Tag: Police

  • UK Prime Minister  apologises for MI5’s role in murder of Ulster lawyer but wife slams report into police collusion in his murder

    UK Prime Minister apologises for MI5’s role in murder of Ulster lawyer but wife slams report into police collusion in his murder

    Pat Finucane

     

    • 38-year-old was shot dead in front of his wife and children at home in 1989
    • Report by Sir Desmond de Silva QC published today reveals the killing might not have happened without the involvement of security agencies
    • Widow Geraldine has repeatedly called for a full public inquiry
    • David Cameron admitted there was collusion between police and loyalists responsible for the killing but only ordered a review of the case

    David Cameron said the Government was ‘deeply sorry’ yesterday after a report into the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane found the security services colluded with the loyalist terrorists who killed him.

    A review of the case by Sir Desmond de Silva, QC, found the father-of-three would probably not have been executed by the Ulster Defence Association without the encouragement of British agents.

    Sir Desmond said state employees ‘furthered and facilitated’ the shooting of the 38-year-old, who was gunned down in front of his family in 1989.

    But his finding that there was no evidence of an over-arching conspiracy involving ministers or security chiefs to target Mr Finucane sparked calls for a full public inquiry.

    The widow of murdered Belfast solicitor Mr  Finucane slammed a report into his death as ‘a sham… a whitewash… a confidence trick’.

    Geraldine Finucane said Sir Desmond de Silva’s report was ‘not the truth’ and renewed her call for a full public inquiry.

    In a Commons statement today, David Cameron admitted Mr Finucane might still be alive had police and state agencies not colluded in his murder.

    The Prime Minister said the ‘appalling crime’ was the result of ‘shocking levels’ of state collusion and apologised on ‘behalf of the government and the whole country’.

    The de Silva review into the 1989 killing found that state employees actively ‘furthered and facilitated’ the loyalist murder of Mr Finucane.

    But the victim’s family have criticised the review, insisting only a full public inquiry will reveal the truth about his murder.

    The 38-year-old was shot in front of his wife and children at home by loyalist paramilitaries from the Ulster Defence Association in 1989.

    At a press conference after the review was published, Mrs Finucane accused the British Government of suppressing the truth while attempting to blame dead individuals and disbanded organisations while exonerating ministers, serving officers and existing security agencies.

    Mrs Finucane said: ‘Yet another British government has engineered a suppression of the truth behind the murder of my husband, Pat Finucane.

    ‘At every turn it is clear that this report has done exactly what was required – to give the benefit of the doubt to the state, its Cabinet and ministers, to the Army, to the intelligence services and to itself.

    ‘At every turn, dead witnesses have been blamed and defunct agencies found wanting. Serving personnel and active state departments appear to have been excused.

    ‘The dirt has been swept under the carpet without any serious attempt to lift the lid on what really happened to Pat and so many others.

    ‘This report is a sham, this report is a whitewash, this report is a confidence trick dressed up as independent scrutiny and given invisible clothes of reliability. But most of all, most hurtful and insulting of all, this report is not the truth.’

    Mr Cameron told the Commons said the review had found the Army and Special Branch had advance notice of a series of assassinations planned by the loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), but nothing was done.

    The review found a ‘relentless’ effort to stop justice being done with Army officials giving the Ministry of Defence highly misleading and inaccurate information, Mr Cameron said.

    Successive UK Governments are accused of a ‘wilful and abject failure’ to properly control secret agents within paramilitary groups.

    Mr Cameron said: ‘It is really shocking this happened in our country. Collusion demonstrated beyond any doubt by Sir Desmond, which included the involvement of state agencies in murder, is totally unacceptable.

    ‘We do not defend our security forces or the many who have served in them with great distinction by trying to claim otherwise. Collusion should never, ever happen.

    ‘On behalf of the Government and the whole country, let me say again to the Finucane family I am deeply sorry.’

    The review found no evidence that any Government was informed in advance of Mr Finucane’s murder or knew about the subsequent cover-up.

