Police corruption report: will anyone be held to account?
A highly critical report on the collapse of the country’s largest police corruption case is imminent but who is making themselves accountable?
It was commissioned by the director of public prosecutions when he and his team threw in the towel in the first trial of eight South Wales former police officers 18 months ago.
A planned second trial of four more ex-officers was abandoned. All were acquitted.
They were accused among other things of perverting the course of justice in the investigation into the 1988 murder of prostitute Lynette White.
Three men were wrongly convicted and freed by the court of appeal. DNA evidence eventually nailed the real killer.
Details of the report are not yet known. I understand 11 lawyers are named and a recent parliamentary question from the Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry revealed that eight Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) current or former employees were invited to respond to “certain matters”.
Ms Thornberry told Channel 4 News it is an extremely serious matter: “The CPS must be fully accountable for its conduct in this case.
“That means the director of public prosecutions must be available to take questions on the report. I would also expect all those criticised to be named unless there are very good reasons not to.”
The CPS won’t say if names will be redacted or not when it is published.
Given the debacle over the suppressed Care Quality Commission Morecambe Bay report how can not naming them be justified especially since they’ve been given the right of reply?
The collapse of this trial is regarded as so serious that the home secretary is now considering whether to hold a public inquiry.
Submissions made by the Cardiff three miscarriage of justice victim in their ongoing legal battle for such an inquiry include the paragraph: “it is accepted on behalf of the Home Office and the attorney general that in light of the nature of the events relied upon and the very considerable public concern that has arisen, it is necessary to establish where accountability lies in respect of those events.”
Questions to answer?
So you would imagine that when this highly critical report is published someone would make themselves accountable – and that would be the director of public prosecutions himself.
But it would seem moves are afoot to simply release the report without a press conference.
How can that be allowed?
This was not only the largest but also the most expensive police corruption case to go to trial in history. It cost at least £15m and took seven years to get to court.
The features of failure may well be a lesson to all in the criminal justice system, not least about the complexity of disclosure.
No Mr Starmer, you should not slip out the back door without addressing one of the worst examples of where the criminal justice system failed everyone.