0:00:13 > 0:00:17These criminals are earning millions and millions of pounds.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19You can buy policemen, politicians,
0:00:19 > 0:00:22planning officers, judges,
0:00:22 > 0:00:24CPS officials.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26There's going to be a price for everyone.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35This is the story of the battle against bent cops.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Revealed for the first time by those who were there.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43We were a law unto ourselves.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48If evidence is not forthcoming,
0:00:48 > 0:00:52then we would give it a helping hand to get a conviction.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57Customs didn't trust them,
0:00:57 > 0:00:59MI6 didn't trust them, MI5 didn't trust them.
0:00:59 > 0:01:00Nobody trusted them.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05It's the story of how organised crime corrupted the police.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10The lower-grade detectives were almost indistinguishable
0:01:10 > 0:01:13at some stages from the criminals with whom they operated.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16The truth of the matter?
0:01:16 > 0:01:20There were organised criminals with police badges.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23It's also the story of how the police fought back.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28They wanted an undercover squad that could gather intelligence
0:01:28 > 0:01:31that could be used to try and nail these bastards.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33And we were set up to target them.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59My gut feeling is that everything was being manipulated
0:01:59 > 0:02:02by corrupt policemen working on the inside.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12My gut feeling was we, at that point, um...
0:02:12 > 0:02:16we'd been...we'd been set up. Completely set up.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21The police was Dave McKelvey's life
0:02:21 > 0:02:23ever since he joined the Met at 18.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29I didn't go to work, um...for the money,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31I went to work because I loved it.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34If there was a job on,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37I was the one who was the first one across the pavement.
0:02:37 > 0:02:38I was the one who put the door in.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44And that's what it was about for me. It was about catching bad people.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47Catching people...rapists, murderers,
0:02:47 > 0:02:49people involved in drugs crimes.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51It was about catching them
0:02:51 > 0:02:53and hopefully putting them in prison.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57As head of the Newham crime squad, his team got results.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03I know from the feedback, the intelligence we got fed back,
0:03:03 > 0:03:07that it caused chaos amongst the criminal network
0:03:07 > 0:03:09because they didn't know what was going on.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12We were taking out major criminals all the time
0:03:12 > 0:03:14and they couldn't work out who it was and why.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20A routine raid in 2006
0:03:20 > 0:03:23set off a chain of events that put Dave McKelvey
0:03:23 > 0:03:25on a collision course with organised crime.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30It began at a scrap yard in the Docklands area of East London.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37It was a search warrant for stolen metal
0:03:37 > 0:03:40at, um...a scrap yard, a metal yard.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43INDISTINCT YELLING
0:03:46 > 0:03:49In the course of the search, I think initially,
0:03:49 > 0:03:51the individuals there were arrested
0:03:51 > 0:03:55for handling £40-worth of stolen copper piping.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57All right? Don't kid me off, mate, all right?
0:03:57 > 0:03:59If you want to be serious, be serious!
0:03:59 > 0:04:02I'm talking to you. He's asked me about receipts
0:04:02 > 0:04:03- and I'm- BLEEP- showing him.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09During the search, they found details of an address nearby.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13We promptly trooped across the road
0:04:13 > 0:04:16and starting searching these premises across the road
0:04:16 > 0:04:19which consisted of 42 of the big containers.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22And as soon as we started opening up the containers,
0:04:22 > 0:04:23we realised very quickly
0:04:23 > 0:04:26that it was an Aladdin's cave of stolen goods.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33On the top shelf, there is a bundle of cash
0:04:33 > 0:04:37in an elastic band on the right-hand side.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40And on the left-hand side, there's another bundle of cash.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44These are spoils of 18 different lorry thefts,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47plus a burglary, a commercial burglary.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50Plus there was a load of counterfeit goods in there, as well.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53So I think it took us about five or six days to search the premises.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56He arrested three men
0:04:56 > 0:04:59and seized around £2 million-worth of stolen goods.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03It was the remains of a much bigger haul.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Intelligence from a source in the criminal underworld
0:05:13 > 0:05:16told him he was now locking horns with organised crime.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22I suddenly realised that all of that work we'd been doing,
0:05:22 > 0:05:24there was an organised crime group who were sitting above it all,
0:05:24 > 0:05:26looking down at what we were doing.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28We thought they were stand-alone pieces of work.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32In reality, it was all being directed from above.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38Dave McKelvey got his team together.
0:05:38 > 0:05:39We put locks on the doors
0:05:39 > 0:05:42and I sat them all down and I explained to them,
0:05:42 > 0:05:46"Right, we are now investigating THE biggest crime family in the UK".
0:05:49 > 0:05:52Police intelligence linked the three arrested men
0:05:52 > 0:05:55to an organised-crime group called the Hunt Syndicate.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59The man at the top, David Hunt.
0:05:59 > 0:06:05Mr Big in a grey suit with a reputation for extreme violence.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09Here he is captured on CCTV at a court case
0:06:09 > 0:06:12about the ownership of the scrap yard where the raid started.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18Dave McKelvey warned his team of young detectives.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22You will get potentially followed.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25They will undoubtedly make allegations against you.