    Sir Menzies Campbell, former Lib Dem leader, said he had never heard a statement in the Commons which filled him with more ‘revulsion’.

    However, today Mr Finucane’s son John said he could not believe that there had been a public inquiry into newspapers hacking mobile phone messages but not into state involvement in the death of a British lawyer.

    ‘We’re talking about the murder of a lawyer in the UK,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

    ‘I rather flippantly announced last year that I thought it would have been easier if my father’s phone had been hacked rather than being killed. That’s not in any way to disrespect the victims of phone hacking.

    ‘But if we can have an inquiry into something as important as that, this case is the murder of a lawyer which the British government have admitted there was collusion, you don’t then deal with that, such a fundamental attack on democracy, by holding a non-statutory review behind closed doors.’

     

    Mr Cameron has apologised more than once for the collusion between police and the loyalists responsible for the murder.

    But Mr Finucane added today: ‘An apology is not in the correct running order. You don’t apologise for something but then not fully admit what it is you’re apologising for. I think that’s what the Prime Minister has done.’

    The Finucane are unhappy that in 2001 the British government agreed during peace talks to meet honour for public inquiries into deaths. Of five recommended, four were held but in Mr Finucane’s case it was rejected.

    Mr Funucane said: ‘The only case that’s outstanding is the case of my father. This review, we feel, is the embodiment of a broken promise of the British Government. We do feel that if they are sincere in dealing with this issue then they need to grasp this issue and they need to deal with it in a credible fashion.’

    The loyalist paramilitaries shot Mr Finucane 14 times as he sat eating a Sunday meal at home, wounding his wife in the process. The couple’s three children witnessed the attack.

    The former head of the Metropolitan Police in London, Sir John Stevens, has previously investigated collusion claims surrounding Mr Finucane’s death.

    Shortly after starting the new inquiry, the Stevens team charged former Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Branch agent and loyalist quartermaster William Stobie in connection with the killing.

    But in November 2001 the case collapsed and he was shot dead outside his home within weeks.

    In September 2004 a loyalist accused of murdering the solicitor pleaded guilty to murdering him. Ken Barrett entered his plea at the beginning of his trial.

    Prime Minister David Cameron, who ordered the de Silva review, will deliver a statement to the Commons

    In 2004, retired Canadian judge Mr Justice Peter Cory, asked by the Government to investigate cases of suspected collusion, concluded that military and police intelligence knew of the Finucane murder plot and failed to intervene. He recommended a public inquiry.

    That year, Barrett was sentenced to 22 years’ imprisonment.

    In 2004, then Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy announced an inquiry under new legislation introduced in 2005.

    The Finucane family opposed the Inquiries Act 2005, arguing it would allow government to interfere with the independence of a future inquiry because a government minister could rule whether the inquiry sat in public or private.

    As a result, plans to establish an inquiry were halted by former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain.

    In October 2011, the Government ruled out a public inquiry into Mr Finucane’s murder but put forward a proposal for a leading QC to review the case. That review is to be published today.

     

    Former Met Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens published the results of his four-year inquiry into Pat Finucane's murder in 2003. The report confirmed that rogue elements in the security forces were involved in a deadly plot with loyalist paramilitaries to carry out a series of sectarian murders in Northern Ireland
    Former Met Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens published the results of his four-year inquiry into Pat Finucane’s murder in 2003. The report confirmed that rogue elements in the security forces were involved in a deadly plot with loyalist paramilitaries to carry out a series of sectarian murders in Northern Ireland

     

    Daily Mail

     

  • UK Savile probe to investigate doctors

    UK Savile probe to investigate doctors

    JimmyInformation on three doctors who worked at hospitals where Jimmy Savile had links has been passed to police amid claims they were involved in a network of child abusers connected with the disgraced presenter.

    The Guardian said the trio were alleged to have abused young people in their care and were identified by victims who came forward in the last two weeks.

    Police are examining individuals who might have had access to vulnerable children, some of whom were associated with Savile, the newspaper said.

