Archive for investigative practice
The Filkin report – background
In July 2011 there were perceptions that phone hacking at the News of the World was more widespread than had previously been identified, and that the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) may not have investigated these concerns thoroughly. The then Commissioner of the MPS and an Assistant Commissioner resigned.
In July 2011 the then Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson asked me to review the relationships between the MPS and the media. On the 13th of July 2011 the Prime Minister announced a Public Inquiry to be chaired by Lord Justice Leveson into the ‘Culture, Practices and Ethics of the ...
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Chris Jefferries who was wrongly accused of murdering Joanna Yeates informs the Levenson Inquiry that he was falsely accused of being a pervert, gay, bisexual and of being friend of a pedophile
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This story appeared in the Independent on the 8th November 2011
Police faced criticism tonight after it emerged that they had contacted any protesters arrested at recent demonstrations, warning them to stay away from any trouble at tomorrow’s march, despite many never having been charged with or convicted of any offence.
The Metropolitan Police Service said it contacted 450 people (click here to read the letter) who had been arrested at related demonstrations in the last 12 months, in a bid to prevent a return to the disturbances seen at last Winter’s fees and anti-cuts marches.
One of them, 17-year-old Tyler Perkin, attacked the move ...
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A report by Andy Bloxham in the Daily Telegraph published on 20th October 2011 says that police chiefs have ‘authorised undercover police officers to give false evidence in court’
Senior police chiefs authorised undercover police officers to give false evidence in court to protect their cover as environmental protesters, it was claimed last night.
Senior police chiefs authorised undercover police officers to give false evidence
The claims led to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary delaying a report into undercover police tactics at the last minute.
It had been due to be published today and was thought to be critical of the police.
Lawyers for a ...
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This article appeared in the Daily Telegraph on the 20th October (here)
When Alison Addison was accused of abusing the special-needs children in her care, she thought she would quickly be cleared.
The claims – that she had physically abused the children, used racist words and had sexual intercourse with the caretaker in her school’s pool – seemed too outlandish to withstand any scrutiny.
Instead, the teacher waited five years to be free of the slurs made by a colleague that ended the career she had loved for 24 years.
She was finally cleared by the General Teaching Council for England last month when ...
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This article by Mark Townsend appeared in the Guardian on the 9th October (here)
Police warned about rising risk of false confessions
Up to 20% of convicted criminals may have owned up to an offence they did not commit”’
Police need to be more aware of the danger of false confessions, according to a study that suggests that up to one in five convicted criminals may have pleaded guilty at some point to an offence they have not committed.
Gisli Gudjonsson, professor of forensic psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, said false confessions were a significant phenomenon of which the criminal justice system ...
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The Guardian have reported that that a supergrass was prompted and coached by Police in a case which was thrown out of Court
Read full story here
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This report appeared in the Daily Telegraph on the 18th September
A primary schoolteacher has been banned from working for allowing children to hug him.
Mark Pullinger, 41, was also accused of playing with a pupil by swinging her around by her arms.
Following complaints from colleagues, he was told that he had “failed to maintain physical boundaries with female pupils”.
Although there was no suggestion of any sexual motive, he was dismissed from the school where he had worked for eight years.
Parents campaigned to overturn the decision, saying he was an excellent teacher who had been unfairly treated because he is a man.
Yet ...
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Charges have been dropped against a nurse accused of contaminating saline at Stockport’s Stepping Hill Hospital.
Rebecca Leighton, 27, of Heaviley, was arrested by police investigating the deaths of several patients in July.
Greater Manchester Police have revealed they are investigating 40 cases of contamination including seven deaths.
Prosecutors said there had not been “sufficient evidence” for whether the case could go ahead. Miss Leighton said she had been “living in hell”.
‘Living nightmare’
Officers said Miss Leighton was released from prison on Friday afternoon after she was told by the governor at HMP Styal in Cheshire that the charges against ...
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A charity worker sacked after being the victim of false domestic abuse claims by his ex-fiancee was unfairly dismissal, a tribunal has ruled.
Patrick Clark was fired from Maxie Richards Foundation, based in Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire, following the allegations made by Joanne Lynch.
Mr Clark took the organisation to an employment tribunal after his ex-lover’s accusations were found to be untrue.
He has now won his case on the grounds of sexual discrimination and unfair dismissal following a hearing in Glasgow.
The tribunal ruled Mr Clark had not been given the same “credence” by the charity’s founder Maxie Richards ...
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The University of Bristol Innocence Project have recently made a submission to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission in response to its Statement of Reasons not to refer William Beck’s conviction back to the High Court of Justiciary.
The submission (in redacted form), UoBIP Press Release and the BBC Scotland coverage of the story also appear are on the ‘News’ section of the INUK website
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The Guardian have published (on-line) a transcript of a judge’s comments in one of the three cases in which the Crown Prosecution Service has been accused of withholding evidence.
It is well worth reading (here)
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There is an excellent letter by John MacCleod in the Scottish Review (here) poublished on the 10th August 2011 in response to the JIm Fairlie case which compares the rspoonse to the investigation of allegations in general and the investigations of how allegations of child abuse are investigated.
