Wensley Clarkson - Line of Duty: The Real Story of British Police Corruption

WENSLEY CLARKSON has investigated numerous crimes across the world for the past thirty years and exposed many criminals and crooked police officers. His research has included prison visits, surveillance operations, police raids and even post-mortems. Clarksons books published in more than thirty countries have sold more than 2 million copies. He has made numerous documentaries in the UK, US, Australia and Spain, and written TV and movie screenplays. Clarksons recent book, Sexy Beasts about the infamous Hatton Garden heist was nominated for a Crime Writers Association Dagger Award.

www.wensleyclarkson.com

Praise for the author

This is a lurid tale... yet Clarkson tells it in a way that makes it nothing short of fascinating.

Independent on Sunday on Bindon

Utterly compelling.

Evening Standard on Hit Em Hard

A thrilling glimpse into a hidden world of money, power, glamour and violence.

Sun on Killing Charlie

Reveals a fascinating life, albeit savage and ultimately wasted.

Loaded on Killer on the Road

Bindon emerges from Clarksons portrait as a true gent, if a ferociously violent one, with an unsettling sense of humour.

Daily Telegraph on Bindon

Sensational stuff.

Sun on The Crossing

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This edition first published in 2020

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-78946-341-5

eBook ISBN: 978-1-78946-342-2

Audio ISBN: 978-1-78946-370-5

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Text copyright Wensley Clarkson 2020

The right of Wensley Clarkson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright-holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers would be glad to hear from them.

John Blake Publishing is an imprint of Bonnier Books UK

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Many real-life crimes including murder have been committed by the UKs corrupt police. So to all the families of their victims I say, Youre not forgotten.

AUTHORS NOTE

T he words were scrawled on a blank page inside one of my bestselling true crime books, sent to me by an under-world contact. The note read: Wensley Clarkson has printed loads of lies about me in his books and caused untold damage. The tables will turn one day.

The gangster who wrote this chilling threat is an infamous UK crime boss, who sees himself as invincible because he allegedly has so many corrupt police officers in his pocket. He was angry at my efforts to expose the role of some of his favourite crooked coppers in a notorious murder.

This particular police corruption case revolved around a cold-blooded killing that shocked this nation and continues to cause outrage and disgust more than a quarter of a century later. And despite almost forty years of allegedly bribing the police, this same gang boss who threatened me has never actually been prosecuted for any offence linked to police corruption.

Today, Scotland Yards Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) originally called A10 before becoming CIB1, then CIB2 is the modern-day, real-life equivalent of TVs Line of Duty AC-12 anti-corruption unit.

In the past, such anti-corruption units have earned nicknames like Ghost Squad and The Untouchables, their detectives known as the rubber heels because of the unobtrusive way in which they had to operate. In days gone by, officers on these specialised units were even dismissively described by many cynical colleagues in other departments as The Muppets.

Other UK forces also have their own versions of Scotland Yards DPS, although smaller, provincial forces tend to pool their resources, and in todays supposedly more open atmosphere, the existence of such units is now well known.

In Line of Duty: The Real Story Ive used the success of the unique TV drama series to highlight the murky world of real-life police corruption, which so often gets swept under the carpet.

Ive been writing true-crime books for more than thirty years and in that time Ive met criminals of all shapes and sizes. But my encounters with crooked police officers were often the most chilling. Theyre virtually impossible to interview openly, so, on some occasions, Ive had to secretly tape record their confessions and even that was a risky enterprise because many of them were clearly prone to violence. One so-called bent copper got so paranoid that he pushed me against a wall and started frisking me, only to stop when one of his colleagues intervened.

On the official police side, its clear that many officers find it hard even in this day and age to come to terms with the corruption that has existed within the UKs police services for many generations. As a result, a lot of police officers try to avoid the subject like the plague. Retired officers even fear losing their police pensions if they speak out. Therefore, some events in this book have been dramatised in order to protect incidents and the identities of the individuals concerned.

Even those officers whove done nothing whatsoever wrong were reluctant to contribute officially to this book. As one put it: Corruption is such a grey area inside the police. Many would say there was no smoke without fire if any officer talked openly about it.

No wonder then that TVs Line of Duty has played such a pivotal role in helping to educate normal law-abiding citizens about the real-life crooked officers in our midst. Such activities are now a talking point for millions of fans of the show.

Some gangsters I interviewed claimed that crooked cops actually posed a bigger threat to their lives than any rival criminals. One explained: Crooked cops tend to be cold-blooded bastards. It comes with the territory. If you cross em, they come back at you really viciously and theyve got the power of the police behind them.

That means they can even put you away if you upset them. Also, bent cops can get their own gangster mates to pay you a visit. No wonder villains are not keen on grassing them up.

In this book well examine the character traits of real-life police officers alongside the intricate backstories constructed by creator Jed Mercurio for his Line of Duty investigators to make them believable to a TV audience.