back to article Scotland Yard Four cleared - on phone-hacking

Erstwhile Met Police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and his one-time colleagues – John Yates, Andy Hayman and Peter Clarke – have all been cleared of misconduct during an inquiry by the cop watchdog into the phone-hacking scandal at News International. The Independent Police Complaints Commission concluded that Stephenson, …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Mushroom

    well theres a suprise

    Woman gets 5 months for taking a pair of nicked trainers worth a few quid, plod gets let off for taking bribes in the form of spa breaks worth £19,000 wasnt it?

    guy gets arrested for wanting to organise a water gun fight, plod gets off even after being filmed smacking a peaceful protestor 1/2 his size twice with a baton.

    Guy loses TWO jobs for tweeting a joke about wanting to firebomb Nottingham Airport, plod gets let off for killing a Brazilian electrician and then photoshopping his picture to make him look like the guy they SHOULD have been following...

    says a lot about this country really....

    1. NukEvil
      Black Helicopters

      And yet...

      ...you will still do nothing about it.

      1. Cameron Colley

        @NukEvil

        What are YOU doing about it? I'd love to hear, because from where I'm sitting there's not an awful lot can be done about it.

        1. Intractable Potsherd

          Yes, NukEvil ...

          ... enlighten us as to what can be done about this. I am sure I'm not the only one that will take any realistic suggestion very seriously.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Thumb Up

            Two classes of things for starters

            1) Direct: cancel all spend with Murdoch-aligned companies (Sky, the Times, etc)

            2) Indirect: As worked so well with the NotW last edition: tell Murdoch-associated advertisers you won't buy from them while they advertise with Murdoch.

            Is that the kind of thing you're looking for?

          2. stu 19
            Happy

            What can be done?

            RIOT of course !!

            Does the smiley face protect me from being arrested for inciting riots?

    2. IsJustabloke
      Stop

      I refuse to enoble a simple forum post!

      no, it says a lot about plod looking after their own.

      I imagine "the country" as represented by its people, IE you and I would rather see them punished, probably more harshly given their positions of responsibility.

    3. Anonymous Coward 101
      Happy

      I think we should...

      ...torture ALL police to DEATH to punish them for crimes they may or may not have committed. For how can there be justice if there is a policeman alive who is not manacled to a stretching rack?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Its all the 'scope' of the investigation

    Did you do anything technically illegal? No there you go job done

    Did you carry out your duties to the best of your ability without interference or influence for any others? No. Oh well just resign that will stop any further investigations so don't worry about it.

    disappointed but not surprised.

    1. Bumpy Cat
      FAIL

      Indeed

      They didn't actually break the law - they simply were incompetent in a way that was strangely convenient to people who gave them gifts.

    2. Magnus_Pym

      Hrumph

      If you work for HMRC at the lowest level it is made quite clear when you join that you cannot accept anything from anybody. Just no. Anything that might be construed as bring the service into disrespect is a sacking offence.

      So. Lowly civil service filing clerk - instant sacking, Police Commissioner not-so-much. Broken Britain indeed.

      1. stu 19

        Lodge Gifts

        anything passing from hand to hand (or .... eeeww mouth) in the lodge, is lodge (rolled up trouser leg ) business and does not constitute bribery of any kind. Rather its better to think of it as Lodge Love, the brotherly sharing of cash, ladies and expensive booze.

        Hang on, time to join up!!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      WTF?

      'anything technically illegal?'

      I guess what is technically illegal is in the eyes of the beholder. And i believe the eyes of the beholder here were not working.

      Anti corruption laws are quite strightforward in this country. Even if something could be perceived as a bribe it should be refused. I guess the police aren't that up to date on their anti-corruption laws.

      Makes the whole Phorm fiasco look even dodgier now

  3. Ru
    Unhappy

    And they wonder why they have a poor public image.

    Every year the 'us and them' divide gets bigger.

  4. Owen Carter
    Holmes

    'Cleared'

    I seem to be confused; the title says 'Cleared', and this will no doubt be the word used by many in the media.

    But as I read through it; it seems more likely that the investigation has been ended because these people have pre-emptively resigned and therefore the IPCC can take a position that it has no authority to investigate further.

    It is manifestly deciding not to pursue certain lines of inquiry which may lead to real evidence against them on this basis.. And is saying the any further investigation must be done by the government inquiry (how convenient; pass the buck back to the politicos).

    1. L1feless

      Well done...

