Crime and Corruption at The Yard


Book Description

During David Woodland's 19 years' service with the Metropolitan Police, the 'thin blue line' came under intense pressure. In addition to the routine caseload of gang crime, murder and armed robbery, Irish terrorist groups launched a vicious and prolonged terror campaign.??The Author, a Detective Inspector in the Crime Intelligence Branch at New Scotland Yard, witnessed a series of major scandals. He reveals why many otherwise honest detectives strove to rectify defects in the law that allowed professional criminals to evade justice. When Sir Robert Marks, the newly appointed Police Commissioner, described the CID as 'the most routinely corrupt organisation in London', there may have been more than an element of truth in his extraordinary claim but it devastated the public's credibility in the CID. ??Using his own cases and experience, he demonstrates the difficulties faced by a depleted, demoralised Police Force not least 'the enemy within'. ??Crime and Corruption at The Yard is a gripping, shocking and instructive insider's account of sharp end police work. Salutary lessons are learnt about the effect of PC and 'human rights' on the preservation of law and order.




Crossing the Line of Duty


Book Description

The first book to make use of police archives to tell the story of how rampant corruption led to the downfall of the Met Police's infamous Flying Squad




Bent Coppers


Book Description

The inside story of a secret unit that has worked under cover to expose corruption in the Metropolitan Police since the early 1990s - written by Graeme McLagan, contributor to THE REAL LINE OF DUTY. 'If you want a book that is genuinely 'unputdownable' read BENT COPPERS' Johnny Vaughan, THE SUN 'A very engaging read - the outrageous nature of bent cops' behaviour guarantees that' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH Shocked by the extent of corruption within its ranks, Scotland Yard set up a new anti-corruption unit in the early 1990s. Its members had to operate in conditions of unprecedented secrecy and they became known as the 'Ghost Squad'. Bent Coppers really did believe they were untouchable: they stole cash and property, fitted-up innocent people and sold secret information to cripple court cases. Many of the bent coppers are now in jail or awaiting trial but the battle against corruption is not over. Only now can the story of the 'Ghost Squad' be revealed. Award-winning BBC home affairs correspondent Graeme McLagan had followed the investigation since the beginning. He has interviewed undercover officers and many of the bent coppers they have exposed. this is the inside story of the 'Ghost Squad' and how it broke into the secret world of police corruption.




Scotland Yard's Flying Squad


Book Description

Published to coincide with the Flying Squad's CentenaryNo-holds barred history of the most celebrated police unit in the CountryWritten by acclaimed ex-Scotland Yard author with unrivalled contacts.Gripping accounts of police investigations into notorious crimes and criminals.The Flying Squad's exploits have been frequently dramatised by TV, film and other media.Strong possibility of supporting TV documentary and serialisation




The Hundred Yard Lie


Book Description

The lead college football writer for Sports Illustrated examines the myths that surround college football and obscure the reality of the game.




Untouchables


Book Description

With Scotland Yard in the dock, now more than ever the public needs to know why the police cannot be trusted to investigate their own corruption. Untouchables, a five year investigation which the Yard tried to stop, provides the essential context to the phone hacking and other scandals currently engulfing Britain's most powerful police force. Republished after seven years, it was the first book to question the cosy relationship between the Yard and sections of the media, to explain why cops are incapable of investigating themselves and to expose the lack of independence in the new police watchdog. From the 1983 Brinks Matt robbery, through the murders of Daniel Morgan, David Norris, Stephen Lawrence, Jill Dando and Damilola Taylor to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, Untouchables reveals the cover ups, double standards and miscarriages of justice during the Yard's phoney war on corruption. Sunday Times journalist Michael Gillard and TV producer Laurie Flynn expose how the discredited use of supergrasses in the war on corruption has re-emerged in the new wars on terror and crime, with the same disastrous effects: prosecution misconduct, collapsed trials, huge bills for the taxpayer, victims left without justice and the guilty walking free.




