Perverse British police

They hate anybody doing work that they have failed to do. It shows them up -- and they hit back at any opportunity

Police have accused a Mail on Sunday reporter of criminal voyeurism after he exposed a top children’s doctor who was abusing Class A drugs just before he went on duty at an NHS hospital.

The award-winning journalist set up hidden cameras that captured Dr Colin Ferrie snorting cocaine and an illegal party drug.

But despite the reporter handing the footage over to detectives and offering to help with their case, West Yorkshire Police last week called him in for questioning as a suspect.

He was interviewed under caution at a police station on suspicion of voyeurism and supplying drugs, and even asked if he had made the secret film for his own sexual gratification. He denies the allegations.

Last night, experts said the highly unusual interrogation – which involved 107 questions – was an affront to press freedom and warned it would have a chilling effect on future undercover investigations.

Senior Labour MP Keith Vaz, whose Home Affairs Committee has criticised police surveillance of journalists, said: ‘It is important that safeguards be given to journalists when they are acting in the public interest.’ And Bob Satchwell, Chairman of the Society of Editors, added: ‘It is perfectly legitimate and reasonable for journalists to investigate wrong-doing. The police should support them in these endeavours.’

The Mail on Sunday’s lawyers have written to the Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders and West Yorkshire chief constable Mark Gilmore to express their ‘grave concerns’ about their handling of the case.

The DPP is already under fire over her failed £20 million prosecution of journalists whose newspapers had paid for stories.

Our lawyers accuse the authorities of a ‘heavy-handed and unco-operative’ approach to the ‘preposterous’ allegations against our journalist.

They have told the DPP: ‘It is intimidating to journalists and can only have a chilling impact on how they conduct their investigations, to the detriment of the public interest.’

The reporter’s caution comes after police used anti-terror laws to access this newspaper’s phone records after we exposed shamed former Cabinet Minister Chris Huhne’s attempt to evade justice for a speeding fine.

Ferrie, a consultant paediatric neurologist, had his drug habit uncovered after an MoS reporter was approached late last year by one of the medic’s acquaintances, who said they had met 20 times in a few months and consumed mind-altering substances each time.

The reporter was told that the senior doctor was going to visit a house in Bradford for a drugs binge one midweek afternoon, just hours before he began an on-call shift at Leeds General Infirmary where he would be giving crucial advice to other medical staff about how to treat seriously ill young people.

After The Mail on Sunday took legal advice, video cameras were placed in the home where the drugs were to be taken, with the full co-operation of the residents who were concerned that his illegal behaviour would impair his judgment when treating young patients.

Dr Ferrie, an expert in epilepsy, was filmed taking nearly three grams of cocaine with an acquaintance and multiple doses of the addictive ‘date rape’ sedative GHB.

He could be heard declaring ‘looking good, that’ after snorting a long line of cocaine and telling his acquaintance that he ‘loves to have a wee spot’ of ‘G’, which he bought in Manchester.

After our story was published in January, Dr Ferrie was suspended by the NHS trust, and West Yorkshire Police launched an investigation. When detectives contacted the MoS, this newspaper offered to co-operate fully in their investigation, while protecting our sources.

We supplied a dossier containing the relevant video footage and text messages, and 52-year-old Dr Ferrie and his acquaintance were later arrested. Then, at the start of July, our reporter was informed that he was also to face questioning as part of the same criminal inquiry.

Police said the move was suggested by the Crown Prosecution Service but the CPS denied this.

Although the reporter was not arrested and was told he could leave the interview at any time, he was questioned under caution after being read his rights – stating that anything he said could later be used as evidence against him.

Incredibly, he was told that he was being accused of supplying drugs and the ‘Peeping Tom’ offence of voyeurism – on the grounds that the hidden cameras may also have recorded Dr Ferrie having sex.

The offence, set out in the Sexual Offences Act 2003, refers to someone covertly watching intimate acts or nudity for their own, or another person’s, sexual gratification.

During a 90-minute interview in Leeds last Wednesday, the journalist was asked: ‘The camera was installed in the bedroom… was that done in any way for the purpose of your own sexual gratification?’

Cameras were placed in the kitchen and the bedroom because they were the two areas of the house where Dr Ferrie was going to spend his time, and focused solely on where drugs would be consumed. No sexual acts could be seen on the subsequent footage.

The journalist was asked by a PC if he had brought cocaine to the house. He had not and on the advice of a lawyer replied ‘no comment’ to all questions. A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police confirmed the interview was carried out under caution, adding: ‘This is an ongoing investigation and we are not in a position to comment further.’

A CPS spokesman said: ‘Police approached the CPS about inviting the journalist to take part in a voluntary interview to establish further facts, which we did not oppose.’

The drug-taking children’s doctor exposed by The Mail on Sunday has been allowed to quietly leave his job.

Dr Colin Ferrie was suspended on full pay by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust after the matter came to light. The General Medical Council also suspended him from practising while it considered a disciplinary case against him.

But it can now be revealed that Dr Ferrie has since resigned his post as a consultant paediatric neurologist at Leeds General Infirmary. A spokesman for the Trust told The Mail on Sunday that the resignation had taken place ‘recently’ and that he had not received severance pay.

Yesterday, Dr Ferrie’s solicitor said: ‘In light of the ongoing investigation, it would be inappropriate for Dr Ferrie to make any further comment.’

Original report here

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Black man who can’t pay bail has spent 6 years behind bars — but hasn’t been convicted of anything

Warren McClinton has now spent nearly his entire 4th decade of life behind bars waiting for trial, even though he has never been convicted of any of the crimes he’s accused of in the case.

The 48-year-old Las Vegas man is facing seven charges related to sexual assault. Last month, a jury threw out an eighth, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. The judge hearing his case, Eric Johnson, said he was "shocked" with how much time McClinton has been in custody.

"I am very interested in considering the issue of bail," the judge said, according to the Review-Journal. "I have real concerns with the amount of time he has been in custody. Frankly, when I got this case, I was shocked."

McClinton’s bail has been set at $130,000. He’s been fighting the charges since 2009, when a 14-year-old girl accused him of sexual assault. His attorney, Ozzie Fumo, told the Review-Journal that McClinton is innocent and that the case has already been dismissed, but prosecutors have nevertheless insisted on pursuing it.

"He’s just not guilty," Fumo told the paper. "He’s innocent."

A judge threw out an indictment against him in 2009 because prosecutors didn’t reveal DNA evidence linking two other men to the accuser. When the grand jury heard the case again with that evidence and testimony from the accuser, her mother and McClinton, they deliberated for 30 minutes before dismissing the case.

At this point, McClinton was free, but a short time later, prosecutors had convinced a judge there was enough evidence to charge him and he was again jailed, the Review-Journal reports.

In the six years he’s been jailed, prosecutors have tried to offer him two plea deals: five years to life, then two years to life. He refused both.

According to the paper, prosecutors insist on McClinton’s high bail because they consider him a flight risk. According to the Review-Journal:

Prosecutors argue that McClinton, who uses multiple aliases, four Social Security numbers and three dates of birth, is a flight risk. He’s been charged in Nevada, Illinois and Virginia with various crimes, such as domestic battery, driving under the influence of alcohol and unlawful possession of a firearm. He’s also failed to appear in court 39 times, prosecutors said.