      "I seem to be confused; the title says 'Cleared', and this will no doubt be the word used by many in the media.

      But as I read through it; it seems more likely that the investigation has been ended because these people have pre-emptively resigned and therefore the IPCC can take a position that it has no authority to investigate further.

      It is manifestly deciding not to pursue certain lines of inquiry which may lead to real evidence against them on this basis.. And is saying the any further investigation must be done by the government inquiry (how convenient; pass "

      Well said. I was going to say something very similar.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. stu 19
        Happy

        I was going to say something similar

        But I can't manifest the intelligence to write well enough.

  5. Northwald
    Holmes

    Reciprical benefits

    Regarding (Sir) Paul S's conduct, surely the acid test for any benefit in kind is to assess what a person receiving a benefit can do i return. So, if a beat cop is given a free kebab, what can he be expected to do in return - probably very little. Therefore, what obligation is PS under to the spa owner? Both worry me, and this just suggests that PS jumped before he was found out!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Gosh, I am surprised.

    Considering the number of arrested and questioned by the subsequent NOTW investigations, YOTY has not been found to have done anything wrong, so he must just be crap at his job.

    How do you get to such a high position when you can't do the job, another investigation needed?

  7. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Resigned so no further investigation

    M'lud I would like to make the point that my client Mr Nosher Harris retired immediately after pulling the Brixton bank job and so no further investigation is warranted.

  8. James Micallef Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    Quelle surprise...

    Pilate would have been proud

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No surprise there then.

    What I wonder is why no one is asking the bigger question "where did the hackers get the mobile phones numbers from ,in order to then hack them ?" . I think that is the question is being avoided because I guess the answer leads to the Police.

  10. schnide
    Facepalm

    What..

    ..an absolute pisstake. This is an embarrassment to all decent beat cops everywhere, especially in the wake of the riots.

  11. This post has been deleted by its author

  12. Jemma
    WTF?

    "but I didnt do it...."

    " I only said I did it so they'd take my nuts out of the Cobra tank..."

    The Police are nothing more than a joke now. Its so bad its embarrassing. I live in the town where that kid was arrested for planning a water fight ffs - even 1000 water pistols do not make a regiment of M16/M203s.. whats the charge? Going equipped to give someone a cold? Thanks Mason, you've changed Colchester from the oldest recorded town in England to, in the eyes of the world, the dumbest, in one fell swoop. Congrats on that, im sure you will get the keys to the town for this days work. My great great (great?) uncle was the Mayor of the town in the late 1800s early 1900s, poor old Uncle Wilson must be spinning in his grave fast enough to light half of Highwoods...

    The police are corrupt from top to bottom and thats giving them the best of it - the worst is probably not pronounceable in polite company. Even Gene "spastic in a magnet factory" Hunt would be preferable to this shower.

    Ooh look, I completely mullered my job, took bribes and basically acted like a criminal in public office - so I'll resign and get off scot free. Thats what it amounts to.

    The police are not respected and havent been for a long time, feared yes, but those are two different things. I might also venture to suggest, that the fear is also beginning to wear away, helped in no small part by idiotic arrests such as the Colchester lad who was apparently going to start the next armageddon with a bunch of mates armed with water pistols...

    And why is nothing being done? because the majority of people who have nothing to do with the police still think they are mixture between frigging Camberwick Green and Mrs Marple and that the sun shines out of their righteous behinds. The reality is somewhat different, and the faster the general populace realise that the only safety the police have any interest is their own, the better things will be.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Err...

      "And why is nothing being done? because the majority of people who have nothing to do with the police still think they are mixture between frigging Camberwick Green and Mrs Marple and that the sun shines out of their righteous behinds."

      Whereas your opinion of the Police is well reasoned and balanced? Do you even know any Policenem/women?

      No, really, when was the last time that something like the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad happened? When was the last time that something like the Battle of the Beanfield happened? When did the Police last behave like they did during the Miners' Strike? You can cite some specific idiocies, but other than that it's all just generalities. Sure, some Police aren't the best advertisements for the force, but you also seem to overlook the real efforts that the Police have made to root out corruption within their forces (Ali Desai for instance). And the fact that noone "falls down the stairs" while in custody anymore.

      I'm fairly happy with living in a country where the worst Policing scandal in the last ten or twenty years is "some coppers sold some information to some reporters." That's not to say that I'm happy it happened, but it's not exactly on a par with some of the outrages that happen around the world.

      Anyway, commence the downvoting.

