Police corruption

[Three Litre]

There was some discussion about Operation Countryman on a thread recently, found this interesting entry in Wikipedia about a criminal with involvement in police corruption.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Humphreys_(pornographer)

[Sparky]

World in Action did a programme on it in 1982.

It was the spat with Jimmy Humphries and Ken Drury that brought it all out in the open.

[Arthur Pringle]

Not heard of this character before. As head of the Flying Squad you'd have to be very stupid to go on holiday with a known crim wouldn't you?

One of the characters in 'Law And Order' ( the 1978 version ), a violent prisoner with behavioural problems, is humourously called Bobby Mark after the head of the Flying Squad.

[Three Litre]

Nov 18, 2019 16:46:07 GMT Arthur Pringle said:

Not heard of this character before. As head of the Flying Squad you'd have to be very stupid to go on holiday with a known crim wouldn't you?

One of the characters in 'Law And Order' ( the 1978 version ), a violent prisoner with behavioural problems, is humourously called Bobby Mark after the head of the Flying Squad.

Yes AP I was going to put exactly the same about Drury going on holiday! What a numpty, he was always going to get found out. 

Drury framed three men for the Luton post office murder in 69 just before he took over the squad. It was 10 years before they were released.

[Cartman]

The met was notorious for this for a long time, going back to the 50s,probably earlier. One guy in charge of the force at that time, Challinor, was convicted for planting evidence. Later, in the 60s, West end central was highly corrupt, they operated hand in glove with the Soho porn barons and suspicions started when a London face they were after absconded to Wales and the Welsh force were a bit surprised to see two fairly low ranking detectives turning up to take him back to London, wearing Savile Row suits and driving an S type Jag.

It was cleaned up at about the time the Sweeney was being filmed when Robert Mark became chief constable 

[Lord Emsworth]

And then - amongst many many others - there was Norman Pilcher who the Beatles famously dubbed Semolina Pilchard

After a transfer from the Flying Squad to the Drug Squad in 1967, Norman ("Nobby") Pilcher became notorious for the vigour with which he pinned possession of drugs charges on pop stars and hippies, and for the dubious methods employed in his undercover operations, which included paying off informers with drugs. 

On 8 November 1972, Pilcher was charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice after it was alleged he had committed perjury. He resigned from the police force before the case came to court. In September 1973 Pilcher was convicted and sentenced to four years imprisonment, with the judge admonishing the disgraced ex-policeman, "You poisoned the wells of criminal justice, and set about it deliberately"

[Sparky]

Nov 18, 2019 16:56:04 GMT Three Litre said:

Nov 18, 2019 16:46:07 GMT Arthur Pringle said:

Not heard of this character before. As head of the Flying Squad you'd have to be very stupid to go on holiday with a known crim wouldn't you?

One of the characters in 'Law And Order' ( the 1978 version ), a violent prisoner with behavioural problems, is humourously called Bobby Mark after the head of the Flying Squad.

Yes AP I was going to put exactly the same about Drury going on holiday! What a numpty, he was always going to get found out. 

Drury framed three men for the Luton post office murder in 69 just before he took over the squad. It was 10 years before they were released.

Drury's story to the press was that he was in Spain with Humphries looking for Ronnie Biggs.

This comment made out that Humphries was a Grass. So Humphries came back with the story that he had been "bunging" Drury.

Enter Robert Mark and A10...

In the late 1980s there was another Flying Squad corruption case with the office at Tower Bridge; concerning a couple of officers and Drug dealing.

Many innocent officers were dragged into it too.

[Three Litre]

Fascinating detail there Sparks! I don’t think they really cleaned up the Met for years, Countryman was a bit of flop, few got prosecuted.

Makes me laugh when I watch Ringer and Kemble says you don’t buy the Sweeney! Er ......... yes you did for many years.

[Sparky]

Nov 18, 2019 18:47:38 GMT Three Litre said:

Fascinating detail there Sparks! I don’t think they really cleaned up the Met for years, Countryman was a bit of flop, few got prosecuted.

Makes me laugh when I watch Ringer and Kemble says you don’t buy the Sweeney! Er ......... yes you did for many years.

Yes. I gather, the Countryman investigation went on a few years and resulted in only a handful of prosecutions and a some officers taking early retirement.

In the World in Action episode above, it seemed that the Countryman investigation was constantly blocked by those in the higher ranks of the Police.

Makes you wonder what else they were frightened of coming out.

[Three Litre]

Nov 18, 2019 18:56:06 GMT Sparky said:

Nov 18, 2019 18:47:38 GMT Three Litre said:

In the World in Action episode above, it seemed that the Countryman investigation was constantly blocked by those in the higher ranks of the Police.

Makes you wonder what else they were frightened of coming out.

That bit is appalling. Much the same in other organisations, the senior staff more interested in what it means to them than stopping corruption, bad behaviour etc.