British cops could face charges over men's wrongful murder conviction

Watchdog hands files on 14 officers to prosecutors after senior judges find 'serious perversion of course of justice'

Fourteen police officers could face charges after senior judges found a "serious perversion of the course of justice" in a murder case in which five men were wrongly convicted over a gangland murder.

Information undermining the credibility of the main witnesses was kept from defence lawyers in a case that the court of appeal described as "shocking" when it quashed the murder convictions. On Friday the Independent Police Complaints Commission said files would be sent to prosecutors on 14 police officers, including four of the most senior in Britain.

In 2008, five men were convicted and received life sentences totalling a minimum of 135 years for the murder of Kevin Nunes, who was taken to a country lane and shot dead in a drugs feud in 2002.

The prosecution case was left so flawed that the Crown Prosecution Service did not oppose the convictions being overturned last year by the court of appeal, nor did it seek a retrial. The court of appeal judgment demanded action against those responsible, with senior judges saying that they hoped "appropriate measures will be taken against those responsible for what appears to us to be a serious perversion of the course of justice, if those measures have not already been taken.

It is to be hoped that lessons will be learned from this shocking episode," the court said. The murder was investigated by the Staffordshire force and concerns led the court to ask the Criminal Cases Review Commission to investigate. Its findings led to an investigation ordered by the IPCC, which was and carried out by the chief constable of Derbyshire, Mick Creedon.

The Guardian revealed in 2011 that four police chiefs, who had served in the Staffordshire force, were under investigation by the IPCC. They are the chief constable of Gloucestershire police, Suzette Davenport, Northamptonshire's chief constable, Adrian Lee, the West Midlands assistant chief constable, Marcus Beale, and the Staffordshire assistant chief constable, Jane Sawyers.

They were issued with regulation 14 notices in December, informing them that their conduct was under investigation, a measure not meant to imply any wrongdoing. All four police chiefs have continued their duties since the IPCC criminal investigation began, and they have been interviewed under criminal caution.

Failings in the case were revealed by a senior detective turned whistleblower and concerned a key prosecution witness, Simeon Taylor, who claimed to have witnessed the murder of Nunes. In its judgment the court of appeal said the detective "states that there was a decision to deliver Simeon Taylor to court to secure his evidence. He believed that Simeon Taylor was promised a substantial cash reward in return for his co-operation. He believed it amounted to an inducement. Those involved in this included those responsible for the handling of Simeon Taylor."

Original report here

　

　

　

(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE or here