'Unfortunately, corruption is rooted in our culture in Kenya...'

It seems to be taking hold here too, it's just expressed rather differently.

The allegations against Dame Ann were made in 2020 shortly after she caught a self-employed cleaner stealing cash from her handbag. She told the woman, who was from the same Kenyan ethnic group as most of the six other complainants, to leave the castle immediately, but didn't report her to police.

'I made a massive mistake,' Dame Ann says. 'If I'd called the police, things might have been very different.'

Oh, sadly, I rather doubt it. You're making a big assumption there that the police only concentrate on determining whether a law has been broken. 

The first Dame Ann knew she was being investigated was in 2020 when one of her former students, who is now an aviation engineer, told her she had received a call from a detective. 'He was asking strange questions about me: Was I bad to her? Did I feed her? Did I allow her to leave the house? She told him he was being ridiculous and that I had only ever taken care of her.

'The detective didn't want to talk to her after that.'

Of course he didn't. The police no longer investigate all the facts and then determine which line to follow - that's the realm of tv shows. These day, and especially in Scotland, they start from a conclusion (slavery!)  and seek evidence to prove it. 

Many of the young men and women who were helped by the Gloag Foundation were keen to vouch for the woman who made such a difference to their lives.

'I know some of these people and believe they colluded to either get citizenship in the UK or money from Ann.

'Unfortunately, corruption is rooted in our culture in Kenya. I think the accusers probably thought she would want to settle because of the damage to her reputation, but Ann is strong.'

And it's a good thing that she is. Most people wouldn't have held out under such pressure. 

But the investigation continued with officers from the human trafficking unit interviewing students past and present, as well as Peter's carers, her secretary and staff.

'If someone makes an accusation like that, I understand it's their duty to investigate. I'm totally comfortable with that but, what I struggle with, is they completely disregarded the evidence of anybody who was positive about me.'

That's because you have a view of how the police used to act that is out of whack with the way they now act.  

Dame Ann was getting in her car to go on holiday last month when the Crown Office made public its decision, a year-and-half after she was charged.

It probably took a day, if that, to read the 'evidence' put to the Procurator Fiscal and realise this wasn't going anywhere! The other 546 days were no doubt spent trying to find someone to take responsibility for the decision. 

'It's not for me to tell the Home Office what to do but the law needs to be looked at or, at least, some of the wording on their website should be changed. This could be an epidemic coming down the line.'

No doubt. No doubt at all.  

Since the allegations were made Dame Ann has not returned to Kenya and the scholarship program has been suspended. She says she will take 'at least six months' to review what she does for charity in the future.

It should be 'nothing'.  

Falling Foul Of Employment Law...

A judge has ruled that three white police officers were unfairly passed over for promotion because of their race. Detective Inspector Phillip Turner-Robson, Inspector Graham Horton and Kirsteen Bishop, a custody inspector, brought employment tribunal proceedings against Thames Valley Police claiming to have been disadvantaged because of they were, as described in the tribunal, 'white British.'

The tribunal heard that in an attempt to improve diversity among senior staff a superintendent at the force was told to 'make it happen' by appointing an 'Asian' sergeant to the rank of detective inspector.

In other words, told to do something illegal. But Julia, you will say, why expect a modern-day senior police officer to know the law? And you'd be right. 

But the HR department did know the law:

This was despite having been warned about the legal risks of not holding a competitive process.

Looks like not all the scofflaws are on the other side... 

...the following month, Superintendent Emma Baillie made the decision to move Sergeant Sidhu, whose forename was not provided, into the role without undertaking any competitive process or advertising the vacancy to staff, the tribunal was told. The sergeant had not even been promoted to inspector at the time she was made detective inspector, the tribunal heard, after deputy chief constable Jason Hogg and the Superintendent had 'jumped the gun' and given her the senior role.

It gets better and better, doesn't it? 

She then tried to 'retrospectively justify' the decision by saying the appointment came under a 'BAME Progression Program which clearly did not exist at the time'.

In other words, by lying. Don't they frown on that sort of thing?

Why, yes Ted, they do, don't they?

Why is she - and Hogg -  not facing malfeasance in public office charges? 

No, Sidney, There’s One Better!

Blimey, Sidney, you don't have to look all the way across the Pond. There's a better option much closer to home, after all:

The Met Police's chief has claimed that the special constable who told off a Christian busker for singing 'church songs' on Oxford Street was trying to 'do her best', but made a mistake.

Rowley, 59, told BBC Radio London: 'She’s a volunteer doing her best who made a mistake.

''We had a special constable who was on patrol and because of complaints about busking decided she would deal with the case and she didn’t deal with it perfectly well – it was a woman singing some sort of religious songs – and we’re dealing with that as a management issue and we have said we got that slightly wrong.'

The utter contempt for the public who pay this uniformed weasel's wages by referring to Harmonie London (a popular and well-known figure on the street) as 'a woman singing some sort of religious songs' is utterly breathtaking. But hardly surprising. 

He effortlessly pivots to the attack and claims victimhood on behalf of his Karen-with-a-badge:  

He said he was disappointed to see that Hadzhipetkova had received a wash of racist abuse following the incident, which took place on Sunday.

