header-logo header-logo

23 October 2019 / Michael Zander KC
Issue: 7861 / Categories: Features , Criminal
printer mail-detail

Operation Midland: a silver lining?

9870
Michael Zander QC on a neglected aspect of the IOPC’s much-criticised report on search warrants obtained in Operation Midland
  • Though widely criticised, the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s report on the Metropolitan Police Service’s handling of Operation Midland contained a series of recommendations which, despite being overlooked, could prove highly useful.

Operation Kentia was the investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) of an aspect of the Metropolitan Police’s disastrous handling in its Operation Midland of the lurid claims made by paedophile Carl Beech (aka ‘Nick’). The question was whether three officers had breached the ‘duties and responsibilities’ standard of professional behaviour.

The IOPC’s report, published earlier this month, was widely condemned as a ‘whitewash’, ‘wholly inadequate’ and evidence that the IOPC itself was ‘not fit for purpose’. I do not deal here with those criticisms, which have been extensively canvassed elsewhere. Rather, my purpose is to look at the recommendations made by the IOPC at the end of its report—which have received no attention

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
back-to-top-scroll