But according to Fumo, most of McClinton’s missed court dates were due to system errors and were not his fault. For instance, after paying a citation at court, the ticket went to warrant 34 more times until it was corrected in the court computers.

In another instance, he was given only two hours notice that he needed to be in court. In yet another, he was in custody on a robbery charge that was later dropped when ordered to court.

His attorney described McClinton as "very frustrated" and called his high bail and continued incarceration "punishment prior to conviction."

McClinton isn’t the only person who has spent years locked up without a conviction.

Kalief Browder spent three years jailed at Rikers in solitary confinement after being accused of stealing a backpack at 16, the New York Times reports. Browder committed suicide last month.

Original report here

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Ex-con gets $1 million settlement after suffering six-day erection in solitary jail cell

A former inmate who was forced to suffer through a painful six-day erection which left him impotent, has been handed a $US750,000 ($1 million) settlement.

The New York Post reports that the hefty payout amounts to $US125,000 for each day of hard time served by Rodney Cotton, 51, who said he was treated "worse than a dog" at the Manhattan Detention Complex while enduring the uncomfortable side effect of an antidepressant medication.

Cotton said the lack of medical attention rendered him impotent.

"It just started hurting," Cotton told The New York Post on Monday of his ordeal, which began on July 4, 2011, near the start of a 2.5-year sentence for a parole violation. "And I’m like, what the hell is going on? It wasn’t going down."

Cotton had asked to be taken to a jail clinic, but a guard at the facility, known as The Tombs, told him he’d have to wait until after the holiday weekend.

Desperate, Cotton faked chest pains to get a doctor to see him, only to be given ice packs and Tylenol.

Days later, he was finally taken to Bellevue Hospital, and underwent surgery to relieve the swelling. The doctors said the stitches would dissolve on their own. They didn’t, he claims.

The stitches had become embedded in the skin, and no anaesthetic was used when they were being removed, Cotton said in his Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.

Doctors said a lasting erection is a side effect of Risperdal, and a warning about it is listed on the website of the manufacturer, Janssen.

Cotton said he started taking Risperdal in 2003, the year after he finished a 12-year prison stint for manslaughter for killing a man during a 1989 fight over a sheepskin coat.

Now he’s going to take his money and move to Atlanta, Georgia, to be closer to his daughter. "I can’t fix my situation, but I can soothe it," he said.

A spokesman for the city’s Law Department, Nicholas Paolucci, said, "Settling this case was in the best interest of the city."

In the meantime, New York City has ended its contract with Corizon, the for-profit health care company that has drawn fire for the way it treated inmates such as Cotton.

Original report here

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Michael Barrymore is suing police who arrested him for allegedly murdering Stuart Lubbock

Arresting people on speculation is certainly reprehensible and allowing it to become public is more so. This guy was not even charged, let alone taken to trial

Michael Barrymore is suing police who arrested him for allegedly murdering a man who died in his swimming pool at a party in 2001 because it 'damaged his career'.

The former TV star was arrested following the death of Stuart Lubbock after he was found floating in a pool at Barrymore's then home in Roydon, Essex.

According to forensic reports father-of-two Mr Lubbock, 31, was violently sexually assaulted before he died.

He had met Barrymore at a nightclub in Harlow, Essex, earlier that evening before going back to his house for an all-night party.

Barrymore, 63, fled the scene after the death, later claiming he had panicked and wasn't trying to hide.

The former Strike It Lucky host refused to answer any questions about the tragedy at an inquest, after taking legal advice.

The inquest heard traces of cocaine, ecstasy and alcohol were in the victim's body.

Barrymore - whose real name is Michael Parker - was one of four men arrested on suspicion of serious sexual assault and murder in 2008 following a review of the police investigation, but all were later released without charge.

He is now seeking damages for the harm to his reputation and money-spinning career which collapsed.

In 2002 ITV failed to renew the entertainer's £2million a year contract. He moved to New Zealand, filed for bankruptcy after a £1million-plus tax demand and later tried to resurrect his career in Britain by appearing in Celebrity Big Brother in 2006.

Since then he has largely disappeared from TV, turning up only a few times on obscure shows, before featuring in a one-hour long Jeremy Kyle Show special on ITV in June 2014 when he insisted he had been 'clean' of alcohol and drugs for three years.

He was working in a garden centre and doing odd-job building work near his home in Essex.

Essex Police said: 'As civil proceedings are currently ongoing it would be inappropriate for Essex Police to comment.'

Original report here

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Jamaican woman who misidentified rapist won't testify

A woman who was raped in Rochester in 1976 and wrongly identified her attacker will not have to testify in a civil trial, attorneys have decided.

Frederick "Freddie" Peacock, a Rochester man who suffered from severe mental illness and spent nearly three decades fighting his rape conviction, is suing the city of Rochester for his wrongful imprisonment. A rape victim identified him in 1976 as her attacker, but in 2010, DNA evidence proved he did not commit the crime.

Peacock, who suffers from schizophrenia, lived in the same apartment building as the victim. Police say he confessed to the crime, but his attorneys have maintained that Peacock spent more than two hours denying his involvement before his alleged admission.

In that admission, attorneys say, Peacock could provide no specific details about the sexual assault.

Lawyers for Peacock have been deposing witnesses in the civil case, and had the rape victim on a list of possible witnesses. Attorneys for the woman opposed the testimony, saying she could provide no more information than she did in 1976 and at the 1977 trial.

At the time of the crime, the victim was 24 and had recently moved to Rochester from Jamaica. The woman is now a grandmother and "has always believed Mr. Peacock was responsible for the rape," Buffalo-based attorney Carol Heckman, who was appointed to represent the victim, wrote in court papers.

"Requiring (the victim) to attend the deposition would more than inconvenience her," Heckman wrote in a request that a judge block the deposition. "It would impose a severe emotional and psychological burden."

A hearing was scheduled this week on the issue, but attorneys reached a resolution on Wednesday.

Local attorney Donald Thompson, a lawyer for Peacock, said the lawyers agreed to use the victim's testimony from the 1977 trial.

Thompson collaborated with the New York City-based Innocence Project, which uses genetic evidence to examine possible wrongful conviction cases, to exonerate Peacock. Peacock was the 250th person to be exonerated by DNA evidence, Innocence Project officials said in 2010.

Peacock was imprisoned for more than five years, then spent years afterward filing legal motions arguing that he was wrongly convicted. He lost six appeals before the Innocence Project intervened and the Monroe County District Attorney's Office agreed to test genetic evidence in the case.

Original report here

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Judge Orders Government to Return $167,000 Seized From Motorhome Driver Visiting His Girlfriend

A federal judge in Nevada has ordered the government to return $167,000 that was seized from a man driving his motorhome on a highway two years ago. The man, Straughn Gorman, was traveling to visit his girlfriend. He was never charged with a crime.

The seizure originally occurred in January 2013, when Gorman was driving his motorhome from Delaware to visit his girlfriend in Sacramento, Calif.

