There is no rest for the wicked. I rise to move Amendment 130 in my name and support Amendment 132A in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, which seeks to achieve similar things.
I must first declare an interest. When I was a deputy assistant commissioner in the Metropolitan Police—the equivalent of a deputy chief constable—I told the truth about a misleading statement made to the News of the World by the then commissioner of the Metropolitan Police about the shooting dead of the innocent Brazilian, Jean Charles de Menezes, by the police in 2005. Another senior officer leaked to the BBC the content of the statement I had made to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which was investigating a complaint by the family of the deceased that the police had misled the public. In response, the Metropolitan Police issued a press release saying it knew the officer who had given evidence to the IPCC and what he said—what I said—was not true.
The deputy commissioner at the time tried to bully me into issuing a press statement saying that I was mistaken. Instead, I instructed solicitors to threaten to sue the Metropolitan Police if it did not retract its press statement which effectively called me a liar; I was not the easiest senior officer to manage, as noble Lords can probably work out. The Metropolitan Police withdrew the press release and paid my legal fees. The IPCC subsequently confirmed what I had told it was true, but the die was cast; I was subsequently forced out of the police service for telling the truth. I think it is important for the Committee to know where I am coming from when I talk about this issue.
My amendment is based on the recommendation in the Report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel to create
“a statutory duty of candour to be owed by … law enforcement agencies”
to victims and their families. The Daniel Morgan Independent Panel was announced by the former Home Secretary Theresa May on 10 May 2013 to address
questions arising from and relating to police involvement in the murder of Daniel Morgan; the role played by police corruption in preventing those responsible for the murder being brought to justice; the failure to confront that corruption; the incidence of connections between private investigators, police officers and journalists; and the alleged corruption involved in the links between them.
It is not possible or necessary to go into all the findings of the independent panel, but I want to give two examples. First, the Metropolitan Police admitted on more than one occasion that police corruption had impacted on bringing those responsible for Daniel Morgan’s murder to justice, but when asked by the independent panel what that corruption was, and what impact it had had, the Metropolitan Police refused to provide an answer. This is even though Tim Godwin, the then acting commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, had made a formal admission of corruption on behalf of the Metropolitan Police at a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority. The Metropolitan Police’s response to the panel was, “You’ll have to ask him what he meant.”
Secondly, at every stage following the initial investigation of the murder, the Metropolitan Police maintained that the initial murder investigation had been carried out in accordance with the standards of murder investigation at that time. It was only seven years after the independent panel was formed that the Metropolitan Police made the panel aware of the existence of the London Homicide Manual, which set out the standards expected of murder investigations at the time of Daniel Morgan’s murder. This document proved that the initial investigation was not, in fact, carried out in accordance with the standards expected at the time. Such a lack of frankness, candour and honesty is a disgrace that these amendments seek to address.
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Noble Lords will recognise that the cover-up is often more damaging to an organisation than the initial misconduct, which almost inevitably emerges. This does not appear to be a lesson the police have learned. Policing in this country is based on consent and on the public having trust and confidence in the police. The public are the eyes and ears of the police, prepared to dial 999 when they see something suspicious and to be witnesses in court. Many senior police officers wrongly believe that covering up misconduct helps preserve the trust and confidence that is essential for the police to operate effectively.
In response to the debate on Monday, the Minister said:
“In February 2020 we amended regulations—this is an important aspect—to ensure that police officers are under a duty to co-operate as witnesses with investigations, inquiries and formal proceedings under the revised standards of professional behaviour. They are guilty of a disciplinary offence if they fail to do so.”—[Official Report, 1/11/21; col. 1095.]
The Daniel Morgan Independent Panel found:
“There was not insignificant obstruction to the Panel’s work … the Metropolitan Police did not approach the Panel’s scrutiny with candour, in an open, honest and transparent way”.
Bearing in mind that the panel’s report was not published until June 2021, almost 18 months after the regulations changed, can the Minister tell the Committee, following on from her remarks on Monday, why no officer has faced disciplinary action?
Last week Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, Sir Tom Winsor, warned MPs about a “culture of colleague protection” within police forces. He gave an example; I think it was the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, who told the Committee what that example was. Let me give my own example.
I was a police commander at the time, the equivalent rank of assistant chief constable, and I stood in for an absent colleague on an initial gold group to consider the impact on the reputation of the Metropolitan Police of an allegation made by a junior female police officer that she had been raped by her superintendent. She had not reported the incident for fear it would damage her career—a telling comment on the culture—but she had confided in female colleagues when they were all on a residential training course away from London and her colleagues had reported it.
The expert female officers from Operation Sapphire, who specialised in rape investigation at that time, told the gold group that complainants often changed their minds given support, and so it transpired. After I had handed the matter back to my colleague, the Sapphire officers told me that the female officer had changed her mind and she was prepared to support a police misconduct hearing to prevent the superintendent abusing his authority again, although she did not want to support a criminal trial. They also told me that, instead of a misconduct hearing, the superintendent had been allowed to retire from the police service with no action being taken against him, on a full pension. When I confronted the then deputy commissioner about the case, he said it was “complicated”.
On Sunday, a leader in the police service wrote in the Sunday Times that
“we have to accept that we have a problem, as only then can we deal with it … We must demonstrate not only through our words, but also through our actions, that sexism and misogyny have absolutely no place in the police service … Doing nothing is not an option.”
That was not a senior police officer, who have generally denied there is a problem—whether with racism, sexism, or misogyny. I quoted the words of John Apter, the chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, who represents rank and file officers up to and including the rank of chief inspector.
That is why these amendments are so important. That is why there needs to be a statutory duty of candour. If not, the culture of cover-up, back covering and misogyny will persist in the police service. I am told that a statutory duty of candour was introduced for the National Health Service and its effect was transformational, so why not for the police service? We have been slightly less ambitious in our amendment than the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, in allowing the Home Secretary 12 months to consult on this issue and bring forward legislation, but this needs to be addressed urgently. I beg to move.