    The former DJ, who died last year aged 84, had a bedroom at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, an office and living quarters at Broadmoor and widespread access to Leeds General Infirmary.

    Since the allegations about Savile emerged the children’s charity the NSPCC said it has received 161 calls relating to him, which have been passed to police.

    A decision not to prosecute Savile over abuse allegations in 2009 will come under the spotlight again after the Prime Minister said Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer would review legal papers from the case.

    Surrey Police submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) containing references to four potential offences, including an allegation of indecent assault on a young girl at a children’s home, but it was dropped due to a lack of evidence.

    David Cameron told MPs it was essential that lessons were learned from the scandal of Savile’s decades of sexual abuse.

    Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, he said: “The Director of Public Prosecutions has confirmed that his principal legal adviser will again review the papers from the time when a case was put to the CPS for prosecution. The Director of Public Prosecutions specifically is going to consider what more can be done to alert relevant authorities where there are concerns that a prosecution is not taken forward. The Government will do everything it can do, other institutions must do what they can do, to make sure that we learn the lesson of this and it can never happen again.”

    Mr Starmer said the evidence was considered by prosecutors, but because the alleged victims would not support police action, it was decided not to proceed. As the number of allegations against Savile has snowballed, Mr Starmer asked the chief Crown prosecutor for the South East, Roger Coe-Salazar, to look at the files again. He concluded the correct decision was taken, although the files will again be reviewed “out of an abundance of caution”.

     

     

    Press Association

     

  • UK: ‘Missed chances’ in abuse scandal

    Social workers, police and the Crown Prosecution Service “missed opportunities” to stop a child exploitation ring abusing young girls, a report into the scandal has revealed.

    “Deficiencies” in the way children’s social care responded to the victims’ needs in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, were caused by “patchy” training of frontline staff, the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board (RBSCB) said in its review into child sexual exploitation.

    The review was ordered in the aftermath of a trial which saw nine Asian men jailed for grooming young white girls for sex.

    The picture which emerges from the report is one of vulnerable young girls, some as young as 10, who were being targeted for sexual abuse, being written off by those in authority who believed the girls were “making their own choices”.

    The review comes just days after The Times published a report which alleged that agencies in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, were aware of extensive and co-ordinated abuse of white girls by some Asian men and detailed a range of offences for which no-one has been prosecuted.

    Rochdale Council said it has used the review’s findings to implement a catalogue of changes and improvements.

    The report looked at how agencies including the council, police, NHS and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) worked between 2007 and 2012 to safeguard children and young people who were at risk of sexual exploitation.

    The report, which specifically followed the treatment of one 15-year-old victim, says: “While some organisations were consistently supportive in their response, overall child welfare organisations missed opportunities to provide a comprehensive, co-ordinated and timely response and, in addition, the criminal justice system missed opportunities to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

    The report also says: “Activity to disrupt alleged offenders was developing on the ground but this was not always followed through at a more senior level. The early investigations of crimes and the prosecution of alleged offenders were flawed.”

    RBSCB chairwoman Lynne Jones said: “We have responded to this review and improvements have been implemented. I believe organisations are working better together, sharing information to ensure children are protected and that perpetrators of these crimes are prosecuted.”

     

     

     

     

     

    Press Association

  • UK: Police face racism scandal after black man records abuse

    UK: Police face racism scandal after black man records abuse

    Old Photo

    Crown Prosecution Service reviews decision not to charge officers heard boasting of strangling 21-year-old black man

    Scotland Yard is facing a racism scandal after a black man used his mobile phone to record police officers subjecting him to a tirade of abuse in which he was told: “The problem with you is you will always be a nigger”.

    The recording, obtained by the Guardian, was made by the 21-year-old after he was stopped in his car, arrested and placed in a police van the day after last summer’s riots.

    The man, from Beckton, east London, said he was made to feel “like an animal” by police. He has also accused one officer of kneeling on his chest and strangling him.

