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Corruption alleged in Hackney

01 March 1992

Eight Metropolitan police officers based at Stoke Newington police station, North London, have been moved to new duties elsewhere following allegations of drug dealing and corruption. The allegations, which have been known for some time, are being investigated by the anti-corruption squad at Scotland Yard as part of Operation Jackpot. They relate to the reselling of drugs seized by police on the street, the fabrication of evidence and the beating of suspects.

A ninth policeman has already been suspended from duty and is under investigation after allegations that he had made up to £2,000 a week selling drugs. A tenth officer, Police sergeant Gerrard Carroll, a former custody officer at Stoke Newington police station, who had already been transferred to Barkingside, committed suicide by shooting himself in a cell at the station.

Carroll was one of a number of police officers from Stoke Newington and Hackney who have been named by the Hackney Community Defence Association (HCDA) in a press release calling for a judicial enquiry into police malpractice in Hackney. The HCDA "is calling for the internal police investigation to be replaced by an independent and public investigation, a judicial enquiry, into Hackney, City Road, Stoke Newington and the old Dalston police stations."

They continue: "The disclosure that police officers are officially suspected of fabricating evidence against suspects gives rise to serious concerns that the criminal justice system has been undermined. All convictions involving evidence from the suspected officers, where defendants protested their innocence, must now be considered unsafe."

The HCDA have issued a report, A Crime is a crime is a crime which details 143 cases of alleged police malpractice in the area over the past three years and names 30 officers. It is available from the HCDA, 50 Rectory Road, London N16 7QY.