Police have examined ‘disgusting’ Meghan death plots
POLICE have investigated many credible plots against the Duchess of Sussex that threatened her life, Britain’s former head of counter-terrorism revealed yesterday.
Outgoing Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner neil Basu said the threats received against Meghan were ‘ very real’, calling them ‘disgusting’.
He told Channel 4 news there were serious threats emanating from far-Right groups in this country, adding: ‘if you’d seen the stuff that was written and you were receiving it... the kind of rhetoric that’s online... you would feel under threat all of the time.’
When asked if there was a genuine threat to Meghan’s life more than once, Mr Basu replied: ‘Absolutely. We had teams investigating it. People have been prosecuted for those threats.’
The former head of royal protection was asked to characterise the threats that Meghan and Harry received, responding: ‘Well, disgusting. And very real. i’ve talked publicly for many years about the threat of extreme Right-wing terrorism in this country.’
The interview was broadcast yesterday on Mr Basu’s final day in office before he retires.
He did not name the cases involved, but his interview appeared to have taken the force by surprise last night.
There have been a number of prosecutions of terrorists who have targeted Prince Harry but none of those cases have involved specific threats to his wife.
last year university student Andrew Dymock, 24, was jailed for seven years after he founded a neo-nazi group which called for Prince Harry to be killed for marrying Meghan. Dymock established white supremacist groups including one which created a disturbing poster of the Duke of Sussex set against a swastika with a gun pointing at his head.
in 2019 another student, Michal Szewczuk, who described Harry as a ‘race traitor’, was sentenced to four years and three months.
The 19-year-old created an image of the Duke of Sussex with a pistol to his head against a blood-covered background. The senior officer’s intervention comes at a key time as Harry is bringing a High Court challenge against the Home Office over its decision not to grant him police protection.
As he prepares to leave the Metropolitan Police after 30 years, Mr Basu suggested his outspoken views on race had seen him blocked from becoming head of the national Crime Agency.
Mr Basu, Britain’s top Asian police officer, hit out at Home Secretary Suella Braverman for what he described as ‘ horrific’ comments about how it was her ‘dream’ to send migrants to Rwanda. He said: ‘it is unbelievable to hear a succession of very powerful politicians who look like this talking in language that my father would have remembered from 1968. it’s horrific.
‘The Rivers of Blood speech happened in the constituency next to where my parents lived and made their life hell. A mixed-race couple walking through the streets in the 1960s. Stoned.’
Mr Basu went on to claim that Downing Street had prevented him from getting top jobs at the national Crime Agency and Scotland Yard due to his views.
He said: ‘i know no 10 has interfered in me being appointed to positions. And the reason for that, i have not been told,’ he said. ‘i would surmise... it is because i’ve been outspoken about issues that do not fit with the current political administration.
‘They are wrong. Diversity and inclusion are two of the most important things for policing.’
Mr Basu told Channel 4 presenter Cathy newman he was proud to be ‘ woke’, adding: ‘ Are you alert to issues of racial and social justice? Yes i am. And if that is the definition of woke, i’ll wear it as a bumper sticker every day of the week.’
He praised new Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley’s recent admission that hundreds of officers in the force should be kicked out, saying: ‘ There ought to be zero tolerance for people who are prejudiced, who are corrupt.’
last night the Home Office said: ‘The Home Secretary expects forces to take a zero tolerance approach to racism within their workplace. But she is also very clear about the need to manage our borders effectively and have an asylum system that works for those in genuine need, as are the British people.
‘We are actively pushing for a cultural change in the police, including via a targeted review of police dismissals to ensure that officers who are not fit to serve can be swiftly removed.’
A no 10 spokesman said: ‘A new Director general was appointed to the national Crime Agency earlier this year by the then home secretary, following a fair and open recruitment campaign.’
‘Ought to be zero tolerance’