Stolen cash made worthless by a hidden glue and dye soiling device. Photo: Met Police.

An automatic glue and dye spoiling technology making transit van robbery cash unusable led to the arrests in Deptford and Old Bailey convictions of three men who robbed a G4S delivery to Lloyds TSB in Southwark Park Road in January last year.

It started with a G4S worker being pushed from behind and knocked off balance. The cash box was grabbed by a robber who ran off towards Ambrose Street. The Old Bailey heard less than an hour later, five men including Amponsah, Ocaya and Collins were seen getting out of a white transit van in a car park in Watergate Street, Deptford.

Ocaya take the security cash box from the back of the van and placed it on the floor. The men then forced open the box but this only activated the hidden glue and dye device and in an instant all the money inside became worthless.

Plain clothes police officers moved in to make arrests.

Detective Constable Lee Davison, of the Flying Squad, said: “The outcome of this investigation represents a determined effort by Flying Squad officers and our partners in the cash in transit industry, to apprehend those responsible, and bring them to justice.”

“Unfortunately for these men the glue technology deployed in this cash box rendered the money useless and due to the quick work of our officers they were arrested,” he said.

Detective Superintendent Nick Stevens, from the Flying Squad, said: “The conviction should assist in deterring other criminals who think that committing cash in transit robberies are a quick and easy way to get cash. This latest technology is a new weapon in the fight against cash-in-transit robberies and adds to the Flying Squad’s already excellent partnership work with the industry which has seen the number of such robberies consistently fall significantly year on year. ”

Daniel Collins found guilty of robbery. Photo: Met Police

Gavin Windsor, Risk Director at G4S, confirmed the significant fall in cash robberies: “A contributing factor is the close working relationship that the security industry has with the Met to tackle crime. The shared intelligence and continued introduction of new technology means that the chances of being caught and convicted are higher than ever. It’s particularly pleasing to see from this case how the recently-introduced glue solution in cash boxes ensures that any money stolen becomes completely unusable for the criminal, effectively removing any reward for committing cash in transit CIT crime.”

Baffour Amponsah & Brian Ocaya. Photo: Met Police

Baffour Amponsah, 25, of Reigate Road pleaded guilty to robbery at an earlier hearing. Brian Ocaya, 28, of Southwark Park Road and Daniel Collins, 28, of Clifton Road have been found guilty of robbery. All three men are expected to be sentenced Wednesday 23 May.

Rally For Medium Reform (clockwise from top-left): Tom Watson MP, Hugh Grant, Jacqui Hanes, Richard Peppiatt, Mary-Ellen Field, Owen Jones Photos: Gao Xiwei

Anti-Murdoch campaigners are campaigning for a new legal and regulatory media landscape after Hackgate, and outlined their ideas in a Rally for Media Reform at Westminster Central Hall on Friday May 17.

Across town from News International’s Wapping base, the rally was organised by the Coordinating Committee for Media Reform and the Hacked Off campaign. A host of speakers were given five minutes each to put forward proposals to address the problems in the British media.

Sharing the platform among others were Labour and Conservative MPs Tom Watson and Peter Bottomley, ex Daily Star Reporter Richard Peppiatt and phone hacking victims Mary-Ellen Field, former Crimewatch presenter Jacqui Hames and actor Hugh Grant.

Watson and Grant have been two of the most vociferous opponents of News International during both the Leveson Enquiry and the Culture, Media and Sport Committee hearings on phone hacking. In his speech, Grant lambasted both police and press regulation failings. Watson called on the government to drive forward press changes but told the audience: “You are the start of a movement we have to build in the country to make sure once and for all we get proper and comprehensive media reform”

 Video: Olga Chwilowicz

Giving evidence to the Leveson Enquiry into press culture and ethics this morning, Watson said “about a dozen” MPs told him they had been unfairly targeted by the press. Also giving evidence today was former Home Secretary Alan Johnson, who said Scotland Yard were “lethargic” in their response to phone hacking in 2009. The Labour MP said that parliament should set up a regulatory system, like they do with the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

The reforms proposed by the Coordinating Committee for Media Reform focus on the need for diversity in the press, support for journalists and a new economic model based on levies from broadcasters, internet companies and mobile phone operators.