Police stopped Gorman not once, but twice, within 50 minutes while he drove west on Interstate 80, according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

In the first traffic stop, which occurred near Elko, Nev., a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper stopped the man for driving too slowly in the passing lane. Gorman refused to let the trooper search his vehicle, and the Nevada Highway Patrol officer allowed him to continue on without issuing any citations.

Less than an hour later, Gorman was stopped again by an Elko County Sheriff’s Office deputy, who the highway patrol trooper had arranged to pull Gorman over once more, court documents show. The deputy had a drug-sniffing dog with him, and a search of the motorhome was conducted.

In the two-minute video originally posted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the officer searched the vehicle, where he found $167,000 in cash stored in different places throughout the motorhome.

The officer told Gorman that the cash, his computer, cellphone and vehicle would all be seized under civil asset forfeiture laws.

Though the Elk County Sheriff’s deputy said the dog detected drugs in the motorhome, none were found, and Gorman was never charged with a crime.

Instead, he became another victim of civil asset forfeiture, a procedure that gives local, state and federal law enforcement the power to seize money and property if it’s suspected of being related to a crime.

Gorman fought back against the government’s seizure of his $167,000, and last week, more than two years after his money was seized, a judge ordered local and state law enforcement to return his money.

According to court documents, Larry Hicks, a U.S. District Judge for the District of Nevada, criticized the government for withholding information related to Gorman’s second traffic stop.

"No matter how this can be viewed, the two stops were for minor violations and they both were extended beyond the legitimate purposes for such traffic stops," Hicks wrote in his opinion.

"In particular, the government has a duty of candor and fair disclosure to the court," he continued. "The court expects and relies upon the United States Attorney’s office to be candid and forthcoming with material information uniquely held only in possession of the government and clearly relevant to central issues before the court. That did not occur here."

Hicks also notified Gorman that under the 2000 Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act, he is entitled to be reimbursed for his lawyer’s fees and litigation costs. His lawyers are now working to ensure those fees are paid by the government.

Over the last few years, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have come under fire for abusing civil asset forfeiture.

The tool started as a way to curb drug trafficking and money laundering, but a number of high profile cases have emerged featuring innocent people who have had money and property seized. In most of the cases, including Gorman’s, the property owners are never charged with a crime.

Policy experts instead point to the profit incentive forfeiture provides law enforcement with as evidence that the practice has been abused.

Original report here

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UK: ‘Sickened’ eyewitness captures the moment police ‘punched drugs suspect three times as he lay restrained on the ground’

This shocking video shows the moment a police officer appeared to punch a drugs suspect three times as he lay restrained on the ground. The footage taken by a 'sickened' witness shows a plain clothes police officer pinning the man down as a second uniformed policeman seemingly lands three sharp punches on him.

But the police insisted the video showed 'just a tiny part of our response to the arrest', which involved 'approved restraint techniques'.

The concerned member of the public recorded the incident on June 21 after spotting two police officers chasing a suspect.

Two witnesses say the man was running away from the constables when a police car pulled up and an officer jumped out and tackled the man, bringing him to the ground.

The video, taken on a mobile phone, then appears to show an officer punching the man, who is a suspected drug dealer.

The witness said: 'I was truly sickened by what I saw and cannot believe that this is the way that members of our police behave.

'I do not have a grievance with the police and have always respected the work that they do. I do not know the suspect and do not know why he was being arrested. But he should not have been hit whilst he was down.'

Strict rules set out by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary state that officers may only use 'reasonable force' as a last resort.

Force can only be used to apprehend a suspect, to prevent a crime, in self-defence or to protect property. If officers are deemed to have used excessive force, they can face a disciplinary investigation by their force or even criminal charges.

In a statement, the force said: 'At around Midday on Sunday 21 June officers spotted a man they suspected to be dealing drugs in Cecil Road, Erdington.

'The 25-year-old man fled as officers approached and ran into moving traffic. Another passing officer then tackled him to the floor and he was detained in Gravelly Hill North. 'The Sutton Coldfield man resisted arrest and attempted to swallow a package of suspected Class B drugs that he was found to be carrying.

'The suspect also refused to be handcuffed and approved restraint techniques were then used by officers to arrest him - he was taken into custody and released on police bail pending further investigation.

'The short video shows just a tiny part of our response to the arrest which is part of our crackdown on drug use and supply in Birmingham.

'Our officers receive a huge amount of training for these kinds of situations and are shown how to target pressure points in order to bring suspects who are resisting arrest under control. 'To date no complaint has been received by the force regarding the arrest.'

Asked if the video would spark an investigation, the force spokesman added: 'There's no investigation as we haven't received a complaint and our Professional Standards Department has no misconduct concerns.'

Original report here

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Demonstrations over death of Caribbean tourist at the hands of Dutch police

Dutch police arrested around 200 people overnight into Friday morning when riots broke out following the death of a man in police custody. The arrests for ignoring a ban on public assembly came on the fourth night of riots in a predominantly immigrant neighbourhood in The Hague.

Prosecutors investigating Sunday's death of Mitch Henriquez, a 42-year-old from the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, say he likely died of oxygen starvation caused during his arrest at a music festival Saturday night.

The five officers involved have been suspended from active duty and are being investigated as suspects in his death.

Protesters have gathered each night in the Schilderswijk neighborhood, carrying banners protesting what they perceive as racism and the excessive use of force by police.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that more than 100 people chanted anti-Semitic slogans during the riot in the area where a handful of Jews live.

Henriquez's family has said in comments reported in Dutch media that they do not believe he was a victim of racist policing.

They have issued a call on social media for a silent march in his memory on Saturday and urged people to walk in peace from a railway station in The Hague to the park where he was arrested.

The Dutch National Ombudsman's office, which investigates disputes between citizens and government agencies, last year published a report following allegations of discriminatory policing in Schilderswijk, home to 60,000 people of 125 different nationalities.

The report, which called policing there 'a mix of peacekeeping and crime fighting', found 'no indication of structural abuses in the behavior of police' in Schilderswijk but said 'police and citizens need to work to prevent escalation'.

Dutch Justice Minister Ard van der Steur told reporters yesterday that residents say troublemakers are pouring into the neighborhood to riot. He said the disorder has to stop.

'Of course, there is concern and anger at what possibly happened last weekend,' Van der Steur said. 'That is understandable. But this reaction is unacceptable.'

The situation that has drawn comparisons with the angry protests that erupted in the US following deaths of black men at the hands of white police officers.

Sinan Cankaya, an anthropologist who has studied racial profiling by the Amsterdam police, said the Netherlands' long-standing image as a tolerant, multicultural society masks racism in areas like the job market and in night life.

A Dutch man of Turkish descent, Cankaya said he was regularly barred from nightclubs that his white friends were allowed into.

'The idea of Dutch tolerance is part of the problem, because it blocks and hinders us Dutch from being self-critical and just facing the issue of racism in the Netherlands,' he said.

Original report here

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'A staggering level of incompetence': Judge blasts detective after re-trial of burglary suspects collapses leaving the taxpayer with a £100,000 bill

The bungling dickless Tracy concerned

A judge has blasted a detective for 'staggering incompetence' after the re-trial of three burglary suspects collapsed leaving the taxpayer with a £100,000 bill.