Legacy


Book Description

'Reveals criminal corruption on a scale that the Kray twins would never have dreamt of' John Pearson, Profession of Violence, The Rise and Fall of the Kray Twins 'Gillard's detailed investigation makes for a stunning and shocking read' Barry Keeffe, The Long Good Friday 'Legacy illustrates the sordid links between business, politics and organised crime' Ioan Grillo, El Narco and Gangster Warlords When billions poured into the neglected east London borough hosting the 2012 Olympics, a turf war broke out between crime families for control of a now valuable strip of land. Using violence, guile and corruption, one gangster, the Long Fella, emerged as a true untouchable. A team of local detectives made it their business to take him on until Scotland Yard threw them under the bus and the business of putting on 'the greatest show on earth' won the day. Protecting the Olympic legacy by covering up a scandal of suspicious deaths and corruption seemed more important than protecting Londoners from the predatory Long Fella and his friends in suits. For others at Scotland Yard, the crime lord was simply too big and too dangerous to take on. Award-winning journalist Michael Gillard took up where they left off to expose the tangled web of chief executives, big banks, politicians and dirty money where innocent lives are destroyed and the guilty flourish. Gillard's efforts culminated in a landmark court case, which finally put a spotlight on the Long Fella and his friends and exposed London's real Olympic legacy.




Corrupt Bodies


Book Description

** SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA'S ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION ** In 1985, Peter Everett landed the job as Superintendent of Southwark Mortuary. In just six years he'd gone from lowly assistant to running the UK's busiest murder morgue. He couldn't believe his luck. What he didn't know was that Southwark, operating in near-Victorian conditions, was a hotbed of corruption. Attendants stole from the dead, funeral homes paid bribes, and there was a lively trade in stolen body parts and recycled coffins. Set in the fascinating pre-DNA and psychological profiling years of 1985-87, this memoir tells a gripping and gruesome tale, with a unique insight into a world of death most of us don't ever see. Peter managed pathologists, oversaw post mortems and worked alongside Scotland Yard's Murder Squad - including on the case of the serial killer, the Stockwell Strangler. This is a thrilling tale of murder and corruption in the mid-1980s, told with insight and compassion.




The Guv'nors


Book Description

The ten Scotland Yard detectives, featured in The Guvnors, are unique. Such a group of intrepid crime-busters will never exist again. They possessed only the most rudimentary education; none had a degree. Intuition and knowledge of their manor counted for more than DNA and databases. They worked tirelessly in the pursuit of criminals, used informants, worked on hunches and grabbed hold of investigations and shook them until every piece of evidence was unearthed. Criminals trembled when these detectives were after them because, once they were nicked, they stayed nicked.The Guvnors covers legends such as Fred Wensley, who nailed strips of bicycle tyres to the soles of his boots when on the look-out for Jack the Ripper. He later formed the Flying Squad and became chief constable of the CID. Fred Sharpe would single-handedly confront forty of the worst racetrack gangsters and tell them to clear off, anyone who refused would collect a punch on the jaw. Sharpe later became head of the Flying Squad, as did Bob Fabian, who was awarded the Kings Police Medal for dismantling an IRA bomb.Bert Wickstead, known as The Gangbuster, literally terrorised the gangs who attempted to fill the void in Londons East End, after the demise of the Kray bothers.This is a book which will delight those who want to know what life was like when The Guvnors and others like them were in charge of law and order and the streets were far safer than they are today.




Scotland Yard


Book Description

A riveting true-crime history of London's first modern police force as told through its most notorious murder cases. The idea of "Scotland Yard" is steeped in atmospheric stories of foggy London streets, murder by lamplight, and fiendish killers pursued by gentleman detectives. From its establishment in 1829 through the eve of World War II, Scotland Yard—the world’s first modern, professional, and centrally organized police force—set new standards for policing and investigating. Scotland Yard advanced ground-breaking use of forensics—from fingerprints to ballistics to evidence collection—made the first attempt at criminal profiling, and captivated the public on both sides of the Atlantic with feats of detective work that rivaled any fictional interpretation. Based on official case files, contemporary newspaper reporting, trial transcripts, and the first-hand accounts of the detectives on the beat, Scotland Yard tells the tales of some of history’s most notorious murders—with cases that proved to be landmarks in the field of criminal inquiry.