They demand that any company owning over 15 per cent of one media audience must have governance structures that are accountable to the public and they must provide public interest journalism. They also propose a News Publishing Commission to replace the Press Complaints Commission. As well as giving a statutory right of reply and complaints tribunal, the new body would have a conscience clause to deter journalists from unethical dealings.

A lack of diversity within the media was highlighted by the first speaker, Owen Jones, author of ‘Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class’. He said: ” Much of the media, especially national media, is becoming a closed shop for the professional middle class. The Sutton Trust  a few years ago did a study, where they looked at the top 100 journalists in this country, over half were privately educated. Just one in ten went to a comp.”

Owen said that the unpaid internship is a national scandal, asking: ” If you’re an aspiring working class journalist from Glasgow or Manchester, how can you hope to live  in London, one of the most expensive cities on earth for free? “. He said he hoped this campaign could build a media which is free from dominance and representative of all society.

After the rally, East London Lines spoke to members of the audience about what they had heard:

Click here to watch the Rally for Media Reform in full.

Pc Alex MacFarlane, wearing glasses and walking on the right. Photo: Delores William

The Metropolitan Police Officer based at Forest Gate Police station, E7, has pleaded not guilty to racially abusing a suspect during last summer’s riots. Pc Alex MacFarlane, 52, is charged with intending to cause harassment, alarm or distress to his victim as well as using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour.

Appearing at Westminster Magistrates Court in Marylebone this morning, MacFarlane gave his address as Forest Gate Police Station and did not stand in the dock. He elected trial by jury at the Crown Court. He has been granted bail until the 29 June, when he is due to appear at Southwark Crown Court.

The prosecution follows a review of racism complaints by the Metropolitan Police.

The Crown Prosecution Service had orginally decided not to charge him but reversed their decision in April. Mobile phone footage is alleged to have recorded an exchange between MacFarlane and Mauro Demetrio, 21, of Beckton, arrested on suspicion of drug driving during the riots. No further action was taken against Demetrio. It is alleged that the police officer said: ”The problem with you is you will always be a n*****, yeah?”.

Daniel Morgan murdered in Sydenham in March 1987. Photo: Met Police

A joint Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service report into the latest collapse of a trial of people accused of murdering private detective Daniel Morgan, 37,  in the car park of the Golden Lion pub, Sydenham, 1987, has highlighted failures to disclose evidence and mistakes in the handling of “supergrass witnesses.”

Daniel Morgan died from having an axe embedded in his skull. His killing 25 years ago remains one of the most notorious unsolved murder inquiries in the history of the Met.

Allegations of police corruption along with issues arising out of the Leveson Inquiry concerning the conduct of people hired by the former sunday newspaper, the News of the World, have mired the case in controversy.

Justice for Daniel campaign web site run by his brother Alastair Morgan.

Morgan’s brother Alastair has long campaigned for “Justice for Daniel.” He believes he was killed because he was about to expose police corruption. His brother’s former partner was one of three men acquitted at the Central Criminal Court in March last year,

The 147 page report recommends 17 reforms in practice and outlines a narrative of six separate police criminal investigations focusing on Daniel Morgan’s murder:  ”In the last twenty years over sixty people have been arrested, (some individuals more than once), twelve were for murder.” Yet not one person has been found guilty. It is estimated that £50 million have been spent on investigations and inquiries connected with the crime.

The purpose of the report was to identify “good practice and learning points that police officers and prosecutors could benefit from in the future.”  The review was not set up to “investigate allegations of corruption, nor was it intended to serve the purpose of an investigation for police disciplinary purposes.”

Joint Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Review in Operation Abelard II

The review also recommended “improvements in the archiving of police material and the control and direction of the investigation and prosecution.”

The report’s publication offers little comfort to Daniel’s brother Alastair and his family who had a meeting with prosecutors today. Alastair and his family have been reported as seeking a judicial public inquiry into what went wrong with the case and fear nobody will ever be brought to justice for what happened.