    In the recording, a police officer can be heard admitting he strangled the man because he was “a cunt”. Moments later, another officer – identified by investigators as PC Alex MacFarlane – subjects the man to a succession of racist insults and adds: “You’ll always have black skin. Don’t hide behind your colour.”

    The Independent Police Complaints Commission referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service on the basis that three officers, including MacFarlane, may have committed criminal offences.

    The CPS initially decided no charges should be brought against any of the police officers. However on Thursday, the service said it would review the file after lawyers for the man threatened to challenge the decision in a high court judicial review. MacFarlane has been suspended.

    The inquiry began after the victim handed his mobile phone to a custody desk in Forest Gate police station and told officers he had been abused.

    Earlier, he had been driving through Beckton with a friend when he was stopped by a van containing eight police officers from Newham borough. London’s streets were flooded with police who had been drafted in to contain the rioting.

    The officers arrested the man on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs and told him he was being taken to a police station to be searched. After being taken into the van, the man was also arrested for missing a previous magistrates court appearance. No further action is to be taken in relation to the suspected driving offence.

    It was once inside the van and handcuffed that the man said he was assaulted by police. He described having his head pushed against the van window and said one officer placed his knees on his chest and began strangling him. “I couldn’t breathe and I felt that I was going to die,” he said.

    The man said he decided to turn on the recording facility of his phone after MacFarlane allegedly made sexually explicit references about his mother and telling him he would be “dead in five years”.

    In the recording, the man sounds agitated; he raises his voice to complain about his treatment and in places insults the arresting officers. The verbal exchange lasts several minutes.

    When the man tells an officer: “you tried to strangle me”, the officer replies: “No, I did strangle you.” The officer adds that he strangled him “‘cos you’re a cunt” and that the man had been “kicking out”. In relation to the strangling, the officer says: “Stopped you though, didn’t it?”

    Minutes later MacFarlane, who is white, begins abusing the man. After a period of silence, he can be heard telling him: “The problem with you is you will always be a nigger, yeah? That’s your problem, yeah.”

    The man reads out MacFarlane’s badge number and complains that he had subjected him to racist comments: “I’ll always be a nigger – that’s what you said, yeah?”

    MacFarlane replies: “You’ll always have black skin colour. Don’t hide behind your colour, yeah.” He adds: “Be proud. Be proud of who you are, yeah. Don’t hide behind your black skin.”

    Shortly before the recording ends, the man can be heard saying: “I get this all the time.” He then tells the officer: “We’ll definitely speak again about this … It’s gonna go all the way, it’s gonna go all the way – remember.”

    The man’s lawyer, Michael Oswald, said: “By his own efforts our client has put before the CPS exceptionally strong evidence and we share his astonishment that the CPS have reached a decision that no police officer should be prosecuted on the basis of that evidence. We do welcome their agreement to review that decision and we now await the outcome of that review.”

    The CPS initially said charges should not be brought against MacFarlane because the remarks did not cause the man harassment, distress or alarm.

    Grace Ononiwu, deputy chief crown prosecutor for CPS London, said: “Lawyers for [the complainant] have written to the CPS and asked us to review our decision. I have considered the matter personally and directed that all the evidence should be reconsidered and a fresh decision taken by a senior lawyer with no previous involvement in this matter.”

    Speaking to the Guardian, the 21-year-old was visibly shaken when recounting the ordeal. “It’s hard to explain, but it makes you feel like a piece of shit – it makes you feel not even human,” he said.

    “I was glad that I had it on the recording. I knew that if I had it saved I could show that I had been abused.

    “It’s not right. We’ve just got different skin colour – underneath it we’re all the same.”

    The Metropolitan police confirmed in a statement that it received a complaint on 11 August about alleged “racial” remarks and oppressive conduct.

    “These are serious allegations; any use of racist language or excessive use of force is not acceptable.”

    The force said it had referred the case to the IPCC and that one officer had been suspended.

    MacFarlane’s solicitor, Colin Reynolds, said: “The officer has been the subject of an investigation, has co-operated in that and been advised he is not to be the subject of criminal proceedings.”

