Training | 2009.11.24
Terror police criticised over arrests
Lord Carlile criticises officers over failure to consult lawyers before operation in Liverpool and Manchester
Counter-terrorism police were criticised by the independent reviewer of terrorism today for a total failure to take legal advice in advance of their operation to arrest 12 suspects in Liverpool and Manchester.
Lord Carlile\'s report revealed that Greater Manchester police (GMP) failed to consult senior terrorism lawyers at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) during the operation.
The experienced CPS lawyers were only contacted the day before the arrests in April this year – not by the senior investigating officer but by an unnamed source who was concerned that lawyers should be consulted.
Twelve men – all but one of Pakistani nationality – were arrested on 8 April and all were later released without charge . Some of the men are applying for a judicial review of the decision to arrest them.
The behaviour of the GMP in not taking early advice from the CPS contrasts with that of the Metropolitan police whose habit is to talk early to specialist terrorist prosecutors and take advice throughout an operation.
The GMP only began talking to the lawyers a week after the arrests. Carlile told BBC Radio 4\'s Today programme this was his greatest concern. "My main criticism is the police should have consulted the CPS terrorism experts, there are several of them, for their expert advice in relation to areas of law and other material available. This may have enabled them to obtain warrants for further detention."
The men were released after such warrants were turned down because of concerns over how the arrests were carried out. Carlile said all counter-terrorism officers should be fully trained in arrest law.
He did find, however, that there was enough evidence to justify arresting some of the men. In particular, an email published in the report which caused officers serious concern, refers to a wedding and states: "They said you should be ready between these dates." The dates were 15 and 20 April, raising police concerns that an attack was imminent.
The email referred to an affair with a woman called "Nadia" and the sender said they were "getting ready for the big day".
Carlile said: "The intelligence assessment of the email was founded on the experience of several years of intense scrutiny and policing of al-Qaida in the UK and ... around the world. Throughout the period of police interest in the group, no women had been seen, and there had been absolutely no signs of wedding preparations. Simliar odd language had been used previously in relation to two major terrorism conspiracies which had resulted in trials and convictions."
The email was sent from a cafe in Manchester which had been under police surveillance and was frequented by the suspected ringleader and other men allegedly involved.
The email and other intelligence, including photographs, led police to decide to make the arrests. But Carlile said they were brought forward by several hours after the assistant commissioner for counter-terrorism, Bob Quick, walked into Downing Street carrying secret papers about the operation which were clearly visible.
His action removed from officers the discretion of delaying arrests in light of developments – something which is normally available during operations. It also increased community tensions because the arrests could not be carried out as planned at the suspects\' homes but had to be done in public places. Carlile referred to these arrests as "combat style".
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/24[...]-terrorism-police-legal-advice