Scotland Yard has admitted the first inquiry into the killing was affected by police corruption.

Alastair Morgan says the report produced today did not tell him anything he did not know already and that he had used the meeting to outline the serious matters that had gone on in the past. He would not be giving up the fight for justice.

The wife of one of the senior investigating officers in the 2002 inquiry into Daniel Morgan’s murder, Jacqui Hanes, gave evidence at the Leveson Inquiry in February this year and alleged that she and her husband had been placed under surveillance by the now defunct News of the World newspaper: “Any reasonable person would find it very difficult not to put them together and feel that in some way there was some collusion between people at the News of the World and people who were suspected of the murder of Daniel Morgan.”

The Home Secretary, Theresa May, said she would consider the demand for a judicial inquiry into the murder case on receipt of the joint Met Police & CPS report into what had gone wrong with the last failed prosecution. The victim’s family say she is now in a position to comply with their request.

Alastair Morgan interviewed by ITV news after meeting prosecutors following release of the review report.

A joint statement published today from Cressida Dick, Assistant Commissioner Metropolitan Police Service, and Alison Saunders,Chief Crown Prosecutor of CPS London said: ”This case, as the trial judge said, was of an exceptional scale and complexity, with over three quarters of a million documents gathered over 20 years being examined. The issues around the disclosure exercise were such that we could not guarantee that all relevant material had been identified, considered and disclosed so as to ensure a fair trial. A further factor related to the unreliability of critical witnesses.”

British Transport Police would like to speak to the man featured in these CCTV images. Photos: BTP

British Transport Police are trying to trace a man suspected of whipping
a woman’s hand with his dog’s lead on a train at Catford Bridge station.

The incident took place on Sunday, April 4 at 11.21 p.m. on the London Bridge to Hayes service.

PC Keef Cook, the investigating officer, said that the victim, 31, from Beckenham, had been travelling with her boyfriend when they noticed a man playing loud music: “The woman’s boyfriend approached the man, who was accompanied by a pit-bull type dog, and politely asked him to turn down his music.

“Heated words were exchanged, and seconds later, as the train pulled into Catford Bridge station, the man flicked his dog chain at the woman, whipping her hand.”

Catford Bridge Station. Image: Google Street View

“The victim suffered minor bruising as a result and was left clearly shaken by what had taken place, ” he said.

PC Cook said that officers have made local enquiries, including viewing CCTV from the train and at the station, and circulating images on police intelligence systems, but are now calling on the public’s help to identify the man pictured:

The officer asks: “Do you know or recognise this man? Were you travelling on the train when the incident happened? If so, we urge you to come forward and speak to us.”

British Transport Police say incidents of this kind are rare on the network, but they “take them very seriously and will do everything we can to catch the man responsible.”

Anyone with information about the incident should contact British Transport Police on Freefone 0800 40 50 40 and quote reference B6/LSA of 11/5/12. Alternatively, call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner meeting South London Business in Croydon

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe offered his apologies for what the people and businesses of Croydon had gone through during last summer’s riots. He was visiting Croydon Park Hotel and outlined his force’s plans in the years ahead as part of the “Promoting Business and Tackling Crime Conference.”

He told his audience: “We have arrested 3,000 and we are still taking people out. My officers have been and are examining a quarter of a million hours of CCTV.”

He explained that the numbers of police officers and police community support officers had dropped because new funding to boost policing for the London Olympics did not come through until about 6 weeks ago: “We couldn’t recruit people we could not afford to pay.”

The forthcoming passing out parade will involve a full complement of 500 officers and he said they along with CSPOs are much better trained than they have been in the past.

The event was hosted by South London Business, ”a business development company set up to support and promote business, enhance regeneration, reduce unemployment and up-skill the work force.”

Around 50 representatives attended Monday May 14 to consider potential changes in the number of police officers and security for their businesses.

Hogan-Howe received questions from the audience after his presentation and many related to last year’s riots- a catastrophic event of which Croydon was a high profile and high cost casualty.

The consensus of concern communicated through the questions was a desire to make sure nothing like it happened again.

