Detective rapped for helping nail thug who knocked out his son
A TOP detective was rapped by Greater Manchester Police after obtaining evidence which helped nail a dangerous clubland thug who knocked out his son.
Detective Superintendent Pete Jackson was placed under investigation even though he uncovered key CCTV colleagues had missed.
It’s one of a series of revelations made by the retired officer, whose whistleblowing sparked a three-year police watchdog investigation.
The CCTV prompted police to reopen the case and the key evidence helped police bring violent Anthony Bamgbose to justice.
GMP closed down the investigation into the savage attack on 18-year-old student Thomas Jackson within hours of the incident after officers missed key CCTV footage of the brutal city centre assault.
His furious detective superintendent father walked from his son’s bedside at Manchester Royal Infirmary – where he was being treated for two fractures to his jaw – and immediately found the footage he says his colleagues had missed near Albert Square. It showed the attacker get out of a taxi and knock Thomas out, leaving him unconscious on the road for five minutes.
Bamgbose was later jailed for 23 months after he admitted the unprovoked assault on Thomas and his friend, who had also been knocked unconscious. But Thomas’s dad Pete, then the head of GMP’s major incident team, ended up in trouble with his own force for conducting an investigation in his own time.
The now retired officer says that he was amazed to find himself the subject of an internal disciplinary inquiry for grilling colleagues over the standard of the investigation.
The six-month probe concluded there was no evidence he had directly accessed information on Bamgbose on GMP computer systems while his anger had been ‘poor judgement’ rather than a disciplinary offence, according to an internal GMP report seen by the M.E.N..
Det Supt Jackson was recommended for ‘constructive developmental feedback.’
Mr Jackson told the M.E.N.: “I was disgusted by the police response to an incident which could have resulted in my son’s death and the death of his friend. I just didn’t believe there would be no CCTV in Albert Square. I walked from the MRI down Oxford Road and conducted my own enquiries.
“I went and stood in what was left of the pool of blood where my son lay, looked up and within seconds I saw two CCTV cameras which captured the whole incident.
“I asked the pub manager and he played the CCTV back. The first frame I saw was my son unconscious on the floor. That’s what should have happened already as part of normal enquiries. The standard of the investigation was a disgrace. In fact, there was no real investigation at all. Without my intervention, a really dangerous man wouldn’t have been brought to justice.
Deputy Chief Constable Ian Pilling conceded there had been ‘poor investigative practice’ which resulted in ‘management action’ for those who missed the CCTV.
He added: “Separately the conduct of another officer was investigated following concerns about his inappropriate involvement in the inquiry and he received constructive developmental feedback.”