Category Archives: In The News

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

The officer was stabbed as he arrived at a mosque in Birmingham where three people had been attacked by a knifeman.

Four men including a police officer have been taken to hospital after being stabbed in a mosque in Birmingham.

The police constable was responding to reports that three men had been stabbed inside the mosque in the Ward End area of the city when he was attacked.

The four are being treated in hospital for their injuries. They are all said to be “stable”.

A 32-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and is currently in custody.

A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said: “Police were called at 11pm on Saturday night to a mosque in Washwood Heath Road, Ward End, to reports of three men with stab wounds.

“Officers arrived at the incident and whilst the man was being detained, one police officer suffered a stab wound.

The scene of the attack

“The three people and the officer have been taken to hospital, all are currently described as stable.”

Officers are investigating whether the attack was a hate crime.

“We don’t know at the moment, it’s very early stages in the inquiry,” the spokeswoman said. “We can’t rule anything out at the moment.”

Mohammed Shafiq, the leader of national Muslim organisation the Ramadhan Foundation, expressed “deep concern” over the stabbings.

He 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. There will obviously be people who will try to take advantage of this tragedy but we must not allow them to succeed.”

Police are investigating whether the attack was a hate crime

A number of mosques have been targeted since the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby close to his barracks in Woolwich, south London, last month.

The killing also sparked a large increase in anti-Muslim incidents in the days that followed, according to the organisation Faith Matters, which works to reduce extremism.

In what were believed to be reprisal attacks, the Islamic Somali Community Centre in Muswell Hill, north London, was burnt to the ground while the Grimsby Islamic Cultural Centre was also targeted by arsonists who threw petrol bombs.

Last week, Muslim groups called on authorities to take serious action against the wave of anti-Islamic attacks.

In London, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe responded by saying extra resources would be deployed to sites deemed to be “at greatest risk”.

Video here - Police Officer Stabbed In Mosque Attack

A serving police officer and a member of the public were arrested in the “Plebgate” inquiry yesterday, prompting claims of a wider “cover up” by supporters of Andrew Mitchell, the Cabinet minister forced to resign over the affair.

A 48 year-old male constable in the Metropolitan’s Diplomatic Protection Group was arrested early yesterday on suspicion of misconduct in a public office.

It is understood the officer was on duty at the time of the Plebgate incident but police are still trying to establish if he was present in Downing Street at the time.

A 49 year-old woman, who is not a police officer, was arrested at a separate address on suspicion of assisting an offender.

They were being questioned by detectives at separate police stations yesterday.

The latest arrests were triggered by a letter sent by David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, which highlighted apparent discrepancies between the findings of Scotland Yard’s leak inquiry and a separate legal action.

Close friends of Mr Mitchell said the arrest of further suspects showed the Metropolitan Police’s original investigation had been flawed.

Only a “forensic” analysis of the evidence by outsiders showed important suspects had been missed, they added.

The development will put further pressure on Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Met Commissioner, who is already facing allegations that he broke his own rules by secretly briefing journalists on the findings of the inquiry.

He admitted no notes had been kept of a Press briefing in March which led to reports – now thrown into doubt by the latest arrests – that officers had not lied over the Plebgate incident.

Last night Mr Davis said: “I did what I thought any decent police officer would do and look at all the publicly available evidence in a forensic manner.”

Mr Mitchell, who was the Government’s chief whip at the time of last September’s incident, was forced to resign after he admitted swearing at officers on duty in Downing Street when they refused to open a gate for his bicycle.

It was later alleged that he had called the officers “******* plebs” – a claim that appeared to be backed up by official police logs of the squabble. But Mr Mitchell denied using the work “plebs”.

Supporters of the former chief whip claimed factions within the police had lied about his behaviour in a bid to “toxify” him, due to acrimony between police and the government over changes to their pay and conditions.

Friends of Mr Mitchell said yesterday’s arrests were triggered by a letter from Mr Davis to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) earlier this month which disclosed that a “supposed other witness” had emerged.

