The following extract is from the evidence of PC Sawyer given on the afternoon of Tuesday 2nd September 2003:
13 MR KNOX: Mr Sawyer, you will recall that this morning you
14 said that amongst Dr Kelly's things that had been found
15 on the search of the premises was a photograph which
16 I think you said might have aroused some interest.
17 I wonder if you could tell us something about the
18 photograph that was found.
19 A. Certainly. It was found in the study of Dr Kelly at
20 11.45 by one of my searchers, PC Slyfield. It was
21 seized because, at the time, it showed Dr Kelly and
22 another person standing outside the Parliament building
23 in Moscow. It was after the coup in Moscow and the
24 Parliament building showed a certain amount of damage.
25 The photograph was in fact dated 11th of the 8th 1993.
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1 PC Slyfield showed it to DC Burton who was the Special
2 Branch officer with him and they both agreed the second
3 person in the photograph bore a very striking
4 resemblance to Andrew Gilligan. The photograph was then
5 seized and produced as an exhibit. That is what I was
6 referring to in my statement.
We can conclude that at least one Special Branch officer, DC Burton, was present during the search of the Kelly home.
We know from other evidence that the Metropolitan Police Special Branch visited Dr. Kelly's office at the Ministry of Defence.
I think that would firmly put DC Coe in Special Branch, as you suggested recently. Coe states that he attends the Kelly house the next day, Saturday 19 July, to oversee an "exhibits officer". Notice also how DC Coe says how he was "called out" at 6am without saying whom he was responding to. Wantage seems an odd place to be based. Mr Knox seems to think he was called to Wantage police station, but I suspect he went straight to Longworth. Since the Tactical Support PCs were somewhat surprised to see DC Coe on Harrowdown Hill, one must assume that his orders were not coming from ACC Page from his 5.15 briefing at Abingdon.
ReplyDeleteI notice also that PC Sawyer is quite some student of Russian history. Since the burning of the White House in the failed coup occurred during the period 3/4 October 1993 the date on the photograph cannot be 11 August '93 but 8 November? Is this how photos are marked in US style? I also like the word seized. The seized photo is seen here as TVP/12/0001. Is perhaps DC Byfield the exhibits officer?
Felix,
ReplyDeleteYes, your point re DC Coe seems very plausible.
See http://www.the-hutton-inquiry.org.uk/content/transcripts/hearing-trans33.htm for the relevant evidence.
Another outstanding point is the "coincidence" of him going more or less direct to Ruth Absalom. One might almost suspect that he knew that she would be a relevant witness!
If one believes ACC Page's evidence the Special Branch involvement was (solely) in London.
Some might say that one ought not to believe ACC Page's evidence.
November 8th 1993 seems the more likely date for the photo you refer to.
It would be worth looking up the records (I don't know where one would look though) and see what date Page was made acting chief constable and what date he was moved on, I think he was not their long.
ReplyDeleteIt may be he was just installed to oversee this investigation.
It is obvious that some of the officers attending the scene would be from Special Branch, only to be expected under the circumstances.
It would be interesting to find out if ACC Page was just installed just prior to DK's death.
In my earlier investigations I spoke to an ex special branch officer (who needs to remain nameless for obvious reasons) He had claimed that Special Branch were there to cover something up, but when people he described to me as “those in the know” realised he was “talking” he claimed that they made his life very difficult, I asked him to elaborate but he refused to do so because he now “feared for the security of his family”
I was quite shocked by this, but I am still convinced Special Branch were there after the death, and not before. Essentially they were there to clean up the mess, probably in a literal and a figurative sense.
Mick Page was appointed ACC Local Policing in Feb 2003 and retired in Jan 2006
ReplyDeleteHere is an interestingly timed little snippet,implying Mr Page had other pressing matters on his plate from mid July 2003:
THAMES VALLEY Police Authority members were due to receive a briefing from
Michael Page, Assistant Chief Constable, Community Services, on progress with Airwave
and the new CSMS call handling contract. Delays and difficulties with both contracts have effected (sic) implementation of the call handling strategy. Information Communications and
Technology Committee, 14.07.03
CSMS = The Communications Service Management System (CSMS),a new and complex system, provided by Philips Communication System. Implementation in TVP seems to have slipped from 2002 to 2003. The TVP Airwave system (TETRA) was due for implementation on 7 July 2003
See this PQ by David Cameron MP which implies Airwave was implemented on 23 July 2003.
However this document which stongly criticised communications failings of TVP on the night of 18 November 2003,indicates however that Airwave went live earlier on that same day,18/11/03.
Interestingly, one reads that from August 2003 ACC Sara Thornton was covering the Deputy Chief Constable portfolio from August 2003 until February 2004, so who became ACC Specialist Operations (SO) immediately after July 2003? Francis Habgood became ACC (SO) in Jan 2004, Deputy Chief Constable from October 2008.
The question is who was the GOLD COMMANDER during 17/18 July 2003? And who was ACC (SO) between Aug 2003 and Jan 2004? Michael Page??
(The last document also shows the TVP basic command unit was reduced from 10 to 5 BCUs in Sept 2005.)
Mick Page was appointed ACC Local Policing in Feb 2003 and retired in Jan 2006
ReplyDeleteHere is an interestingly timed little snippet,implying Mr Page had other pressing mattes on his plate from mid July 2003:
THAMES VALLEY Police Authority members were due to receive a briefing from
Michael Page, Assistant Chief Constable, Community Services, on progress with Airwave
and the new CSMS call handling contract. Delays and difficulties with both contracts have effected (sic) implementation of the call handling strategy. Information Communications and
Technology Committee, 14.07.03
CSMS = The Communications Service Management System (CSMS),a new and complex system, provided by Philips Communication System. Implementation in TVP seems to have slipped from 2002 to 2003. The TVP Airwave system (TETRA) was due for implementation on 7 July 2003
See this PQ by David Cameron MP which shows Airwave was implemented on 23 July 2003.
This document which stongly criticised communications failings of TVP on the night of 18 November 2003,indicates however that Airwave went live earlier on that day.
Interestingly, one reads in the report on the firearms incident of 18/11/03 that from August 2003 ACC Sara Thornton was covering the Deputy Chief Constable portfolio from August 2003 until February 2004, so who became ACC Specialist Operations (SO) immediately after July 2003 for six months? ACC Page? Francis Habgood became ACC (SO) in Jan 2004, Deputy Chief Constable from October 2008.
ReplyDeleteAnother question for 17/18 July 2003 : who was the GOLD COMMANDER? Sara Thornton? Michael Page??
(The 18/11/03 report document also shows the TVP basic command unit was reduced from 10 to 5 BCUs in Sept 2005.)
Felix,
ReplyDeleteA propos who was in charge of the David Kelly investigation(s) it seems to be implied to Hutton that ACC Page was in charge, but that's never unambiguously stated, so far as I remember.
ACC Page is the public face of Thames Valley Police at Hutton, but was he in charge?
Of course, in another sense DCI Alan Young was in charge. He ran the still mysterious Operation Mason and ACC Page subsequently appointed him as the officer in charge of the investigation into the death of David Kelly.
From PC Franklin's evidence it seems that he was liaising with DCI Young at Harrowdown Hill.
ReplyDeleteIn a sort of "hands on" sense Mr Young appears to be a more important witness than ACC Page. Of course it is quite possible that TVP had good reasons to ensure that DCI Young did not give evidence to Hutton.