Detective Constable Sarah Northcott felt the wrath of Judge Simon Carr after he branded the case against the trio as one of the worst he had ever seen.

Stuart Bushell, 54, Thomas Lane, 25, and his brother Samuel, 22, were standing trial at Truro Crown Court accused of burgling the Bay Hotel in Port Isaac, Cornwall, one of the locations used in the popular ITV television series Doc Martin.

Their first trial was aborted a year ago after eight days when the jury failed to reach a verdict.

But today their retrial collapsed after four days with the judge blasting DC Northcott over a lack of photographic evidence, badly filled-out search records and incorrectly labelled exhibits.

He also said he felt the re-trial was only staged to 'cover-up the incompetence of the first hearing.'

The trio were alleged to have stolen £14,800 in cash and valuables from the hotel owners' private accommodation within the establishment.

Judge Carr said: 'I assume someone has reviewed the public interest (in continuing to prosecute the case). 'It has the feel of a (case) being prosecuted in order to cover up the incompetence of the first hearing.

'This was one of the worst-handled investigations I have ever seen. The officer seems to have completely misunderstood her role. 'She decided from the beginning she had solved the case and there was no need for further investigation.'

He said the mishandling of the case and the collapse of the trial had cost 'somewhere in the region of £100,000'.

Piers Norsworthy, defending Mr Bushell, argued the police investigation was 'fundamentally flawed'. He said: 'We are not saying there is any evidence of malice or corruption, but we are getting very close to the level of negligence where questions could be asked about whether this officer was competent to do this investigation.'

Mr Norsworthy gave examples of problems, including the lack of photographs from the search of Mr Bushell's home and DC Northcott's failure to complete search records accurately and include information on the unused schedule of material.

He also highlighted the detective's decision to return evidence to the alleged victim of the burglary Paul Williams.

In October the court heard the prosecution intended to have a retrial. Jonathan Barnes, for the prosecution, said DC Northcott would make a statement accepting errors identified by Detective Inspector William McWhirther's review of the case.

After the close of the prosecution case in the retrial, the counsel for the three defendants argued for a stay of the indictment on the grounds that there had been an abuse of process and was no case to answer.

He said Thomas Lane was only arrested because Mr Bushell told the officer he had spent the day with him. She failed to investigate the two defendant's explanations for cash being found at their premises.

In relation to Mr Bushell and Samuel Lane, of Coventry, Judge Carr stayed the indictment. In relation to Thomas Lane, he entered not guilty verdicts on the ground that there was nothing to link the money found in his house to the burglary.

Judge Carr said that despite his strong criticism there was no evidence DC Northcott had acted with malice.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall police said a review of the matter by its professional standards department found no misconduct or dishonesty in DC Northcott.

He said: 'Locally, advice and guidance has been given to the detective around management and labelling of exhibits, which was unacceptable during this case.

'This has always been a matter of processes being reviewed, not a challenge to the integrity of any police officer.'

After the case, one of the cleared suspects, Mr Bushell said: 'I feel like it was a personal witch hunt against myself.'

Since being charged with burglary Mr Bushell said he was forced to leave Port Isaac and sell the lease on the tearoom he ran there because of stigma linked to the case.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said: 'The CPS must be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence and that it is in the public interest to prosecute. 'In this case, the reviewing lawyer felt both criteria were met and accordingly authorised the police to charge the defendants.

'Following the first trial, it was still felt these criteria were met and so a retrial was sought.'

Original report here

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Scottish cops caught dozing in patrol car in their uniforms

Police have launched an investigation after two officers were caught sleeping in their patrol car while in full uniform. The picture, taken in the Maryhill area of Glasgow, appears to show one of the policemen with his head resting against the window dozing.

The other officer can be seen with his hands clasped in his lap and leaning back against his seat with his eyes closed.

The images were snapped by a passing labourer yesterday morning at 7am and he says he was able to walk right up to the car without and take the pictures without disturbing the two men.

The man, who did not want to be named, told the Daily Record: 'At first, I was quite shocked as they were parked up in a street, in their police car and their badges were visible through the windows.

'I walked up to the car and took three pictures of them sleeping soundly and they were sleeping so soundly they didn’t even stir.

'Police officers are usually fast enough to act when it suits them so I really don’t think they should be allowed to sleep whilst on duty.'

Police Scotland confirmed they are now investigating the matter after it they were given the pictures. Superintendent Andy Bates, Local Policing Commander for Greater Glasgow said: 'Police Scotland will robustly investigate the circumstances surrounding the information given to us. 'As this is now an internal investigation it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.'

It comes after a study earlier this year said that police should be allowed to nap while on duty – and given special 'sleep pods' where they can nod off. Work time 'sleep breaks' could help reduce fatigue and promote better concentration, according to researchers.

Although there is no 'official' ban on officers snoozing on duty, it is widely discouraged among the workforce.

Original report here

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L.A. County D.A. to unveil details on wrongful-conviction unit

L.A. County will join a small but growing number of prosecution offices to create a wrongful-conviction unit

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey will unveil details Monday about the creation of a unit dedicated to reviewing the integrity of convictions for people behind bars for serious or violent crimes.

In putting together such a team of veteran prosecutors, the county D.A.'s office is joining a small but growing number of prosecutorial agencies around the country devoting resources to identifying innocent prisoners.

The Times reported in April that Lacey had asked the Board of Supervisors for nearly $1 million to fund the new team, which would include three prosecutors, a senior investigator and a paralegal.

In seeking the funds, Lacey’s office said it wanted to keep up with an increasing number of wrongful-conviction claims that have followed the advent of similar units around the country, a growing number of innocence projects and heightened publicity surrounding innocence claims, a county spokesman said.

Innocence project groups and others said the move would send a dramatic statement that the office is serious about reversing injustices and could spur the creation of similar units in smaller counties in California.

Although such units are still rare, Los Angeles would join more than 15 district attorney offices nationwide that have created such teams, including Dallas County, Brooklyn and Manhattan, N.Y., as well as the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C. In California, district attorneys in Santa Clara, Ventura and Yolo counties have established similar units.

The proposal comes after a string of high-profile wrongful convictions.

Earlier this year, the city of Los Angeles agreed to pay more than $8 million to Obie Anthony, who was declared factually innocent after spending 17 years behind bars for a killing outside a brothel in South Los Angeles.

In October, a judge threw out the murder conviction of Susan Mellen, saying that she was wrongfully imprisoned for 17 years based on the word of a habitual liar and adding that "the criminal justice system failed."

In 2013, another judge threw out Kash Delano Register’s conviction in the 1979 slaying of an elderly man in West Los Angeles.

All three cases were brought to court by innocence projects. In Mellen’s case, the district attorney’s office agreed to her release after its habeas corpus litigation team, which often opposes legal requests to throw out convictions, conducted an investigation.