0:06:25 > 0:06:30There is nothing these people will not do, er...against you.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36He was right to be worried about taking on organised crime.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39He knew they were ruthless.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42But he didn't know that they'd been corrupting police officers
0:06:42 > 0:06:43for more than a decade.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53I was running a particularly high-profile informant.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Who was giving top-class information
0:07:01 > 0:07:04about serious organised crime.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09Frank Matthews doesn't want to be identified.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13He'd been running an informant at the heart of the Hunt Syndicate.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15He was passing all the intelligence on to a squad
0:07:15 > 0:07:17that was targeting organised crime.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24When it reached the operational team, it was not being actioned.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27They were saying they hadn't received the information,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30that I hadn't passed the information on.
0:07:31 > 0:07:36My suspicions then were that certain people were being protected.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43It looked like serious criminals were being protected
0:07:43 > 0:07:45by the very same detectives
0:07:45 > 0:07:47who were supposed to be sending them to jail.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55That team of officers, I believe, were corrupt
0:07:55 > 0:07:58and were actually in league with the team
0:07:58 > 0:08:00they were supposed to have been targeting.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10He was right.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14In 2002, a secret Met report called Tiberius
0:08:14 > 0:08:17warned that some officers were in the pay of crime groups
0:08:17 > 0:08:19like the Hunt Syndicate.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29It revealed how the relationship between police handler
0:08:29 > 0:08:32and criminal informant was vulnerable to corruption.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40An informant will always try and push the boundaries
0:08:40 > 0:08:43and will try to get you to do things
0:08:43 > 0:08:45that are maybe not in the rulebook,
0:08:45 > 0:08:47maybe even against the law.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54Unfortunately, when they've overstepped the mark, as such,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56there's no going back.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58You cannot go back because now
0:08:58 > 0:09:01the informant is running the police officer.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Tiberius concluded that organised crime
0:09:08 > 0:09:12is currently able to infiltrate the Metropolitan Police Service at will.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16Eight major crime syndicates between them
0:09:16 > 0:09:18had corrupted 22 former
0:09:18 > 0:09:20and 34 serving police officers.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29It was so secret, only the Met's most senior officers got to see it.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Frontline detectives like Dave McKelvey were left in the dark.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45This little...this little stretch here,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48the criminality in this little stretch of road,
0:09:48 > 0:09:52the other side and this side, incredible.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Back in East London, he was building the case
0:09:55 > 0:09:59against the three men who were arrested after the scrap yard raid.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02We thought we'd hit the jackpot.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04We'd identified the principal handlers.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08We'd got the people who were actually handling the stolen goods.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13It looked like associates of the organised-crime group,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16or OCG, had suffered an expensive setback.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22When you look at what the Newham crime squad had achieved,
0:10:22 > 0:10:26they were chipping away at the outside of this OCG.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35And doing, from what I saw, a very good job.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38So, we're being arrested for that little bit of tube...?
0:10:38 > 0:10:42If the OCG are getting hot,
0:10:42 > 0:10:44they want to do something about it.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53In January 2007,
0:10:53 > 0:10:57intelligence came in about what that something might be.
0:11:01 > 0:11:04It said there had been a meeting on a boat in Spain.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14The meeting had been between the head of the organised-crime group
0:11:14 > 0:11:19and one of the UK's most prolific contract killers.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22And a contract had been put together,
0:11:22 > 0:11:24a substantial contract for £1 million,
0:11:24 > 0:11:26to kill three individuals.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32In total, five intelligence sources said the same thing.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34But who was the target and when would it happen?
0:11:34 > 0:11:36The police had no idea.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44It was Dave McKelvey who discovered answers
0:11:44 > 0:11:46from a petty criminal who knew the hit man.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51He told Dave the hit was already in play.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58A very well-known contract killer, um...
0:11:58 > 0:12:01had been sitting outside Stratford police station
0:12:01 > 0:12:04for a two-week period.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07We were told what car he was sitting in
0:12:07 > 0:12:09and we were told that there was a submachine gun
0:12:09 > 0:12:12in a car parked down a road
0:12:12 > 0:12:16and that that individual had identified a...
0:12:16 > 0:12:18I think it was a 52-plate Mondeo,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21which was one of the police cars on the team.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32I remember literally going cold, literally, sitting there
0:12:32 > 0:12:36and just...just...you know, a moment of...of...
0:12:36 > 0:12:38I suppose, sheer terror.
0:12:45 > 0:12:50And then...a controlled panic sets in
0:12:50 > 0:12:55because it's clear that this isn't going to happen in a week's time.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59He's saying there's a man sitting outside a police station now
0:12:59 > 0:13:03and he's got a machinegun to shoot dead one of my policemen.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11I immediately left and I put a phone call in to his supervisor,
0:13:11 > 0:13:15who I knew was with him, and just said, "Get him out".
0:13:21 > 0:13:24The intelligence suggested they had the details,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28home addresses of two other policemen they wanted to take out.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34It was clear one of them was me.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36Intelligence named the hit man
0:13:36 > 0:13:39as the leader of a London street gang.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46I thought that the balloon would go up, I thought...
