Page 125 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

According to Yvonne Fletcher’s old friend and colleague, John Murray, look
no further than Libya’s abundant oil wells.

“Trade has trumped justice. Oil is more expensive that blood. We are doing a
lot of trade with a country that is harbouring a police killer. That is outrageous
and completely against the principles of any civilised country.”

Diplomats insist that oil deals have never been prioritised in Britain’s
negotiations with Libya, and that Yvonne Fletcher’s case is brought up at
every opportunity.

But the police investigation has clearly been hindered by the thorny
relationship between the two countries. As the programme reveals, even
though Libya agreed to help the Metropolitan Police with their inquiries in
1999, it was another seven years before officers could interview any suspects
and eye witnesses in Libya.

Even allowing for the dedication of the officers investigating the case, with
such limited progress, there appears to be little imminent prospect of anyone
being brought to justice for this brutal murder.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

A return to routine beat work was welcome respite and a distraction from all
the travelling and waiting around of the Mutual Aid trips.

As a self-confessed impatient workaholic, the one aspect of uniform duties I
struggled with, was what I considered to be an excessive amount of
unproductive wasted time. Court attendance was a typical case in point. If a
case was scheduled for 10:00am, all that meant was it was in the list of cases
to be heard FROM 10:00am. If your case was last to appear, this meant
waiting around for hours on end for the case to be dealt with. Added to this
might be the frustration that after all that, the case was either put off or
police attendance was no longer required.

When blessed with a clear 8 hour shift ahead of me, I was always keen to fill it
with productive policing, activity that would lead to an enquiry resulting in an
arrest, preferably for crime, the aspect of the job where I felt most fulfilled.
Senseless crimes without any motive or monetary gain, such as wanton
criminal damage infuriated me. Those who smashed up bus shelters and
telephone boxes, or sprayed graffiti would annoy the heck out of me for the
social damage it caused the community. These were the most cowardly
actions and frustratingly, the most difficult to detect.

Burglars and thieves were my favourite targets. Breaking into a family home Page125
to steal hard-earned valuables of householders was unforgiveable to my