Original report here

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Innocent man who spent 30 years on death row for a murder he didn't commit dies of cancer after just one year of freedom

Father-of-four Glenn Ford was exonerated in March 2014 of robbing and killing a watchmaker in Shreveport in a 1983 murder which he spent over 30 years behind bars for. He was released from prison after the state said it uncovered evidence proving he wasn't at the crime scene.

In a release his supporters on Crowd Rise wrote: 'At 2:11 this morning, Monday June 29th 2015, Glenn slipped away very quietly and peacefully. 'He was held and surrounded by people who cared about him, and was listening to a song he loved.

Alison McCrary, a civil rights attorney who volunteered at Resurrection After Exoneration, told NBC News that Ford hadn't been diagnosed at Angola, the state prison where he was incarcerated, with the various cancers that killed him, including lung, brain and bone cancer.

After he left prison, he learned he had Stage 3 lung cancer, which then progressed to Stage 4. His medical costs which amounted to about $2,000 a week were paid by private donations, she said.

Ford hadn't been able to speak for roughly the last week, and he was in 'excruciating pain' when he died, McCrary said. But she added: 'There's also a peacefulness about Glenn. He had no hatred in his heart. He was really looking forward to the afterlife.'

Ford walked free from Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola on March 11, 2014, wearing a jean jacket, sweater and beanie hat and carrying all of his worldly possessions in two tiny boxes.

As he walked out of the prison gates, he said he was sad he had not been around to raise his now-adult sons, but added: 'It feels good; my mind is going in all kind of directions. It feels good.'

Earlier this year, the prosecutor who said he 'was to blame' for putting Ford on death row, A.M. 'Marty' Stroud III, apologized for the conviction and met with Ford.

Ford said he refused to get angry over his situation. 'I'm upset, yes, but it's not my driving force,' Ford said. He added: '[My driving force] is to get well as I possibly can. I can't do that being mad at Marty Stroud.'

'I want you to know that I am very sorry,' Stroud said during the somber meeting, which was filmed by abc Nightline. 'It's a stain on me that will be with me until I go to my grave.'

'Right,' Ford responded, without looking up. 'But it still cost me 31 years of my life and then nothing at the end but death because they give me from six to eight months to live.'

Stroud also wrote him a letter in which he admitted that he was to blame for mistakenly putting Ford behind bars for the fatal shooting of a jeweler, despite no murder weapon or witnesses placing him at the scene.

'In 1984, I was 33 years old,' he wrote. 'I was arrogant, judgmental, narcissistic and very full of myself. I was not as interested in justice as I was in winning.'

Original report here

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UK: Mother who ate banana at the wheel while she was stuck in gridlocked traffic 'is treated like a criminal' and fined £100

A single mother who was caught eating a banana at the wheel while stuck in gridlocked traffic has moaned she was treated 'like a criminal' after being fined £100.

Elsa Harris, who works as a carer, was pulled over while driving to work along a gridlocked road in Christchurch, Dorset.

She was handed the fine and given the choice of either three penalty points or completing a driver awareness course after admitting taking her hands off the wheel momentarily to peel the banana.

The 45-year-old, who insists her car was stationary in a traffic jam when she the incident occurred, has now blasted the fine as 'ridiculous'. She said: 'I'm a single mum. This is the most expensive banana I've ever had in my life.'

Ms Harris said she had already peeled the banana at home, but there was a small piece of skin still needing removal before she could eat it.

She said: 'An unmarked blue car started flashing at me, drove in front, then slammed its brakes on. It caused so much confusion with all the other cars, nobody knew what was going on.

'When the officer got out he was really angry from the offset, but I was still completely unaware I'd done anything wrong.'

Ms Harris said she's never been in trouble with the police before and has no points on her licence.

She said: 'The officer said I was driving without my hands on the wheel and was a danger to other drivers, but I said that was rubbish.

'I'm a carer and work at vulnerable people's homes serving them lunch. We don't stop for lunch ourselves, we don't get lunch breaks. Normally we have to eat on the hoof.

'He put me in the back of his car like a criminal and told me what a danger I was. 'I couldn't believe it, you get drink-drivers, people texting and eating while they speed along. Surely, me eating a banana in a traffic jam is not that important.'

Eating while driving is not a specific offence. However, anyone distracted behind the wheel or failing to operate their vehicle correctly because they are eating could be committing an offence of driving without due care and attention, or not being in proper control of a vehicle.

The Highway Code states drivers should avoid distractions such as eating, drinking, loud music, trying to read maps, smoking, and arguing with passengers or other road users.

Dorset Polices said it was unable to comment on specific cases still within the judicial process.

A spokesman said: 'If a person has been reported for a driving offence that they do not feel they are guilty of, the matter will be referred to the magistrates' court for a decision. 'Dorset Police is committed to reducing the number of casualties on Dorset's roads.

'Our traffic officers and No Excuse team use enforcement and education to tackle the 'fatal five' - drink and drug driving, excessive and inappropriate speed, not wearing a seatbelt, careless driving and driver distraction.

'We educate people at the roadside and through the driver awareness course to highlight the potential consequences of their actions.'

Original report here

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Australia: Woman runs red light and seriously injures boy -- but acquitted of dangerous driving

The judge seems to be impressed that her use of "Ice" may not have been harmful. Why did that matter? She was a serious and serial lawbreaker who clearly WAS driving dangerously

Mother of three, Leah Lenarczyk, 39, was under the influence of ice and other drugs when she picked up her young children from school on November 8, 2012.

She hit a school boy after running a red light in Adelaide's north and the 12-year-old sustained serious injuries including a collapsed lung and fractured skull.

Lenarczyk was acquitted of dangerous driving and was instead convicted with the subsidiary charge of driving without due care as it was found that the drugs did not have a negative impact on her driving. 'She had none of the indicia or symptoms of someone affected by methylamphetamine,' Judge Beazley said.

The District Court heard that Lenarczyk had an 'appalling' driving record, the Adelaide Advertiser have reported.

As well as a fractured skull and collapsed lung, the school boy suffered a broken leg, abdominal injuries and cuts on his face after he was hit by Lenarczyk at Salisbury Heights.

Judge Beazley took the expert evidence from professor of pharmacology Jason White, and clinical forensic toxicologist Michael Robertson who both confirmed that whether the drugs impacted positively or negatively on Lenarczyk's driving cannot be determined.

Following the accident, she was found to have no alcohol in her blood and was also travelling five kilometres under the speed limit.

Judge Beazley said two police officers were with her for over two hours after the accident and she showed none of the typical symptoms of ice use.

She will be sentenced next month.

Original report here

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Canada: Man nears end of 44-year wait to reverse wrongful conviction

John Salmon doesn’t like to talk about the night more than 40 years ago that led to his incarceration for the death of the woman he loved.

The 75-year-old retiree will gladly discuss his cats (five in all), his views on healthy living (eat fish once a day, take karate classes) and various Casino Rama shows he’s attended (Kellie Pickler, Jeff Foxworthy, many others). But start prying into the tragedy that landed him with a manslaughter conviction in 1971 and Mr. Salmon’ s memories are gone.

On Monday, in a triumph of Mr. Salmon’s quiet determination to clear his name through the Association In Defence of the Wrongfully Convicted (AIDWYC), the courts are expected to expunge the events as well.

