Pompey to head police probe

An investigation into the work done by police officers who investigated the Glen Jackson murder case has been launched, Commissioner of Police (COP) Keith Miller has confirmed.{{more}}

“The Deputy (Deputy COP Bertram Pompey) is spearheading that investigation,’ COP Miller told SEARCHLIGHT.

At a press conference earlier this week, Prime Minister and Minister with responsibility for Legal Affairs and National Security, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, said that he has discussed the issue of the investigation with COP Miller.

Dr Gonsalves said that he read Justice Frederick Bruce-Lyle’s judgement and noticed the references to police blunders. He said that while there isn’t going to be a witch hunt, an investigation into these blunders is necessary.

He said that at the end of the COP’s investigation, he would consider bringing in overseas law enforcement agents to view the nature of these errors and to suggest corrective measures, if deemed necessary.

Francis “Prickle” Williams, 24, was freed of the murder charge when the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) decided to discontinue the case against him. This was after Justice Bruce-Lyle ruled that the confession police claimed that they obtained from Williams was inadmissible.

Justice Bruce-Lyle found that the police did not follow proper police procedure in obtaining the alleged confession, which he said left doubts in his mind.

“I resolved those doubts in the favour of the accused,” Justice Bruce-Lyle said in his written judgment.

The investigators were chided by the Judge for not having the alleged confession in writing, with the signature of the accused, among a host of other irregularities that condemned the case to failure.

“In fact, their (the police investigators) attempts to explain their non compliance with…the police regulations made their position even more tenuous. These are veterans of the police force, attached to an elite Unit-The Major Crime Unit-how could they have faltered so badly?” Justice Bruce-Lyle asked in his judgment.

Recently retired Assistant Superintendent of Police Willisford Caesar, Station Sergeant Trevor “Buju” Bailey and Sergeant Selwyn Jack were the lead detectives who worked the high profile murder case of Jackson, who was at the time of his demise, the Prime Minister’s press secretary and personal aide. (KJ)