His apology and explanation of why police numbers in Croydon had dropped was elicited after a question from the meeting Chair Deva Ponnoosami:

Arsonist jailed for Croydon blaze

BBC poll shows Croydon and Hackney residents still feel unsafe in many areas hit by 2011 riots

London City Airport. Photo: LCA

Tributes have been made by the family and colleagues of the London City Airport officer who died in a shooting incident at North Woolwich Police station last Sunday.

PC Kenny Cornelius had worked at the Aviation Security Command unit based at the airport since October 2009.

His widow, Wendy Cornelius, has released a statement to the media with the proviso that her family’s privacy during their time of grief is fully respected: “Kenny was an incredibly loving husband, son and brother who was loved and adored. He was dedicated to the Police force and was very proud to be a serving police officer. He will be greatly missed. We are struggling to come to terms with this tragedy and would ask for privacy to allow us to grieve.”

Chief Superintendent Bert Moore, OCU Commander at SO18, said: “My priorities now are to look after the welfare of Kenny’s wife and family and his colleagues at London City Airport.

“Despite our experience as police officers, the death of a colleague is one of the most difficult issues we deal with and, when it happens in such circumstances, it brings with it its own particular emotions. We are all deeply shocked and saddened by Kenny’s death.

“In partnership with our colleagues from the DPS we have put in place trained Family Liaison Officers with Kenny’s family and Occupational Health support for my officers and staff affected by this incident.

PC Kenny Cornelius. Photo: Met Police

PC Cornelius, 38, reported for duty on Sunday afternoon May 13 and was issued with his firearms. A short time later he was found in the police station with a gunshot wound.

His colleagues administered first aid, the London Ambulance Service attended but despite their efforts they were unable to save him.

A post-mortem held on Tuesday May 15 gave the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head. An inquest has opened and adjourned at Walthamstow Coroner’s Court.

A report is being prepared for the coroner by officers from the Directorate of Professional Standards.

While the investigation is still at an early stage, the Metropolitan Police say that “without wishing to prejudge the outcome of the investigation, the indications are that PC Cornelius sadly took his own life.”

PC Cornelius joined the MPS in August 1998 and began his career on Lambeth borough. He also worked in the Territorial Support Group before moving to the Aviation Security Command in October 2009.

Chief Superintendent Moore said: “I would like to extend our thanks to colleagues from across the MPS who assisted us in very difficult circumstances on Sunday afternoon.”

Police Community Support Officers play a key role along with the media and public in helping with missing person alerts. Photo: Met Police

A Metropolitan Police appeal to the public to help them find a missing Sydenham woman has been successful.

Dion Hall, 45, had been missing from her home since 4 p.m. May 13.

The Met Police have announced that she was was found on Thursday evening in the Kensington and Chelsea area: ”We thank the media for their assistance with this matter.”

She has been reported as “safe and well.”

Police concerned for missing Sydenham woman 

Campaign image from the Justice for Sam Hallam campaign taken at the Shoreditch Festival in 2010

The Metropolitan Police says it has “deep regret”  over Sam Hallam’s loss of liberty following the decision of the Court of Appeal this week to free him and overturn his “unsafe” conviction for murder.

Commander Simon Foy, head of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, said: “The death of Essayas Kassahun was a tragedy and what followed was a complex investigation for which one person remains convicted.”

“It is a matter of deep regret that Sam Hallam lost his liberty due to what has subsequently been found to be an unsafe conviction.”

He added: “The circumstances of his death involved a large group of people and this type of investigation often relies on people coming forward to give us personal accounts. We continue to face challenging investigations such as these and there are undoubtedly certain lessons to be learned for police and the wider criminal justice system from today’s judgement which we will carefully consider.

Lady Justice Hallett, in a one hour ruling for a panel of 3 Court of Appeal judges, said that Hallam’s conviction was now unsafe because of the unreliability of identification evidence and new evidence found on his mobile phones that supported his contention that he could not have been in the gang of youths beating up the victim on the St Luke’s estate in Clerkenwell in October 2004.

