[5] The 1991 Independent Report into the SCS states that "many Midlands solicitors we have spoken to believe [this operation] gave the green light to some officers ... to indulge in serious malpractice".
After the murder of a security guard in 1980, SCS arrested two alleged criminals for armed robbery, John Irvine and Keith Twitchell,[5] whose convictions were also later quashed.
[7] In 1988, the West Midlands Police explained that "Investigations are more protracted, and masks, disguises, false number plates and other means of evading capture are frequently used",[8] techniques which are hardly unusual among hardened criminals committing serious crimes.
[10] The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 should have changed many practices at the SCS, for instance by introducing the recording of interviews, and was noted as implemented in the 1986 annual report.
She detailed the apparently widespread practice the squad employed of doctoring statements by adding additional incriminating pages, which was leading to certain convictions being challenged.
Nevertheless, the systemic issues at the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad were not being addressed, such as the apparent culture of making shortcuts and abusing procedure in order to perform well enough to qualify for promotion.
[13] In August 1989, the squad was disbanded by Chief Constable Geoffrey Dear and a number of its senior officers were put on desk duties.
[14] In the same month, an investigation by West Yorkshire Police led by Assistant Chief Constable Donald Shaw was asked to examine allegations of misconduct at the squad.
[15] A number of the former SCS officers that had been placed on desk duties were returned to investigatory roles in 1990, after Dear left for another post and was replaced by Ronald Hadfield.
[17] The official PCA report was published in 1994[18] and concluded that there had been "physical abuse of prisoners, fabrication of admissions, planting of evidence and mishandling of informants".
[21] The SCS suffered from a number of issues, ranging from poor recruitment and management practices, to well-documented and repeated techniques of falsification.
[23] The general West Midlands interview manual was criticised as being misleading and advising officers to assume guilt in a range of situations where this may not be true.
For instance, it told the Court of Appeal that officers had been disciplined after interference with witness statements, but that the changes did not include "incriminating admissions", which was wholly untrue.
Instead, courts later worked on the assumption that certain officers may have tampered with signed confessions on the basis of previous behaviour, making a conviction unsafe if it relied on this evidence.
Arrests often took place very early in the morning, which is often standard police practice to ensure suspects are easily located, but would have made them disorientated at interview.
[36] In one case, George Lewis, the custody sheet has a line marking the paper where his hand has clearly been knocked to prevent him striking out the statement saying he had agreed not to have a solicitor present.
[40] Allegations were made in the early 1980s that SCS officers placed plastic bags over the heads of suspects, and covered their mouths, in order to partially suffocate them and extract a confession.
Explanations for the decline in violence may include that it proved counter-productive, as evidence of physical abuse could be recorded and presented in court and that psychological pressure in obtaining confessions could be just as effective.
Paul Fitzsimmons alleges that he was threatened while in prison with rearrest on release unless he supported the police's account of solicitors asking for bribes in another case, that of Ronnie Bolden.
[b] Hassan Khan claimed that he was told during his journey back from arrest in North Wales, that he would be beaten up and treated in the same way as the Birmingham Six, and was going to meet the person who dealt with them.
Her children were brought to the police station, despite prior agreement that they were to stay with their grandmother, with the effect of making her extremely concerned about how they were being treated.
[49] His defence presented forensic evidence from an ESDA examination showing that his statement may have been tampered with, adding a one line confession from Dandy.
According to Chris Mullin, recounting the events in Parliament, Salt most likely died after a bout of heavy drinking while on duty led to his collapse.
Mullin states that Berry made four statements, which gradually increased the number and involvement of one to three black men in the incident, one of whom was said to have dreadlocks.
[44] At a press conference the day after the death, Assistant Chief Constable Meffen "asserted that PC Salt had broken cover to check a suspect car and was set upon by a person or persons with martial arts skills, dragged into the alley and beaten to death" although these details did not appear in any of the statements made by PC Mark Berry.
Mullin stated: Mr. Gibbs ... describes how, once he had agreed to admit the thefts, he was carefully rehearsed in what he was to say once the recorder was switched on: "They were saying you can either do it peacefully or we can do it rough.
Perkins allegedly refused to allow Lewis a solicitor, threatened him, punched him and demanded that he sign blank interview sheets.
Twitchell claimed at trial that police had "handcuffed him to the back legs of a chair he was sitting on and placed a plastic bag over his head, the material pressed to his nose and mouth.
He had spent ten years in jail when his conviction was quashed on the basis that his confession was extracted by Detective Sergeant James, whose evidence had been found to be unreliable in three other cases.
However, the Appeal Judges noted that in the light of Vincent Hickey's confessions to being present at the farm where Bridgewater was shot dead "we consider that there remains evidence on which a reasonable jury properly directed could convict.