"For our children and grandchildren to know, once and for all, that John is the man he is, not the man some people think he is, that’s amazing," says his wife, Margaret Salmon, who does much of the talking for him.

The Crown is recommending acquittal almost 45 years after pursuing his conviction based on flawed forensic evidence stating Mr. Salmon had delivered a "terrific" and fatal blow to Maxine Ditchfield’s head.

In 1971, Mr. Salmon was a piecemeal welder who lived with Ms. Ditchfield and her three kids in a small Woodstock, Ont., home. On Sept. 19, a Saturday night, the family visited some friends.

It was a raucous, booze-sodden night of dancing and quarrelling. When Ms. Ditchfield fell off her stool after 3 a.m., the couple decided it was time to pack up the sleeping children and drive home, according to documents filed in court.

The next morning marked the beginning of a precipitous and mysterious decline in Ms. Ditchfield’s health. She was clumsy, falling in the bathroom. Her body was covered with bruises, the previous night’s alcohol consumption clouding any memory of how they got there.

Mr. Salmon spent the next two days trying to nurse her back to health, but after a series of falls, her condition deteriorated. He called a doctor, who visited the house and determined that Ms. Ditchfield’s bruises, fixed pupils and laboured breathing suggested brain damage from a wicked beating.

The doctor phoned an ambulance and the police. The former took Ms. Ditchfield to the hospital, where she died the next morning; the latter took Mr. Salmon to jail.

There were witnesses, but they were either too inebriated at the time or too young – as in the case of Ms. Ditchfield’s children – for their testimony to be entirely credible. In that reliability vacuum, an autopsy would be relied upon to determine the central question of whether her puzzling demise was the result of an assault or natural causes.

The autopsy noted "bruises and signs of violence" covering Ms. Ditchfield’s body, brain damage, paralysis on the left side of her body and a clot in her right cerebral artery. Notably, the pathologist found none of blood or bone fractures that would characterize a beating brutal enough to cause brain damage.

The cause of death was brain swelling, he concluded, caused by "a blow on the head with a broad, blunt object and delivered at extreme force."

On March 11, 1971, a jury found Mr. Salmon guilty of manslaughter. A judge sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

"It was not a good feeling," says Mr. Salmon today. "I knew I didn’t do it. I always figured when I went to court I’d eventually be out."

After his release in 1974, he moved to the Orillia area, knowing his checkered past would prevent any happy future in Woodstock.

The conviction remained a life-long hindrance, blocking his path to a government job, a position with the local volunteer fire hall, mortgages.

But then two people came into his life who would change everything. In 1979, there was Margaret, a non-drinking registered nurse. "He told me about the conviction right up front," she says. "I knew then this man wouldn’t hurt a female. Thirty-five years of marriage later, I’m still right about that."

Around 2000, he read about AIDWYC’s fight to overturn the murder conviction of Steven Truscott. He called the lead lawyer, James Lockyer, launching a 15-year bid to overturn his conviction.

About five years before Ms. Ditchfield’s death, pathologists refined a method of determining whether a head injury was caused by the skull striking a stationary object – as would be the case in a fall – or an object striking a stationary skull – as would be the case with a punch or kick. The original pathologist had ignored the technique.

Mr. Lockyer seized on the oversight and commissioned three new pathologist reports. They unanimously agreed Ms. Ditchfield’s injuries stemmed from a contrecoup contusion. In short, her head hit something, not the other way around.

They found mention of the brain clot especially compelling. The contusions likely had resulted, they found, from a series of falls and attempts by medical staff to place her on a ventilator.

The new conclusion: A fall triggered a stroke that eventually killed her.

On June 4, the Crown filed a factum conceding the fresh pathology evidence and is recommending an acquittal in the case, scheduled for Monday morning.

When Mr. Lockyer phoned him with the encouraging news, Mr. Salmon celebrated by hugging all five cats.

Some people are less thrilled. "I don’t doubt the new evidence," says one family member who did not want to be identified. "But he let her lay there for days. Why didn’t he seek help immediately?"

It’s one regret that remains with Mr. Salmon. "She hit her head on the tub. That’s when, looking back, I should’ve taken her to the hospital," he says. "But I didn’t know nothing about concussions or any of that stuff then."

He only blames the seventies-era justice system.

"I felt the whole time I’d beat this," he says. "I never lost faith."

Original report here

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British police panic about rape

Unsubstantiated allegations

Last week, the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service published their review, led by Dame Elish Angiolini QC, into the investigation and prosecution of rapes in London. The review was described by the Met as a ‘victim-centred review of current protocols and procedures’. The report claimed that the volume of rape allegations, having ‘soared’ by 68 per cent between 2005-6 and 2013-14, has left the Met struggling to cope.

However, during this time, the percentage of allegations resulting in a prosecution rose by only 17 per cent. The report warned that, if current trends continued, the number of unpunished rapes would continue to rise. The report went on to recommend that the law enshrine a statutory definition of when someone is too drunk to consent. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, suggested that rape investigations should be assigned the same level of police resources as investigations into domestic terrorism.

The panicked rhetoric of the report and the response to its findings are striking. The report appears to suggest that the authorities are completely failing to deal with an epidemic of rape and sexual violence. The reaction of Hogan-Howe suggests that our intimate relationships present the same level of danger as hidden terrorist networks, and that the authorities should be just as concerned about what goes on in Londoners’ bedrooms as they are about the activities of homegrown terrorist groups.

But even a cursory look at these figures indicates that they say nothing at all about the reality of rape. The report does not, as some newspapers reported, claim that the number of rapes has increased, merely that the number of allegations has increased. This could mean that more and more people are being raped, or it could mean that more and more people are mistakenly thinking they have been raped. The number of allegations tells us nothing at all about the number of rapes that have actually been committed. It says nothing at all about reality.

Nor is it unusual for there to be a significant difference between the number of allegations and the number of cases resulting in a prosecution. In fact, for most criminal offences, the percentage of prosecutions that arise from allegations is far lower than it is for rape. All sorts of issues can prevent an allegation from progressing to a prosecution. In fact, the idea that this figure is too low and should be ‘driven up’ suggests that more people should be prosecuted – that is, arrested, possibly locked up and put before a court – purely to make the numbers look better. In other words, this report takes numbers and percentages, which mean absolutely nothing in and of themselves, and turns them into a picture of a failing justice system.

The report is a significant example of a worrying trend. In today’s discussion around rape, information is routinely presented misleadingly and then used as a means of justifying a further tightening up of the law. The idea that ‘too few’ people are prosecuted comes to be seen as a problem that needs to be fixed by more aggressive prosecuting. As a result, more and more people are encouraged to see rape everywhere, in every corner of their intimate lives.

This makes it hardly surprising that each individual police officer is now dealing with an average of 15 rape allegations at any one time. Rather than the low rate of prosecutions, it is this figure that should give us pause for thought. Perhaps this report does not merely demonstrate that the police are failing – we hardly need another report to tell us that the police routinely screw up rape investigations – but that we are failing, too.