The judge explained that Hallam did not help his own defence by not being able to remember where he was and what he was doing and remaining silent during police interviews. The alibi he eventually advanced of playing soccer half a mile away from the murder scene turned out to be false, but she said this was due to his: “faulty recollection and a dysfunctional lifestyle, not a deliberate lie”

Commander Foy is head of the Metropolitan Police Homicide and Serious Crime Command.

Commander Foy said: “We fully supported the Thames Valley Police review carried out on behalf of the Criminal Cases Review Commission and are grateful to them for their work.”

Meanwhile Sam’s miscarriage of justice has been receiving global coverage in the world’s media. It was reported that one of the first things he did after tasting freedom in his community of Hoxton was have a meal of the celebrated local delicacy of eel pie and mash.

But he and his family have to make the considerable adjustments facing people who have been wrongly convicted and served long prison sentences; in his case a period of nearly 8 years between his arrest in 2004 and his release at the Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday.

His local community of Hoxton rallied round his family and organised a sophisticated and successful multi-media campaign for his release, but the stress contributed to the tragedy of his father taking his own life.

 “I don’t want anybody else ever to suffer what I’ve been through.” Sam Hallam’s murder conviction quashed.

Sam Hallam freed on bail. Prosecution do not resist appeal.

Appeal Court in London quashes Sam Hallam's murder conviction saying it is "unsafe". Photo: nomsaleena

Three judges at the Court of Appeal ruled today that Sam Hallam’s conviction for murdering trainee chef, Essayas Kassahun, 21, in a beating on the St Luke’s estate in Clerkenwell, London, in October 2004, is unsafe. The community of Hoxton succeeds in its campaign to free and exonerate the young man in prison for 7 years for a crime he did not commit.

His QC Henry Blaxland declared in court yesterday that he was the victim of a ”serious miscarriage of justice”.

A tireless and creative campaign has been fought by Hallam’s family and friends including the support of actor Ray Winstone.  Paul May, the co-ordinator of the campaign read a statement on behalf of Sam outside the Royal Courts of Justice:

“I don’t want anyone else ever to suffer what I’ve been through since October 2004. The identification evidence against me was so unreliable it should have never been put to the jury. The Metropolitan Police should have followed up leads which would have proved my innocence of the terrible murder of Essayas Kassahun. They should have disclosed all the relevant evidence in their possession to my lawyers and they didn’t. I now need time to recover with my family and friends from the nightmare I’ve suffered for the last seven and a half years. Justice has long been denied to me but it has now finally prevailed.”

He thanked the Criminal Cases Review Commission and Thames Valley Police for the “thorough investigation” that led to the prosecution not resisting his latest appeal and the judges deciding that the murder conviction had to be quashed.

Sam Hallam tells the BBC he always knew he was innocent.

In an interview with the BBC Sam said he always knew he was innocent: “There was nothing I could do. The whole system was not fair. The original police investigation was not done properly. I’m still in shock from yesterday.”

In a one hour judgement, Lady Justice Hallett said Hallam’s “inability or unwillingness” to say where he was at the time of the murder had “not exactly helped his case”. He had exercised his right to silence during the interview on legal advice and the judge said that “with the benefit of hindsight, was perhaps not in his best interests.”

But Hallam said at his trial that he was playing soccer at the time the victim was beaten by a group of youths half a mile away and received injuries that would lead to his death 2 days later.

The police had mobile phone evidence that could have supported Hallam’s assertion that he was somewhere else at the time of the fatal assault even if his memory of playing football was mistaken.  Lady Justice Hallett said: “Given the attachment of young people and the more mature to their mobile phones, we can’t understand why someone, either from the investigating team or the defence team, did not think to examine the phones attributable to the appellant.”

The appeal court judge completed the ruling by expressing sympathy to the family of the victim Essayas Kassahun.

Lady Justice Hallett said he “was by all accounts a charming young man with a great deal to offer” and that his family “had to cope with his death, the original investigation, the trial and now these proceedings. I hope they understand we all have to do our job according to law.”

Sam Hallam freed on bail. Prosecution do not resist appeal.