UK: Police in the dock - or not
01 January 1993
The trial of Detective Superintendent Melvin, due to start in November, was postponed pending results of a new inquiry into the death of PC Keith Blakelock. Melvin is on charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice arising from his conduct during the investigation into Blakelock's death. Campaigners are angry at the decision, and point out that any new inquiry cannot affect the legality of Melvin's behaviour in the original inquiry. They fear that the delay will enable the trial to be quietly abandoned at a later stage.
This is what has happened in the case of PC Judd, against whom charges of perjury and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice were dropped after a trial at which the jury could not agree. Judd was the officer in the case of Rupert Taylor, who in December 1989 was awarded £60,000 damages for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. Judd's retrial was dropped because of the length of time since the offence which meant that "a fair trial could no longer be guaranteed". Thames Valley police, for whom Judd now works, said it was unlikely that disciplinary charges would be brought (Independent 17 25.11.92).
Geoffrey Dear, former Chief Constable of West Midlands police, has added his voice to the protests at the decision not to prosecute any members of the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Dear, now an Inspector of Constabulary, was criticised when he disbanded the Squad for allowing them time to clear their desks, which meant that many documents went missing, making the investigation into them more difficult (Guardian 20.11.92).