Perhaps the unrelenting increase in the number of allegations of rape shows that we are succumbing to the hysterical official panic around rape. Perhaps we are starting to believe officialdom’s claim that rape is everywhere. Perhaps the truly frightening aspect of this report is not that too few allegations are being prosecuted, but that so many allegations are being made in the first place. If we truly want to ensure that rape is investigated and prosecuted properly, perhaps we should stop seeing rape in those difficult and ambiguous experiences which are part and parcel of a normal, functioning intimate life. It’s time we drove officialdom out of our private lives.

Original report here. (Via POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

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South Australian court jails corrupt former police officer for fabricating evidence to hide her cannabis growing operation

A CUNNING, self-interested woman whose "intricate fabric of deceit" hid her cannabis-growing operation while she served as an SA Police officer will spend at least nine months behind bars.

The District Court today rejected former police officer Amanda Boughen’s claims she was coerced and manipulated into the drug trade, and imposed a two-year prison term.

Judge Paul Rice imposed a lower-than-normal non-parole period of nine months because of the effect Boughen’s imprisonment will have on her young son.

However, he ruled not even the best interests of that child outweighed the fictitious identities, faked documents and extreme steps Boughen took to conceal her two drug crops.

"There was an intricate fabric of deceit that surrounded (the crops’) implementation, and you did not reluctantly acquiesce to it," he said. "It was actuated by self-interest, it was calculated and involved a certain amount of cunning. "The integrity of the administration of justice relies in part on the requirement that those who uphold the law also obey it. "In this regard, you failed in a spectacular and serious way."

Boughen, 40, of Mawson Lakes, pleaded guilty to one count of fabricating, altering or concealing evidence.

Between May and September 2006, she used the fake identity of "Nicole Hooper" to rent a property she owned and organise its electricity and utilities connections.

In turn, she received $200 a week rent from her then-boyfriend, Darryl Joseph, who used the Para Hills address to grow cannabis.

At the time of her crimes, Boughen was a serving SA Police officer. She was suspended with full pay when investigations into her conduct began, and has since resigned from SA Police.

Secrecy has surrounded much of Boughen’s case, and other charges of abuse of public office were dropped when she pleaded guilty to the fabrication count.

Boughen initially insisted she was a pawn, and under Joseph’s influence, at the time of her offending. She subsequently, and tearfully, "unreservedly apologised" for her actions, saying she was "humbled, broken" and blamed only herself.

Defence counsel asked Boughen be spared immediate jail, saying her son would have to be placed in the care of Families SA because she lacked family or friends to take him in.

Earlier this month, she told the court she wanted her decade-old case "over and done with".

In sentencing today, Judge Rice outlined the details of both the fabrication and the abuse of public office charges, saying he would take the latter into consideration.

He said that once Boughen and Joseph agreed to cultivate cannabis, she took steps to create "Nicole Hooper" so as to shield herself in the event the crops were discovered.

Judge Rice said Boughen paid herself rent, arranged an electricity account and even purchased a second-hand car, all in Hooper’s name, to further the deception.

He said that when the property’s wheelie bin was stolen, Boughen used Hooper’s name to report the theft, and even communicated with the fictional person by email.

"The email exchange was quite extraordinary," Judge Rice said. "You descended into detail ... ‘Nicole’ asked if she could have a puppy and said she was nervous about moving down because she would be working with a temp staff agency," he said.

"You even noted, in your personal diary, the proposed moving date for ‘Nicole’. "This was all designed to give the appearance that Nicole Hooper existed should the police investigate the cannabis cultivation."

Judge Rice said Boughen’s police experience was essential to the deception — through it, she knew what "markers" to create in government systems as to make Hooper seem real.

He said Boughen’s other crime occurred in 2010 when she tipped Storm Alexander Strang — ringleader of a $40 million drug syndicate — off to an imminent police investigation.

At that time, Strang’s associates were renting one of Boughen’s properties and she suspected they were growing cannabis, as she had previously done herself.

"You did nothing about your suspicions ... self-interest became predominant," he said. "That you, as a police officer, informed someone about an impending police raid says a lot about your integrity."

Judge Rice said personal references hailed Boughen as reliable, loving and honest, while psychological reports spoke of a dysfunctional childhood and co-dependency issues.

He emphasised that nothing, including the future of Boughen’s child, warranted the suspension of her sentence.

Original report here

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Jonathan Fleming awarded $6.25 million for 25 year wrongful imprisonment

As in many such cases in the USA, Fleming is black

JONATHAN Fleming left prison with $93 in his pocket after serving 25 years for a crime he did not commit. Today, he got paid. New York City authorities agreed on Tuesday to pay Mr Fleming $6.25 million for his wrongful imprisonment between 1989-2014.

The payout is a long way short of the $162 million he was suing the city for, but his lawyers say it will allow him to build a new life.

Fleming, 52, was convicted of the murder of Darryl Rush in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Williamsburg despite being on the other side of the country at the time.

Rush was shot and killed on August 15, 1989. Prosecutors successfully argued that the pair had a falling out and a witness identified Fleming as the shooter. That witness would later recant her testimony and tell police she lied to get out of an unrelated arrest.

At his trial, Fleming’s defence team provided family photographs and home videos showing he was at Disney World in Florida at the time of Rush’s murder. It didn’t matter because they had no official proof.

The court was provided with plane tickets and post cards but it was agreed neither proved he was not in New York.

Fleming would spend the next 25 years in a high security prison waiting for somebody to listen to his side of the story. He missed out on his sons’ birthdays and was not there to care for his sick mother.

Then, last year, a receipt from a Florida hotel emerged. Fleming’s defence asked the District Attorney’s office to review the case one more time and showed them the receipt. It was paid five hours before the shooting by one Jonathan Fleming.

The receipt, astonishingly, had been in Mr Fleming’s pocket when he was originally arrested. Police had it in their possession the whole time.

When he was eventually released in April last year, Fleming had nowhere to live and no idea how to use a mobile phone. He was broke. But incredibly, he was not angry. And he never gave up hope.

"I had faith. I said to myself I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but I’m going to get out," Fleming told the Guardian during his first visit to Times Square in a quarter of a century.

To help him find his feet again, strangers contributed to a fundraising campaign with an initial $10,000 goal and ended up raising $49,000.

On the fundraising page, Fleming wrote that he was "terrified" and did not know how he was going to survive. But he was so thankful to everyone who had supported him, both emotionally and financially.

"I promise that I will treat this money with the respect that it deserves, and that I will forever be thankful to each and every person that took the time to help me out," he wrote.

Fleming has money now, but he will never get back what was taken from him. And he knows it. "I think about all the things I could have accomplished during that time and I come out to nothing."

His lawyer Anthony Mayol said: "That’s 25 years that have been stolen, that he’ll never get back."

Plenty changed in the years he was locked away but some things stayed the same: his mother was still waiting for him with open arms. "After 25 years, come hug your mother," she said in court.

Fleming’s case is not unique. His wrongful imprisonment is not the longest in US history either.

James Bain spent 35 years in prison for a kidnapping and rape in 1974 that he did not commit. He received just $1.7 million compensation — $50,000 for every year he spent in prison.