      1. Anonymous Coward 101
        Thumb Up

        AC 12:11 - You hit the nail on the head

        The hyperbole machine was in overdrive on this thread.

        People act as though the police are massively corrupt, but really the worst acts of corruption are long gone. The quality of police work has generally improved from the last few decades as well. You can certainly find incompetent or corrupt policing - but the trend is for these incidents to become less common and less severe when they do occur.

        A lot of people want to believe the police are getting worse but it ain't true.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    This is getting way out of control.

    David Cameron calling for state shutdown of communications.

    Theresa May calling for police powers to impose curfews.

    Ian Duncan Smith calling for suspension of benefits.

    These aren't some back bench nutters desperately trying to grab some attention, these are arguably the three most powerful politicians in Britain. I find this extremely concerning. If this is the sort of power crazed thuggery they are willing to call for openly then what draconian measures are they considering in private?

    Someone needs to stop this lunacy before we see a systematic stripping of our freedom and the imposition of a police state.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Well said schnide (and Owen Carter)

    The Scottish legal verdict of "not proven" would seem far more appropriate in the circumstances than the "not guilty" implied in the article's headline.

    Anyway, the show isn't over until the red-haired lady sings. Which, given the state of irritation at m'learned friends Bluebottle and Lewis, may not be far off.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Got away with it?

    For anything short of criminal charges isn't the most severe punishment for any wrongdoing being sacked? And they jumped before they were pushed... Hardly getting away with it.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Police clear police of wrongdoing

    Self-regulation at its best

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Err?

      You do know what the I stands for in IPCC?

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    "they jumped before they were pushed... Hardly getting away with it."

    Well that depends.

    What state are these folks pensions in, for example? As they weren't dismissed, their pensions are probably doing very nicely thank you.

    Contrast that with (say) the 40,000+ mostly perfectly honest ex-Nortel UK employees whose employers went bust a couple of years ago, leaving the Nortel UK pension scheme with a £2bn+ deficit owing to missed company contributions. That's 40,000 plus employees not knowing whether their pension fund (deferred wages, in legal terms) is worth tuppence.

    Are plod investigating this theft? Of course not; when it's big business doing the thieving (not rioters with no expensive lawyers), it's OK by the powers that be.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      What has that got to do with it?

      A bit of a straw man, if ever I read one.

      The Nortel pension scheme has nothing whatsoever to do with the pension of the Police you are talking about. The underfunding of the Nortel pension scheme is not a crime, it would also have been reported in the annual pension fund account statement, sent to every member of the scheme.

  18. Intractable Potsherd
    Unhappy

    I have held for several years now ...

    ... that the 'I' in IPCC stands for "Ineffectual" (or sometimes "Incompetent") and one of the 'C's rhymes with "punts". I see no reason at all to change my mind. Getting one of those paramilitary uniforms makes one untouchable - the basic requirement for a police state.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    "The underfunding of the Nortel pension scheme is not a crime"

    There was a legal obligation on Nortel UK to make contributions to the fund.

    Those contributions were not made.

    The finest lawyers money can buy may not regard that as criminal, but anyone with a clue would.

    Law .ne. justice

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      err...

      Yes, but that's not the whole story. Contributions holidays are legal and the values of pension funds go up and down with the value of the investments. Also funds are not usually allowed to overfund. Currently both pensions I have are underfunded with arrangements to improve the funding ratio.

  20. Sam Therapy
    Thumb Down

    IPCC

    My own experience with the IPCC left me in absolutely no doubt that, for the most part, the police can do what they like and get away with it. A solicitor advised me that there's absolutely no point pursuing a complaint against the police unless there's been a death, and even then, chances of success are 50/50 at best.

    The entire organization is corrupt from top to bottom.

    Excuse me while I put "Copkiller" on repeat play.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    "it's all just generalities. "

    Maybe.

    When did you last read about the 'anti-terrorist' arm of ACPO Ltd running a selection of undercover cops in legitimate peaceful protest organisations, operations which led to the arrest and trial of dozens of members of those organisations, and then the trials collapsing when the undercover cop came out and threatened to reveal more than he should?

    You might want to look up who at ACPO Ltd was in charge of those operations. His name has been around a bit lately in a different context.

    Not to mention JC de Menezes, Ian Tomlinson, and... well you get the gist.

    I've met and worked with my local frontline cops and have no problem with them, but then I'm in the West Midlands not the Met, and they're junior folks not senior folks.

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