The letter was prompted by disclosure of legal documents in Mr Mitchell’s separate libel action against The Sun newspaper over its reporting of the Downing Street row. He is suing the paper for defamation.

Mr Davis told the IPCC, which is supervising Scotland Yard’s inquiry, codenamed Operation Alice, that a woman had telephoned the tabloid the day after the incident to provide a “slightly more garbled” account of the contact between police and Mr Mitchell.

However, CCTV images from cameras in Downing Street showed there were no women nearby at the time of Mr Mitchell’s confrontation.

Supporters said the “only logical conclusion” was that the telephone call was a “put-up job”. They added that there was now evidence of a “real conspiracy” and a “cover up” because there were now “two people masquerading as witnesses – one of them a police officer”.

The arrests bring the total made in the inquiry to six so far.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “As the investigation continues, officers continue to work closely with the Crown Prosecution Service and pursue all lines of inquiry.”

Plebgate: New ‘cover up’ claims as police arrest two more

Chief constables are calling for an urgent meeting with the Home Secretary over concerns that there are few checks on the powers of new crime commissioners.

Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, is calling for an urgent meeting with Theresa May

It follows the latest in a series of confrontations involving the new breed of political crime commissioners when Carmel Napier, chief constable of Gwent in South Wales, was abruptly ousted from her job.

She announced her sudden retirement last week after being told by the county’s independent police and crime commissioner (PCC) Ian Johnston that he would remove her from office if she did not go.

A note of the meeting was leaked, revealing that Mr Johnson told her: “My intention is not to humiliate or upset you but we need to be clear, I do want you to retire in the next month.”

Ms Napier’s dismissal comes two months after Neil Rhodes, chief constable of Lincolnshire Police, was reinstated when the High Court ruled that he had been unlawfully suspended from duty by his PCC.

The judge described the decision to suspend the officer as irrational and perverse, the Times reported.

Senior officers now fear that there will be more dismissals to come over the next three months as commissioners flex their muscles over the running of police forces by using a process known as a “stage two transfer” to seize extra powers.

There has been anger after some PCCs indicated that they want to take charge of internal anti-corruption units, IT teams and media departments, which chief constables view as essential police functions.

There was a turnout of less than 15 per cent across England and Wales when PCCs were elected last year.

Power over local policing was handed to the commissioners but every “stage two” agreement has to be approved by the Home Secretary Theresa May.

Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said last night that he and a delegation of senior chief constables hoped to meet Mrs May soon to discuss safeguards for their “operational independence”, according to the Times.

Sir Hugh said that although the vast majority of PCCs and chief constables were working well together, the clashes in Lincolnshire and Gwent showed how friction could undermine confidence in policing.

He said: “Police chiefs have to be able to make operational decisions unconcerned by the outcome in terms of their own personal circumstances.

“They must have the confidence that they can make a decision that might prove unpopular without running the risk that they could lose their job.”

But Lord Wasserman, an adviser to the Prime Minister on policing, said that the Gwent PCC had shown “political courage and leadership” in removing Ms Napier, adding: “If he had persisted with a poor working relationship, that would have been bad for the people of Gwent because it would have been bad news for policing in their area.”

The is also a growing sense in Whitehall that the idea of localism behind the commissioners was creating problems for the government’s drive to cut policing costs.

Last week, Mark Sedwill, the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, told a parliamentary committee that attempts to standardise equipment procurement and police uniform purchases were being made more complicated by different approaches.

Rein in crime commissioners, police chiefs tell Theresa May

The officer quit his job investigating the Jimmy Savile scandal to take up a place in the Channel 5 reality TV show.

Police have warned Channel 5 about the risk of having a senior police officer recently involved in investigating the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal in the Big Brother house.

An unnamed detective constable who had been working on Operation Yewtree – a special investigation into the former Top of The Pops presenter launched by the Metropolitan Police last year – up until very recently is set to enter the reality show tonight.