Ricky Jackson spent 39 years behind bars for the murder of businessman Harold Franks. He received just $2 million plus 39 years worth of wages.

Original report here

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Australia: Qld cop charged over leaked bash footage

No room for honest cops in Qld.

A Gold Coast police officer has been stood down and charged with misconduct following allegations he leaked footage of colleagues assaulting a handcuffed man three years ago.

The Queensland Police Service said on Friday Rick Flori, a 44-year-old sergeant with 25 years' experience, was the subject of an investigation "concerning allegations he accessed and released confidential information".

The police service said in a statement Flori had been charged with one count of criminal misconduct in public office and issued with a notice to appear in the Southport Magistrates Court on July 15.

He has been stood down on full pay but could lose his job over the January 2012 incident.

The leaked video shows Noa Begic, 21, being slammed face first into a concrete floor before being hit by officers using their knees, elbows and fists.

It also shows Mr Begic being punched several times after being put in the back of a police van, and a senior officer throwing a bucket of water on the concrete to wash away the man's blood.

Speaking outside Queensland Police Service headquarters on Friday, Flori thanked his supporters.

"I thank my family," he told reporters. "I've had multiple phone calls and text messages. I'm very grateful and I thank you all."

Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman says the case goes to the heart of the risks whistleblowers take.

Mr O'Gorman called on Police Minister Jo-Ann Miller to take a personal interest in the case.

"Queenslanders will say what sort of a system have we got where a video shows a number of police belting the hell out of a bloke," he told the ABC.

"They don't get charged, but the officer who leaks the video to the media gets charged."

Mr Begic said at the time he was arrested after a night out in Surfers Paradise and was assaulted repeatedly on the drive to the local police station and then later in the basement.

"They were making racist comments about me and then when we ended up in that basement I knew there was more on the way," he said.

Public nuisance charges against Mr Begic were ultimately dropped after then-Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson intervened.

The officers filmed carrying out the assault were subject to an internal police investigation, with two facing disciplinary action. They should have been fired

Original report here. (Via Australian Politics)

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Killer admits to brutal rape in Spain for which 'innocent' man has spent 12 years in prison

The killer of Sally Anne Bowman has sensationally admitted brutally raping a woman in Spain for which another man has spent nearly 12 years in prison.

Murderer Mark Dixie, 44, is serving life for murdering the 18-year-old model in South London in 2005.

The former pub chef is suspected of attacking three women on the Costa del Sol where he was living before Sally Anne's murder.

In a dramatic twist in the case last week, Dixie admitted raping one of the women in Spain.

MailOnline revealed last year how Dutchman Romano van der Dussen was wrongly jailed for the Spanish attacks - yet he remains behind bars to this day.

It can also be revealed that new DNA analysis, carried out this week at the Dutch National Forensic Investigation Agency, proves beyond any doubt that Dixie carried out the attack.

Last week, Sally Anne's killer broke down in prison and confessed to raping the Spanish woman in a drink and drug-fuelled rage in the seaside resort of Fuengirola in August 2003.

He made his confession to Romano’s lawyer Rachel Imamkhan when she visited him at HMP Frankland, Co. Durham.

Ms Imamkhan, legal director of PrisonLAW, interviewed Dixie while gathering evidence for Romano’s appeal against his conviction for the three sex attacks.

Dixie’s handwritten, three-page statement will be lodged with the Supreme Court in Madrid as part of Romano’s appeal.

In a statement, PrisonLAW, a law firm specialising in overturning miscarriages of justice, said: 'Mark Dixie confessed that in 2003 he was living in Fuengirola and he remembers committing a rape that Romano van der Dussen has been convicted of.

'He also stated that he is sorry that another person has been in prison for such a long period of time for that rape.

'A new analysis of DNA evidence carried out at the National Forensic Investigations Agency has also confirmed that Mark Dixie carried out that rape.

Ms Imamkhan spent two-and-a-half hours interviewing Dixie and said he was close to tears when he finally confessed to the rape.

She told MailOnline: 'Dixie told me he was high on drink and drugs when he raped the woman and has suffered from blackouts. 'He said he is very sorry that Romano has been in prison for so long for crimes he did not commit. 'He claims he does not remember the other two Spanish attacks.'

Dixie, from Streatham, South London, was living in Fuengirola when the three Spanish women were brutally attacked within two hours of each other in the early hours of August 10 2003.

One woman was punched, thrown to the floor and raped in a terrifying 15-minute ordeal. She spent four days in hospital and suffered severe psychological problems.

Minutes later a second woman was punched in the head, thrown to the floor and sexually assaulted. The attacker fled with her Nokia mobile phone and 120 euros in cash.

The third victim was attacked a few hundred yards away; punched in the head, thrown to the floor, sexually assaulted and beaten.

Romano, now 42, was arrested three weeks later after one of the victims picked him out from photographs in police files.

Detectives had found the attacker’s DNA on the first victim. But astonishingly Romano was charged and prosecuted even though his DNA did not match that found on the victim.

No forensic or physical evidence linked Romano to the crimes but he was jailed for 15-and-a-half years. He remains behind bars and continues to protest his innocence.

During the trial prosecutors argued that all three attacks must have been carried out by the same man.

Shortly after the three women were attacked, Mark Dixie returned to the UK from Spain. In September 2005, he raped and murdered Sally Anne Bowman near her home in Croydon. The teenager was stabbed seven times and raped while she lay dead or dying.

Dixie was arrested the following year by chance after having a fight in a pub – and was linked to Sally Anne’s murder through his DNA.

However, he refused to admit the crimes, forcing Sally Anne’s mother Linda, father Paul and sisters Danielle, Nicole and Michelle, to endure a trial at the Old Bailey. In February 2008, Dixie was jailed for life and told he must serve a minimum of 34 years.

After his arrest, Met Police detectives discovered Dixie had been living in Spain from 2002 to 2003 and sent his DNA to Madrid as a matter of routine.

Spanish police ran it through their national Veritas database and came up with a match for the Fuengirola attack.

In 2011, Romano’s lawyers appealed his convictions but the Spanish court demanded a fresh sample of Dixie’s DNA.

Last December Dixie, who has a string of convictions for sex attacks, gave a new saliva sample at HMP Frankland. Romano’s lawyers sent the results to the National Forensic Investigation Agency and this week Dutch officials confirmed it undisputedly matches that found on the first victim.

When giving the saliva sample, Dixie told police officers he 'may be involved' in the rape in Spain.

But his confession to Ms Imamkhan last week was the first time he has spoken at length about the attack in Spain.

Sally Anne's mother is supporting Romano's appeal against his convictions. Romano has sent her a message thanking her for her support.

Last year, she told MailOnline she is dismayed at the thought that if the Spanish authorities had investigated the case more thoroughly, her daughter might still be alive. 'I am absolutely appalled,' she said. 'An innocent man has spent 11 years of a 16 year sentence in prison for a crime he did not do.

'I feel very strongly that if the Spanish authorities had done their jobs properly, my Sally Anne would be alive.

'He did not assault those three women in Spain - Sally Anne's killer did. He is someone's son and he is locked up for something he didn't do.'

Original report here

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