'She has had massive racist abuse online, she has had all sorts of vitriol. Now that doesn’t help policing in London.

It might, if it curbs this ignorant power-drunk bitch in any future interactions with the public, and teaches her that her actions are scrutinised and will draw consequences.

'People behaving like that to me, I’m paid for it, I’ve stepped into a senior role. Someone who’s just out there a couple of days a week trying to help out her community who gets that vileness, that’s a real, real problem.

'That’s tough for my men and women on the frontline having to cope with that sort of thing day in, day out.'

I'm glad you mentioned 'your men and women on the frontline', 'Sir' Rowley. Because this wasn't a case of one ignorant volunteer making a mistake, there were four other officers with her - presumably at least one or two were real cops. 

Yet not one stepped in to defuse the situation, apologise for her mistake and reassure Ms London that she was perfectly well entitled to be there. Why is that? Are they all cut from the same cloth? It would explain a lot. 

Photography And The Police In The UK

Filming in public? Cut it out!

A pianist has slammed the 'ludicrous' demand from flag-waving Chinese tourists not to film them as he performed at a busy London station.

If they don't want to be filmed, stay in China, where the police enforce it, not in England, where the police w...

Oh, FFS! 

After the footage of the row went viral on social media, Mr Kavanagh appeared on TalkTV where he slammed the 'ludicrous' demand - including from a British Transport police officer who asked him not to upload it.

Ask away, you've no right to compel him. You've been told this over and over again and you've lost every time.  

This comes after one of two police officers, who were walking by and stopped due to the loud argument, told the pianist 'this is not to go on your channel' as Mr Kavanagh kept on filming after the officers intervened.

I know what you're thinking, Reader. Just another case of an ignorant male cop who isn't au fait with the law. Well...not quite!

When the police officers approached, one tourist said to the male officer that Mr Kavanagh filmed them and they asked him to remove the footage, but he refused.

'You're in a public place,' the policeman explained repeatedly - until the female officer chimed in and said to the cameraperson: 'Excuse me, if we're having a police matter, you need to put that phone down.'

No. He doesn't, Miss Diversity Hire, you should listen to your colleague.  

Meanwhile, elsewhere, filming your neighbour's children in their back garden? Go right ahead!

A grandfather has been told it's 'not a police matter' after he found a secret camera pointed at his grandson's treehouse that might have been put there by a convicted paedophile.

Martin Prior, 65, first contacted police on December 22, 2023, after discovering a CCTV camera placed on a lane by his property in Cross Keys, near Hereford.

An officer visited the next day and spoke to the suspected owner of the camera but Mr Prior was shocked when the police said they were powerless to act.

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said: 'We are aware of a concern raised about the placement of a CCTV camera.' 'However, no crime has been reported to us and therefore it is not a police matter. CCTV concerns need to be raised with the Information Commissioner's Office.'

And what does the Information Commissioner's Office say?

'The use of recording equipment, such as CCTV or smart doorbells, to capture video or sound recordings outside the user's property is not a breach of data protection law.

'People should try to point their CCTV cameras away from their neighbours' homes, shared spaces, or public streets. But this is not always possible.

'If someone is recording your child using CCTV, we would suggest talking to the person doing the recording.

'If you feel the person is filming your child inappropriately or to cause them harm, you should contact the police.'

A perfect snapshot (Ed: *preens*) of the situation with the police in this country. 

Update: And it's not just photography. Who is in charge of recruiting these people?

I Thought We'd Abolished Shame, Judge..?

A former police chief who retired while under investigation for possessing indecent images of children was spared jail on Monday after a judge said the 'shame' of admitting his crimes was the greatest punishment he could receive.

Pretty sure the guidelines allowed for something far, far more appropriate... 

On Monday, the 55-year-old stood grim-faced in the dock at Manchester Crown Court as his barrister described his 'humiliation' at how his 30-year policing career had been ended by what his bosses branded the 'abhorrent' crimes.

But a judge accepted there was no evidence that Sansbury had been deliberately looking for images of children after hearing he had been searching for 'twinks' – pornographic pictures of adolescent-looking men.

Oh, well, that's OK then. He'd probably have got a promotion for that if he'd told his management... 

Imposing a community order with 80 hours of unpaid work, Judge Nicholas Dean KC, the Honorary Recorder of Manchester, told Sansbury he had 'served, no doubt with some distinction, as a senior police officer'.

The judge said the reasons why Sansbury saved the images was 'not now clear', but accepted he was not someone who 'consistently' sought illicit photos.

'The loss of your good character and the shame of your departure from the police force in these circumstances is plainly a significant punishment,' he added.

I don't concur. 

The New Term For ‘Retreat’…

 …it’s ‘de-escalation’.

A group of Jewish people gathered at the station to pray for the people of Gaza before videos appear to show British Transport Police officers attempting to break them up and take their speeches. A small scuffle broke out with clips suggesting around half a dozen officers were involved, before the situation was de-escalated by them walking away from the group.

Did they wave a white flag too? It's really a mystery why we have such little confidence in the police these days, isn't it? 

Another case in point:

How can we have confidence in British policing? pic.twitter.com/2Y9MOAsyvw

— David Vance (@DVATW) November 1, 2023

How, indeed...