vest to attack him despite being fired on with a Taser.

Despite his serious injuries, the unnamed officer still managed to take the knife off the man, understood to be of Somali descent, and wrestle him to the floor before arresting him.

The officer, who was helped by a female colleague, was then taken to hospital to undergoing surgery for his injuries, which are not life-threatening. Two other victims were also in hospital following the attack.

Police said the attack was not a hate crime and praised the heroics of the worshippers at the mosque for helping the police, including an off-duty surgeon who carried out “life-saving” first aid at the scene.

The alleged attacker was last night transferred to a mental health unit after doctors said he was unfit to be interviewed.

A neighbour said one witness heard the man shout “’I told you not to mock Islam” as he launched an attack on worshippers at the mosque on Saturday evening.

Chief Superintendent Alex Murray of West Midlands Police said: “I’d like to thank the brave officers for their heroic actions, as well as the people inside the mosque who acted extremely bravely despite being in substantial danger.

“There were people inside the mosque who needed help, police needed to act even though a dangerous individual was inside.

“As the male officer approached the suspect he deployed his taser, but it had no effect.

“The suspect then stabbed the officer in the chest and in the stomach, despite his injuries the officer and his female colleague wrestled the man to the ground, restrained him and made an arrest”.

The incident happened at around 11pm on Saturday at the Washwood Heath Muslim Centre on Washwood Heath Road, Birmingham.

Police arrived within minutes of reports that a man was stabbing people inside.

Local residents said they heard screams coming from the mosque and saw people running out.

Inside a 28-year-old man was stabbed in the arm, a 36-year-old man was stabbed once in the thigh and a third man suffered a hand injury.

Witnesses reported an argument breaking out between worshippers but the alleged attacker had not attended the mosque before.

Mohammed Yaasar, 31, a software engineer who lives nearby, said: “A man who had been inside the mosque at the time, said the attacker was shouting- ‘I told you not to mock Islam, I told you not to mock Islam.’

“Then he said the man went and washed his hands after stabbing the three men.”

The injured officer has been with the force since 2007 and had his family at his bedside yesterday.

Liam Byrne, a former Home Office minister, said the incident was “tragic, sad and isolated”.

Local resident Madaser Hussain said the atmosphere in the community was unpleasant following the incident.

“There shouldn’t be any bloodshed on the streets or anywhere,” he said, “we should be one community, really.”

Mohammed Shafiq, the leader of national Muslim organisation the Ramadhan Foundation, said: “Our immediate thoughts are with the victims injured and their families.

“It is too early to speculate on the circumstances of the stabbings but we must be clear there should be no place for this sort of violence in our country.”

Chief Supt Murray said he would examine why the Taser appeared to have no effect on the suspect.

Police officer a ‘hero’ after tackling mosque knife attacker despite being stabbed

See – Police Officer Stabbed In Mosque Attack

Britain only has a “relatively honest police force”, according to David Cameron.

David Cameron added that he was happy to bang the drum for British firms, or foreign firms with operations in the UK

The comments from the Prime Minister will inflame relations between the police and Government, already under pressure over “plebgate”, which saw more arrests on Saturday, and Government reforms.

Critics will say they demonstrate how far esteem for the police has fallen since the days when the TV series Dixon of Dock Green reflected people’s respectful view of them in the 1950s.

Mr Cameron made the criticism when he was asked about Libya’s progress towards democracy on Sky News’ Murnaghan.

He replied: “We sometimes take for granted this in the West that you have a relatively honest police force, you have a standing army, you have the institutions of government so things can get done. Some of these countries that were run by dictators literally had no proper functioning institutions of the state.”

Asked to explain if he meant to say “relatively honest police force” by presenter Dermot Murnaghan, Mr Cameron said: ” We do, of course, we do.”

Asked again whether he meant to say “relatively”, he added: “What I meant was I’m not saying everything in our country is perfect. Look we’ve had cash for questions problems in our Parliament. We have problems following all the Leveson stuff about police who’ve done bad things, journalists who’ve done bad things and so on.”

Asked then he was also referring to former Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell’s alleged altercation at the gates of Downing Street which resulted in his resignation, Mr Cameron said: “Of course. But I don’t want to get into all of that but of course all I was trying to hint in that answer is we should never say we have some sort of absolutely perfect system.

“The point I was making is we can sometimes not understand just how broken the institutions are in some of these countries.

“But on Libya I think it still can be a success story. We want to invest in that success because I think they can be a great partner for us in the future.”

David Cameron: Britain’s police are only ‘relatively honest’

A convicted thief is suing Scotland Yard for discrimination after she was turned down for a job as a police constable because of her criminal record.

Rachida Sobhi failed to inform the force that she had a conviction when she applied for the position but background checks disclosed her crime.

She then claimed she suffered from a form of amnesia which caused her to forget the incident, but no other aspect of her life, according to reports.

The case was initially dismissed at an employment tribunal but a senior judge subsequently ruled that her amnesia meant she was disabled when she filled in the application form and gave her leave to appeal.

The Met is contesting the claim. A spokesman said: “We believe the first hearing outcome was the correct one and will vigorously defend our position at all future hearings. We would not wish to discuss our position further prior to proceedings.”

Miss Sobhi, who is already employed by the Met as a Police Community Support Officer, is believed to be the first person with amnesia to have been declared disabled for the purposes of an employment tribunal

She was a cashier in a department store in Brixton, South London, when she was arrested with other staff for stealing make-up in 1991, according to the Mail on Sunday.

In August 2008, she applied to become a constable but when her fingerprints were taken as part of the process it emerged that she had a criminal record.

She received a disciplinary reprimand for failing to mention the conviction but applied again the following year and was again rejected.

Miss Sobhi filed a claim in the London Central employment tribunal “complaining of discrimination on the ground of her sex, her sexual orientation, her religion or beliefs, her age and her disability” against the Met and several individuals.

The Met is said to accept that she was suffering from “dissociative amnesia” when she applied for the job but will argue that she should have admitted “she did not know whether or not she had any convictions”.

They say her condition is irrelevant as she would not be allowed to become a constable with a criminal record.

Convicted thief sues police for failing to give her a job