Daily Express Tuesday, July 30, 2019 17DX1STIn nearby Bristol the former
station in Lower Redland Road is
now St John’s Primary School,
and its cells have been converted
into a library. A laudable use, but
not much comfort to residents in
the area worried about the rising
number of burglaries.
Similarly, the old police station
in crime hotspot Deptford, south
London, is now an arts centre.
Many former police stations
have been converted into
luxurious homes, whose owners
are no doubt paying through the
nose to insure them against
burglary. In London, where some
100 stations have been lost,
Labour MP John Cryer spoke
eloquently on the impact.
“When I was elected MP for
Leyton and Wanstead nearly nine
years ago there were three police
stations in my constituency,” he
told the House of Commons.
“Now there are none.
“It seems common sense that if
a police unit has to come from
Ilford rather than Wanstead,
burglars will work that out.”Britain who are thought to be key
cogs in international networks.
“Producing counterfeit cancer
drugs is a dreadful crime because
peoples’ lives depend on having the
correct drugs,” he adds.
One of his detectives regularly
flies to India, where most of the fake
drugs are made from raw materials
originating in China.
One of the detectives told me:
“Recently we had a very successful
operation. We got information on an
address where the drugs were being
sent out from across the world.
“We passed this on to the police
in India and they did a raid and
confiscated thousands of dangerous,
fake drugs.
“They arrested several people
and there will be trials eventually.
We shut that place down, but there
are plenty more out there. It is
massive, a real global problem.”
Pharmaceutical companies
finance many of the international
investigations, which are not cheap.
TM Eye also works with customs to
smash illegal tobacco operations.
Its investigations have led to the
seizure of thousands of pouches of
tobacco, which would have been
sold at markets across the UK at
knockdown prices, depriving the
exchequer of much-needed revenue.I
N CERTAIN areas of London,
TM Eye bobbies have moved
on from simply deterring crime
to take on bigger roles.
“There was quite a big burglary in
north London that we were made
aware of,” says Mr McKelvey.
“We put a bobby on the doorstep
to protect the crime scene, we did
house to house inquiries, gathered
intelligence and put CCTV footage
together. If we get an ID on the
suspects we would put surveillanceon them and try and catch them in
the act.”
That is the sort of basic police
work police forces used to do before
cuts and operational changes. It’s a
trend that Mr McKelvey finds
deeply frustrating.
“In the 80s and 90s detectives
knew all the villains and what they
were doing,” he says. “If you asked
some young detectives who the
villains are, they wouldn’t know.
“Our intelligence worked in those
days, but it doesn’t work now. We
used to be a family, and you knew
everyone in the family, but it’s not a
family any more.”
Yet in his own tight team, there is
a strong sense of family. A steady
stream of jokes breaks the tension
and there’s a feeling of camaraderie.
Many of the team are former
detectives with good pensions, who
don’t need to work but still have a
hunger for catching criminals out-
side the constraints of modernpolicing. Mr McKelvey says: “I
didn’t set this up to make big profits.
If I can cover the wages, that’s good
enough.
“All our contracts and clients are
confidential but we do a lot of
pro-bono work as well on difficult
cases.”
His detectives have spent years
examining the death of Lee
Balkwell, 33, found crushed to
death between the drum and chassis
of a cement mixer truck in July
2002 in South Ockendon, Essex.
Police treated Lee’s death as a
tragic accident, but his father Les
Balkwell believes his son may have
been murdered.
“We are on the verge of getting a
result for Les, not necessarily a
conviction, but the truth,” says Mr
McKelvey.
And getting at the truth is
something he fears is way too low
on the priorities of today’s criminal
justice system.By Mark ReynoldsMurder girl
‘did waste
my time’,
says ex-cop
A FORMER PC yesterday
defended his decision to fine
a student for wasting police
time after she reported her
stalker boyfriend – who then
went on to murder her.
The charred body of Shana
Grice, 19, was found at a flat
in Portslade, near Brighton,
East Sussex, in 2016.
She also had her throat cut
by ex-partner Michael Lane,
who was later jailed for life.
It later emerged she had
reported Lane to Sussex
Police five times in six
months, only to be ignored
and given a £90 fine.
Former constable Trevor
Godfrey, who retired from
Sussex Police in 2017, faced
charges of gross misconduct
for failing to adequately
investigate allegations of
harassment and stalking at a
disciplinary panel in Lewes,
East Sussex yesterday.
It was told Mr Godfrey
arrested Lane on suspicion
of assaulting Ms Grice in
March 2016. But the ex-PC
later discredited Ms Grice’s
evidence after Lane told him
they were in a relationship.
Prosecutor James Berry
accused the ex-PC of leaving
her with the “impression” she
had wasted police time and
committed a criminal offence.
He said: “She did waste my
time. I arrested [Lane] as a
result of her evidence on a
false allegation.”
The hearing continues.Murdered... Shane Grice, 19Jailed for life... Michael Lane
CRIME SCENE: Failsworth police station was a cannabis farm. Right:
Old courthouse and police station in Keswick is now a cosy pubPictures: IAN VOGLER / STEVE FINN