UK Policing News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8580211.stm Alleged victim fails to attend G20 police trial Sgt Smellie is charged with common assault The trial of a police officer accused of assaulting a G20 protester was halted after the alleged victim failed to turn up to give her evidence. Metropolitan Police sergeant Delroy Smellie, 47, was due to go on trial charged with common assault during protests in April 2009. Nicola Fisher was unwilling to attend Westminster Magistrates Court and could not be contacted, the court heard. The case was adjourned so prosecutors can try to find Ms Fisher. Prosecutor Nick Paul argued the witness statement she gave to the Indep…

A GIRL of 18 has been stabbed to death in the street - the third London teen to be murdered in ten days. Pretty sixth-former Aliza Ahmad Mirza was found face down in a pool of blood. Last night police were grilling the college student's 17-year-old boyfriend and a man aged 45 on suspicion of murder. Two women, one 41 and the other aged 20, were being quizzed with another man, 42, over an alleged plot to kill the girl. A witness who saw Aliza's body in Manor Park, East London, said: "She was lying face down on the pavement and her hair was covering her face. There was so much blood." A neighbour said: "I heard screaming but thought it was kids messing around." Parame…

A man aged 37 was being questioned yesterday about the death of a schoolgirl found stabbed and throttled in a bedroom. The body of Tia Rigg, 12, was found on Saturday afternoon at an end-of- terrace home on an estate in Cheetham, Manchester, after emergency services received a 999 call. She was "clearly dead" when police reached the house and had suffered repeated stab wounds to the chest and neck and strangulation injuries. The man, described as a loner and named locally as John Maden, is thought to be the uncle of the dead girl. Tia was a Manchester United fan who had reportedly visited the house to watch the football match against Chelsea on television. Detective Su…

Up to 46 posts could be cut in the Metropolitan Police's finance department in a bid to save £2m, it has been revealed. An internal review of the force's financial services department said it was dysfunctional with too many staff and levels of management. The proposals aim to streamline the back-office operation. The Met has already proposed a raft of measures to address a yearly £255m budget deficit. Commenting on the latest plans, a police spokesman said: "The Met recognises the need to reduce costs and free resources for frontline policing. "Improved service" "As part of the Met's overall budget savings and to better improve our finance services for the org…

Two men who used their dogs to savage police officers have each been jailed for five years. Pc Scott Tiffin suffered "horrific" injuries in the attack in September 2009, Wood Green Crown Court heard. Mehmet Koc, 19, and Matthew Joannou, 20, both of north London, let the pitbull-type dogs bite three officers. They admitted causing grievous bodily harm, unlawful wounding and two counts of having a dog dangerously out of control in a public place. The pair, both of Newland Haringey, allowed their two dogs to attack Pc Tiffin after he came off duty in Wood Green, north London, at about 0445 BST after he worked at the Notting Hill carnival. As they walked past him in C…

Police are refusing to reveal the identities of sex offenders who are on the run - because it would be an invasion of their privacy. Four registered sex offenders have been on the run for as long as two years after disappearing from their homes in the North-East. But confusion over whether the wanted criminals should be identified means that just one of them has been made known to the public, sparking fury among victim's groups. Cleveland Police was the only force that agreed to issue the name and photograph of a man who has been missing since last year. Northumbria Police refused to identify two offenders on the run and North Yorkshire Police will decide today if iss…

An 11-year-old who was repeatedly stabbed to death in Manchester has been named as Tia Rigg. Tia was found dead at a house on Dalmain Close, Cheetham Hill, on Saturday night. A 37-year-old man is being questioned on suspicion of murder. Sky reporter Tessa Chapman said: "When they [police officers] arrived there, they found the body of this girl and we understand she suffered multiple stab wounds. "There are already forensics officers going in and out of the relatively new terraced house where she was found. It's about a mile away from the city centre. "I understand the 37-year-old man arrested over the murder is related to the victim." Chief Superintendent John O'Ha…

04-Apr-10 A teenage boy was battered, robbed and left stripped naked by a gang, police have said...... The victim, aged 17, suffered a fractured skull after being beaten with a metal bar and a chair leg during the attack. He was knocked unconscious and woke up minutes later to find himself naked after suspects had stripped him and thrown his clothes away. He was robbed of just £11 during the attack, at around 5pm on Tuesday on the Abraham Moss playing fields in Crumpsall, Manchester. He was was taken to North Manchester Hospital where he received treatment for a fractured skull. The only description he has been able to give police is that one of his attackers was a…

Man who raped Sheffield woman has sentence cut A rapist who left a disabled woman from South Yorkshire with life-threatening injuries has had his prison sentence nearly halved by the Court of Appeal. Jeremiah Sheridan, of Billericay, Essex, was 18 when he attacked the cerebral palsy sufferer in her home in Stocksbridge, Sheffield, in 1991. A police cold case team found evidence which led to his conviction last July. On Wednesday, the appeal court said his 16-and-a-half-year sentence was excessive and reduced it to nine years. Sheridan, who is now 37, admitted the rape at Sheffield Crown Court. Emergency surgery Lord Justice Elias, sitting with Mr Justice Jack and J…

TOUGH powers to crack down on aggressive begging in some of the borough's top retail streets have been granted to the police. For the next six months a Dispersal Zone Order will be in place in Brompton, South Kensington, as a continuance to an order put in place in April 2009. Problem drinkers, beggars and intimidating groups will all be targeted by the police especially in trouble spots such as outside and around the Harrods store. People who break the rules of the order can face three months in prison and a fine of up to £2,500. This is the third time the order has been renewed by Kensington and Chelsea Council and so far the extra powers have banned 214 people f…

A robber from Shepherd's Bush faces years in prison for taking part in a lucrative armed heist at Heathrow airport. Barry Hibberd and three other men were found guilty on Wednesday of the warehouse robbery six years ago, in which they escaped with more than £1m in sterling and £700,000 in foreign currency. Members of the six-strong gang were already under surveillance by Flying Squad officers when they targeted the Menzies warehouse in February 2004, but detectives could not stop the night-time raid from happening as they did not know when the men would strike. The seasoned criminals gained access to the air-side site with help from an insider, Darren Brockwell, wh…

A bride-to-be confined to a wheelchair by a road smash which killed her fiance condemned Britain's 'joke justice' system today after the driver who caused the tragedy was jailed for three years. Nikki Thomas, 47, was left with crippling injuries after she and husband-to-be Roy Ashton were thrown from their motorbike in a head collision with a man behaving 'like a Formula one driver'. But yesterday 20-year-old driver Stuart Halliday, who pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, was sentenced to three years in jail, with the possibility of being released in 18 months on good behaviour. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12...l#ixzz0jliuRgSr…

THE Daniel crime clan are prime suspects after a police station was firebombed in a bid to destroy a £65,000 car seized from slain hood Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll. The mob have vowed to torch the Audi AS7, which is being used by Strathclyde Police's gangs taskforce in operations against them. Thugs lobbed a petrol bomb into a high-security car park at Maryhill police station on Thursday afternoon. Less than 24 hours later, another was thrown into the same car park but no damage was done. One source said: "The Daniels either know or believe the Audi is there. They want it destroyed. "They're furious that cops are rubbing their noses in it by running about in Gerbil's car…