Daly during his training; inset, PC Pulling in his Ku Klux Klan hood
BBC journalist Mark Daly, who spent nearly six months undercover exposing racism in the Greater Manchester and North Wales police forces, will not be prosecuted due to insufficient evidence.
Daly was arrested in August for obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, after police were tipped off about his filming for the documentary The Secret Policemen, broadcast last month.
He was arrested on suspicion of gaining his salary by deception and damaging police property, after concealing a pinhole camera in his bulletproof vest.
But the Crown Prosecution Service said this week it had informed Greater Manchester Police that there was insufficient evidence to bring Daly to court for deception.
The BBC said it welcomed news that the CPS would not bring charges against Daly. He filmed police officers making racist comments, including PC Rob Pulling using a pillow cover as a Ku Klux Klan hood, and confessing that he had it in him to “murder a fucking Paki bastard”.
The documentary has sent shockwaves through the police force and the country at large, after six officers resigned and two others were suspended, prompting the Police Complaints Authority to launch an investigation. The BBC said it would hand over additional film evidence to the police.
Last week the Commission for Racial Equality announced it would launch its own inquiry into racism within the police force, off the back of the programme.
Speaking at the Metropolitan Black Police Association’s annual general meeting, CRE chair Trevor Phillips said he had informed the Home Secretary of his plans for a probe.
“As I am empowered to do under the Race Relations Act of 1976, I intend to instigate a formal investigation into the police service across England and Wales.
“I am glad to say that he [the Home Secretary] has agreed to support my decision. I intend to appoint a small panel of experienced and highly qualified commissioners to direct the investigation, and, as I am required to do under the act, I will ask the Home Secretary to approve that panel and to give them the relevant powers of investigation under the act
By Wale Azeez
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