    Estelle du Boulay, director of the Newham Monitoring Project, said: “Sadly, the shocking treatment of this young man at the hands of police officers – both the physical brutality he describes and the racial abuse he claims he suffered – are by no means unusual; it compares to other reports we have received. What makes this case different is the victim had the foresight and courage to turn on a recording device on his mobile phone.”

    She compared the incident to the case of Liam Stacey, a student who was jailed for 56 days for posting offensive comments on Twitter after the on-pitch collapse of the Bolton Wanderers footballer Fabrice Muamba.

    On Friday Swansea crown court rejected an appeal from Stacey, who used racist terms against other Twitter users.

    When the student was sentenced in a magistrates court on Tuesday a senior lawyer at the CPS, Jim Brisbane, said: “Racist language is inappropriate in any setting and through any media. We hope this case will serve as a warning to anyone who may think that comments made online are somehow beyond the law.”

  • Policeman shot dead in Istanbul attack

    Policeman shot dead in Istanbul attack

    Policeman shot dead in Istanbul attack: official

    16 June 2012 | 16:51 | FOCUS News Agency

    Home / Southeast Europe and Balkans

    19330d407c47460e9a0371adeb48934cIstanbul. A Turkish policeman was shot dead and another was wounded after unknown assailants opened fire on the officers in Istanbul, the city’s police chief said Saturday, cited by AFP.

    The attack occurred in the populous neighborhood of Gaziosmanpasa, located on the European side of Istanbul, police chief Huseyin Capkin told the Anatolia news agency.

    Both victims were rushed to hospital, where one died and the other was still receiving treatment, the NTV news channel reported.

    They were having lunch at a roadside restaurant when the assault took place, and witnesses reported seeing two attackers, a man and a woman, both dressed in black, according to NTV.

    Police launched a hunt for the assailants, who fled the scene.

    It was the second such incident in less than a week in Istanbul, after two gunmen opened fire on a police station with automatic weapons Wednesday. One of them was killed when police returned fire.

    Several armed groups, including Kurdish rebels and radical leftists, have carried out attacks in Istanbul in the past. Police are a frequent target for left-wing splinter groups.

    via Policeman shot dead in Istanbul attack: official – FOCUS Information Agency.

  • Social Media When It Counts

    Social Media When It Counts

    Dionne Waugh
    Dionne Waugh

    Different agencies have written a lot here at IACP about how to post, what to post and when to post, but I’m sure many law enforcement agencies still wonder, “How’s it really going to help me in a crisis?”

    Well, let me give you one recent example that just blew me away and made me even more proud of my community.

    This past Christmas Eve, we unfortunately had a double homicide. During the incident, the murderer escaped in a vehicle with a two-year-old child strapped in the backseat. The Richmond online community lit up social media like a fire with this information.

    Everyone, and I mean everyone, from local business leaders to people who regularly criticize the department, offered their help. They retweeted information about the child that we put out there and asked all of their own followers to retweet the information. They asked publicly how they could help; checked in with us for updates; and a marketing friend privately messaged me to offer a way to track the flood of such information via social media.

    They all waited on pins and needles right there with us that night, waiting online for that single tweet that the child was found safely. Mercifully, we were able to send that information out a few hours later.

    Everyone knows the police can’t be everywhere at all times. That’s why we rely on our community to help us solve crimes and find the bad guys. On Christmas Eve, I believe the thousands of eyes out there – reached via our established online community – helped us find this child.

    And a huge part of this incredible online response was because of the great relationships we’ve been building, both online and off, with our community. Yes, we gained about 200 new followers around that incident, but the most important aspect is that people knew to come to us first for the accurate information and they knew we needed their help.

    It all comes down to working together with your community and building up that trust account. We’ve been doing that bit by bit for more than three years now, so when incidents like this happen, our community responds with us. Without us even having to ask. That’s success.

     

     

    International Association of Chiefs of Police