Scotland Yard has written to Channel 5 to warn about the broadcaster’s responsibility in connection with live investigations.

Channel 5 responded to say it had put procedures in place to ensure that nothing that might conflict with the investigation would be broadcast.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We are aware of reports concerning the proposed media appearance of a former detective constable.

“We have been in contact with Channel 5 and made them fully aware of potential risks and their responsibility to live investigations.

“All officers joining the MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] and leaving the MPS are required to sign the Official Secrets Act.”

The new Big Brother housemate reportedly quit his job with the force in order to become a contestant on the latest series of the reality show Big Brother which started with the first batch of entrants last night.

“Leaving the police force to go into the Big Brother house is a massive move,” a TV insider told the Daily Star.

“Their former bosses are going to be shocked about their decision to join the show and naturally will be worried about what might be said inside the house. This person has seen a lot of bad things while working on Operation Yewtree.”

The insider added: “They will know what can and can’t be said inside the house but it’s only natural for their housemates to want to try to get as much gossip as possible.”

The contestant reportedly told Channel 5 bosses that working as one of the 30 officers involved in Operation Yewtree had been “upsetting” and “draining”.

More than 400 lines of inquiry have so far been uncovered by police investigating the Savile scandal, relating both to the former television presenter, people he was connected to and unconnected “others”.

In January Channel 5’s Celebrity Big Brother had a brush with Operation Yewtree as Jim Davidson was arrested just days before he had been due to enter the house.

Of the 13 suspects arrested by Operation Yewtree so far two have been charged: PR consultant Max Clifford and former BBC driver David Smith.

An unnamed 65-year-old man and former BBC producers Ted Beston and Wilfred De’Ath have been released without charge.

The eight others, including Gary Glitter, Dave Lee Travis, Chris Denning, Freddie Starr, Rolf Harris and Jim Davidson, remain on police bail.

This year’s Big Brother has a “secrets and lies” theme and there will even be a prison inside the house.

The ex-Operation Yewtree officer is believed to be entering the Big Brother house on Friday night.

Scotland Yard warns Channel 5 about risk of having ex-Operation Yewtree detective in Big Brother house

Killers convicted in the Dale Cregan trial are to make whiplash claims over a prison van accident they were involved in on their way to court.

The collision happened shortly before 9.40am on a roundabout at the exit of junction 31A of the M6 northbound near Preston

Two prison vans ferrying defendants from HMP Manchester to Preston Crown Court for the high-profile trial collided on May 24, injuring one prisoner and four prison officers.

Damian Gorman, 38, a violent drug dealer and murderer, is among those in line for a payout from the taxpayer if he is successful in a claim for personal injury and “hurt feelings” after the crash part-way through the trial.

Gorman was found guilty for his part in the murder of Mark Short in a shooting at the Cotton Tree Inn, Droylsden, in May 2012 and the attempted murder of three others in the same attack.

A number of prison staff are also understood to be in the process of making claims.

The collision happened shortly before 9.40am on a roundabout at the exit of junction 31A of the M6 northbound near Preston.

It was the second time in eight days that vans containing the defendants were involved in a collision.

The prison vans in convoy had to travel close together so no vehicles could come between them on their daily journey to court with an armed police escort.

A prison source said: “The first accident was just outside the prison and not so bad, just a bump, but the second one was quite a bad accident. All the cons are going to claim, and about 12 prison staff.

“They are all doing whiplash claims and the prisoners are saying they didn’t know what was happening. They thought the van was under attack from the Shorts and want to claim compensation for fearing for their safety and hurt feelings.”

Cregan is not making a claim as he was not injured.

A Prison Service spokesman said: “We robustly defend all cases as far as the evidence allows.”

The compensation claims were attacked by MPs last night.

Priti Patel, the Tory member for Witham in Essex, told the Daily Mail: “This is an outright insult to the victims’ families.”

Killers in Cregan trial suing for ‘hurt feelings’ after prison van crash