There's not much that shocks me any more but this story from The Coffee House written by their new writer, Stephen Daisley, left me sitting here with my head in my hands. It concerns the murderous 'career' of Stephen Port, currently serving a 'whole of life sentence' which means he will never be released although, to quote a phrase, 'hanging would be too good for him'. I will leave you all to read the story which is sickening in two senses. First, his cruelty was abominable but, secondly, the Metropolitan Police lived down to their lowest reputation for lazy stupidity - if not worse!
Suffice to say here, that Stephen Port made a habit of enticing young homosexuals on dates during which he drugged them and then murdered them. He also had the habit of dumping the bodies in more or less the same place and actually reported 'finding' one of the bodies to his local police station in Barking, Essex. As Stephen Daisley tells it:
What makes these crimes particularly shocking is that the Metropolitan Police apparently had multiple chances to stop them and failed each and every time. Officers allegedly routinely ignored or dismissed information that could have led to Port’s apprehension. Unforgivably, they not only had Port in custody at one point, he was jailed for perverting the course of justice. And still he was able to carry out his murderous campaign under the noses of the authorities.
Despite complaints, and also useful evidence, from the families of the victims, the Metropolitan 'plods' of Barking ignored everything and Stephen Port kept up his killing spree. I have never been impressed with Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the clown-copper allegedly in charge of the Met Police and surely now is the time to sack him and remove his Knighthood.
Daisley's story of the Barking police instantly brought back memories of the early books of G. F. Newman whose tales of the working practices of the Met Police were later turned into a TV series. The first was written in 1970, about the time that I was leaving the army and considering joining the Met. Having read it, and although it was fictional it had the ring of truth, I breathed a sigh of relief to have missed that particular quagmire. Every policeman in Newman's tales was either stupid or lazy or bent - so no change there, then, as far as Barking police are concerned! According to Daisley, the Met have reported themselves to the Police Complaints Commission and 17 officers are under investigation.
Finally, to cheer you up if you live in the London area, the favourite to be Hogan-Howe's replacement as Metropolitan Commissioner is Cressida Dick, the female police officer who led the operation which resulted in a totally innocent man being shot dead! Need I say more?
"I have never been impressed with Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the clown-copper allegedly in charge of the Met Police and surely now is the time to sack him and remove his Knighthood."
That's a bit harsh. Give him a big dose of whatever Port plied his victims with, and leave him in a gay bar. That would send him back to work with a few new insights.
Posted by: Whyaxye | Saturday, 18 February 2017 at 14:07
Cressida Dick? A moon of Ur-anus Dick? Seriously?
The proper choice, of course, would have been Tracy.
This woman's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Dick, had a felonious sense of humor.
Posted by: TheBigHenry | Saturday, 18 February 2017 at 16:06
The first article I have seen by Stephen Daisley was a defence of John Bercow. I was not impressed.
Posted by: mike fowle | Sunday, 19 February 2017 at 07:18