The Detective Who Broke The Rules
The conviction of Christopher Halliwell for the murder of Sian O’Callaghan is of course to be welcomed. But reports, like this one on the BBC, show that the detective who solved the murder broke a few rules. I would appear too, that Halliwell knew something about the murder of Becky Godden, as he led the p0lice to her body.
It is always said that difficult cases make bad law and this case would appear to have shown up a few faults in the rules by which the Police work.
But does it?
In this case, no-one died or was physically hurt because of what the detective did, so many will be calling for a change in the law. On the other hand, I don’t remember a similar case.
So perhaps it shows we’ve got it about right.
The Biggest Cannabis Plant In The World
This story just has to be passed on. Here’s the first paragraph.
An elderly couple have unwittingly grown the “biggest cannabis plant” police officers had seen after buying what they thought was an innocuous shrub from a car boot sale.
The question also has to be asked, as to whether the seller in the sale, knew what they were selling.
I don’t think, I’d know what a cannabis plant looked like.
Another Coloured Police Horse
South Yorkshire Police gave the horses an exercise, whilst Town were in Barnsley.
As you can see, one is a very striking coloured horse, which the officer told me proudly was one of a matched pair. It certainly proves the odd Suffolk phrase.
A bad horse is always a bad colour, but a good horse is always a good one.
Usually, that was said in respect to chesnut mares, but then in Suffolk, chesnuts are always liked because of the Suffolk horse, which only come in that colour.
Should The UK Reinstate The Death Penalty?
Today in Manchester, two young female police officers, were shot dead by a man wanted for murder.
It is the worst murder of members of the police since 1966. At that time, when Harry Roberts and two others, shot dead three policemen, I was serving in a pub in North London.
The mood in the pub that evening was sombre and one of horror. Few suggested that the recent abolishment of capital punishment the year before was to blame. Although a couple did get shouted down, for proposing thoughts about dead policemen.
Remember too, that it was soon after the Hanratty case, which did a lot to discredit the death penalty in the UK, as many believed Hanratty to be innocent.
I suspect that like in 1966, there will be a lot of discussion tonight and generally despite the sex and age of the victims, I suspect there will not be a large groundswell of support for the return of the death penalty.
There does appear to be one big difference between the murders today and that of those in 1966. Harry Roberts went and hid from the police, whereas Dale Cregan today, just walked into a police station and gave himself up. Perhaps he understood the horror, of what he had done, whereas Roberts didn’t! If Cregan did, we’ve moved on in the forty plus years.
French Tragedy
The French seem to be making a wonderful mess of the murders at Annecy. In The Times yesterday, they showed that the murder site was now covered in cows.
But it would appear that every theory and all the evidence has been freely distributed to the media, by the so-called police.
Yet again, the French police are living up to their reputation as some of the worst investigators in the world.
It does seem that this case is following all of the pattern of previous cases of British people murdered in France.
It would also seem that if you wanted to murder someone, France is the best place to do it, as you’ll never be found out.
Let’s hope that Scotland Yard can sort this one out and give the French the evidence.
George Dixon Lives
Television in my childhood is always remembered for the television police series; Dixon of Dock Green.
Cosy policing, like that portrayed in the series has long since gone. Or I thought it had.
However, today at one of the Olympic venues, I started talking to a Police Sergeant about the Olympics and my life since C died. He congratulated me on what I had done to raise money for cancer research and shook my hand as I left.
George Dixon would have felt that the Sergeant had done well. So did I and I hope that the best of old-fashioned methods are creeping back into modern law enforcement.
Torch Chasing in North London – Southgate
Today, I went to see the Olympic Torch Relay in Southgate, where I went to school at Minchenden.
Unfortunately, a jobsworth wasn;t allowing access to the old school grounds, so all I got was a picture of my first classroom and the wall that kept us all in. So instead, I walked to Southgate Green and watched the torch come through there. Note the Lothian and Borders policeman! Southgate must be one of the cushiest postings in London.
I also made a video of the Olympic Torch Relay as it passed.
I was standing outside Walker School.
Welsh Policemen On The Streets of London
I took this picture this morning at the Angel
Welsh Policemen On The Streets of London
It shows two Carmarthen policemen on duty.
In some ways, it’s an appropriate area, as the statue of Hugh Myddelton, the Welshman, who four hundred years ago, built the New River to give London its first fresh water is at Islington Green, a hundred metres or so away.
Hastings Police Fail To Get Rid Of Dodgy Mobile Phones
I found this story in The Times today, but they got it from this page in the Hastings Observer.
Apparently, the police left marked mobile phones in bars and clubs, to attempt to find those nicking them in Hastings and St. Leonards. Unfortunately, every one was handed straight in to staff.
There are two possible explanations.
Perhaps people in the two towns are more honest than the police think.
Or the criminals in the area are brighter than they’re supposed to be and know a marked mobile phone, when they see one.
It Was A Friend of Flying Rats What Did It!
That is the theory about who nicked Rufus the Hawk in the Evening Standard tonight.
I also think, that the Flying Squad are looking for a thief, with some large cuts in his fingers.
The Anonymous Widower 