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The following article appeared in the Liverpool Daily Post on 2nd August
A Liverpool law firm has raised concerns over the consistency of information released under Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) checks.
It followed a number of cases in which decisions were found to be unfair when challenged.
CRB checks were introduced to help employers make safer recruitment decisions, particularly for posts involving contact with children or vulnerable adults, by revealing information about relevant past convictions.
The Supreme Court recently considered the case of a teaching assistant who was dismissed by her agency when a CRB check disclosed an alleged ...
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The Department for Education Have published new guidelines for Dealing with Allegations of Abuse against Teachers and other Staff – Guidance for Local Authorities, Headteachers, School Staff, Governing Bodies and Proprietors of Independent Schools. These can be accessed here
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The Department for Education have updated their statutory guidance for dealing with allegations of abuse.
About this guidance
This guidance issued from the Department for Education is statutory. This means recipients (including LEA’s, Schools, Govenors etc, must have regard to it when carrying out duties relating to handling allegations of abuse against teachers and other staff.
What legislation does this guidance relate to?
the Children Act 1989
section 175 of the Education Act 2002 (local authorities, governing bodies of maintained schools and institutions in the further education sector)
section 157 of the Education Act 2002 and the Education ...
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There is comprehensive coverage in the DAILY MAIL’s (11th July) on the Education Minister’s decision to axed Labour’s 600-page guidance on pupil discipline- which they claim confused teachers – and replaced it with just 52 pages.
The new guidance comes as figures from the Department for Education revealed that nearly 1,000 pupils are excluded for abuse or assault every single school day in England’s schools with soaring levels of attacks by pupils as young as five.
Major assaults on staff were found to have reached a five-year high after 44 teachers were rushed to hospital with ...
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This item has been taken from the Guardian Website (here) on the 6th July 2011
Eight former police officers fabricated a case against three men wrongly convicted of the brutal murder of a woman working as a prostitute, a jury was told on Wednesday.
The officers “acted corruptly together” to manufacture the case against the men they suspected killing of Lynette White in Cardiff in 1988.
Nicholas Dean QC, prosecuting, said the case was “almost entirely a fabrication” and the accusations were “largely the product of the imagination and then the theories and beliefs of police officers”.
The case is ...
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We are delighted to report that Richard Webster has announced that Orwell Press are due to publish a new book of his on false allegations later this month.
It will be titled Casa Pia – the making of a European witch hunt. The book describes as one of the largest and longest lasting peadophile rings scare their has ever been, and one which argulably has caused the most damage to the instititutions of the country in which it originated – Portugal.
The scandal involves allegations that a leading left wing politician, a lawyer, a doctor, an ambassador, and ...
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The attorney general, Dominic Grieve, will begin court action on Thursday against two tabloid newspapers over the way they covered the hunt for the killer of Joanna Yeates, the landscape architect whose body was found dumped on Christmas Day in a country lane near Bristol.
Grieve has instructed his team to launch contempt of court proceedings against the publishers of the Daily Mirror and the Sun because of the way they reported the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Chris Jefferies, Yeates’s landlord, before the arrest of Vincent Tabak, who later admitted manslaughter but denies murder.
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According to an article in the Daily Mail (1st May 2011) written by Angela Levin an expert Neuropathologist, Dr Squier, believes that at least half of all parents tried over shaken baby syndrome have been wrongly convicted. Read more
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The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee have stated that anyone suspected or accused of having committed a crime must promptly be given information on his or her procedural rights in an easy-to-understand language, said the Civil Liberties Committee on Thursday, in amendments to a draft law to protect defendants’ rights across the EU. To those who are arrested or questioned at a police station, this information must be given in a written “Letter of Rights”, to which MEPs added inter alia the right to medical care and the ...
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This item was first reported on the BBC website here
A man falsely accused of downloading child sex abuse images is still waiting for an apology from police eight years after lodging a complaint, an MP says.
The unidentified man from Stoke-on-Trent was arrested as part of a worldwide police operation.
His details came from a web pornography sale firm, but the man had reported his card stolen three years earlier.
Staffordshire Police said it was looking into the comments made by Stoke-on-Trent South MP Rob Flello.
The Labour MP told the House of Commons during a debate that the police sting, called Operation Ore, ...
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The CPSs have launched a consultation regarding the retraction of rape and domestic violence allegations.
“Individuals who retract truthful allegations of rape or domestic violence out of fear are less likely to be prosecuted under proposed new guidance for prosecutors on the offence of perverting the course of justice, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, said today. But individuals who make malicious false allegations should know they risk prosecution, he said.”
Full press release
Retracting rape and domestic violence allegations: ...
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The Inner Tempole have published a completely updated and revised guide to sources of transcripts
Title: Transcripts of Judicial Proceedings in England and Wales: a Guide to Sources
Author: Sally Mclaren (compliler)
Published by: Inner Temple Library, 2011
Available from February 14th as a PDF document. 165 pp
The guide is intended primarily for librarians and information services staff who may need to obtain, or assist others to obtain, transcripts of the proceedings of courts and tribunals in England and Wales.
A major feature of this new edition is its greatly expanded coverage of tribunals. It is hoped that users of ...
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