Police ordered to hold hearings on surveillance of dead man’s sister

TWO POLICE officers will appear before gross misconduct hearings over the surveillance carried out on the sister of a former paratrooper who died in custody.

Humberside Police was told by the Independent Police Complaints Commission to hold hearings for the detective sergeants in relation to the surveillance of Janet Alder, and another unnamed person, after initially resisting the move.

Ms Alder’s brother Christopher, 37, died in the custody suite in Queens Gardens police station in Hull in 1998. An inquest found he died unlawfully.

In 2015, the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to charge four senior Humberside Police officers responsible for the surveillance after concluding that there was not enough evidence to secure a conviction.

Prosecutors said at the time that police applied for a surveillance application in anticipation of potential public disorder at Mr Alder’s inquest in July 2000.

But there was evidence that surveillance was carried out that went beyond this remit, including officers following Ms Alder and possibly her barrister. In a statement issued yesterday, the IPCC said its investigation, which was completed in January 2015, found evidence of a case to answer for gross misconduct for two detective sergeants. According to the watchdog, Humberside Police “did not initially share the IPCC’s view that the two officers should face a gross misconduct hearing”. But IPCC Commissioner Cin- dy Butts then wrote to the force to direct them to hold hearings for the officers and the force confirmed that they accept this decision. Dates for the hearings have not yet been set.

Ms Butts said: “The decision to direct a police force to hold disciplinary hearings is not taken lightly.

“Taking into account the serious and sensitive nature of the allegations and the weight of the evidence presented to me, I felt it was essential for public confidence that the officers concerned account for their actions.”

The IPCC says it will consider publishing its findings in full, once all proceedings have ended.

Its investigation followed a referral by the force in August 2013, after a request from the Home Secretary that police forces check their records for evidence of surveillance relating to the investigation into the 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence and the inquiry into his death.

Humberside Police did not discover any such evidence but their searches revealed evidence of surveillance into Ms Alder and another person.

In 2006, the IPCC found four police officers were guilty of the “most serious neglect of duty” over the death of the ex-paratrooper.

Mr Alder died while lying face down and unconscious in a pool of blood in a police custody suite, as a group of officers stood chatting nearby. Five officers were cleared of manslaughter and misconduct in 2002 over his death.

Chief Superintendent Judi Heaton, head of Humberside Police’s Professional Standards Unit, confirmed the force has received the IPCC direction.

She said: “We can confirm that the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has directed Humberside Police to hold gross misconduct hearings for two police officers, following its independent investigation into the Police’s surveillance of two people.”