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Bang! ..that there would be, you know, there would be firearms teams.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52I thought there'd be all sorts of things going on.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58He says the threat wasn't taken seriously by senior officers.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04There are set policies to deal with threat-to-life situations.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07They didn't do anything.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09They did absolutely nothing.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17The hit was never carried out,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20but continued to hang over Dave McKelvey and his team.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27David Hunt says the intelligence about the hit
0:14:27 > 0:14:29was plainly not credible.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32He says he's never been arrested or questioned
0:14:32 > 0:14:34about any alleged contract to kill.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42He says he was never suspected of involvement with the stolen goods.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45He accepts offering support to one of the arrested men,
0:14:45 > 0:14:47but says none of them are his associates.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58The three men arrested during the scrap yard raid
0:14:58 > 0:15:00were now awaiting trial.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04The evidence against them was overwhelming.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08We were heading towards, um...we thought would be a plea of guilty.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12One of the suspects was on remand in prison.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15He didn't seem to be worried.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21I had intelligence sources in the prison
0:15:21 > 0:15:23that I was being regularly fed intelligence
0:15:23 > 0:15:25on what that individual was saying.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27And, um...the individual in prison
0:15:27 > 0:15:30was making arrangements for his wedding.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32It was bizarre.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Because he knows that he's going to get off.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38And he's not going to get off. How can he possibly get off?
0:15:41 > 0:15:45Did the criminals know something Dave McKelvey didn't?
0:15:45 > 0:15:49That Dave McKelvey was now under investigation himself.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55David's style of policing, perhaps, didn't, er...warm to everybody.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59And he, er...could be described and was described
0:15:59 > 0:16:01as being Gene Hunt on speed.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06Albert Patrick later reviewed the allegations against McKelvey.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09So, what was he being accused of?
0:16:12 > 0:16:15I found that difficult to actually work out, personally.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18But, er...they believed that he had an unhealthy relationship
0:16:18 > 0:16:22with the people he was actually looking at and arresting.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25SIRENS WAIL
0:16:26 > 0:16:30The trial of the men arrested at the scrap yard was about to begin.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34An anti-corruption detective sent an eight-page dossier
0:16:34 > 0:16:36to Crown prosecutors.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39It raised concerns about Dave McKelvey and his team.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49There was an unease for me that a report was allowed to go
0:16:49 > 0:16:52all the way to the CPS without anybody sanctioning it,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55without anybody at a higher level.
0:16:55 > 0:16:56And I never saw anything to say,
0:16:56 > 0:16:58"OK, I'm the head of the anti-corruption squad,
0:16:58 > 0:17:00"I've approved this".
0:17:00 > 0:17:01I never saw that.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06The report so alarmed prosecutors, they dropped the charges.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08The trial collapsed.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13I remember at the time just thinking, "I'm being fitted up".
0:17:13 > 0:17:15You just had nowhere to go.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17You just...you didn't know who to trust,
0:17:17 > 0:17:19you didn't know who to believe.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22Everything. The world...your world is turned upside-down.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33One way or another, organised crime had prevailed.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38It would be several years before Dave McKelvey discovered more
0:17:38 > 0:17:40about how things had gone so badly wrong.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53There are now approximately 6,000 organised-crime groups in the UK.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56They cost the economy over £24 billion a year.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00To understand the root of today's corruption,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03you have to rewind the clock to the backhanders of the past.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08SIRENS WAIL
0:18:10 > 0:18:12South London, the 1980s.
0:18:15 > 0:18:16A different world.
0:18:22 > 0:18:24The police had no morals.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27Because they was working both sides of the fence.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Paul Goodridge grew up in the borough of Croydon.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36He witnessed police corruption first-hand.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39SIRENS WAIL
0:18:39 > 0:18:41Croydon was run by the Old Bill then.
0:18:41 > 0:18:42It was run by the Old Bill.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44That's why I went with villains
0:18:44 > 0:18:47because at least I knew what they was.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56Down in Croydon, they was all trying to hide what they was.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58And you didn't know the good guys from the bad guys.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04I was talking to this officer once in a club,
0:19:04 > 0:19:05I was having an argument with him.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08His exact words, he turned around and said,
0:19:08 > 0:19:10"You think that you've got a firm?"
0:19:10 > 0:19:13He said, "My firm's the biggest, right?"
0:19:13 > 0:19:16And he said, "They're all dressed in blue".
0:19:16 > 0:19:19- In short, you can't- BLEEP - with these people.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Paul Goodridge ran a private security company.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27His best client was the actor, Richard Harris.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34He also counted some of London's most notorious criminals as friends.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40I've been with colourful people, right?
0:19:40 > 0:19:45And I've not done no business with them, right? But I knew them.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48I knew them to drink with, I knew them to associate with.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56He says corrupt police were making money out of gangsters.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Some did, yeah, yeah.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03It was rumoured, and I believe the rumours,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06they used to hire out their warrant cards.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09For a few hundred pounds,
0:20:09 > 0:20:13criminals could rob each other while posing as policemen.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Yeah. Not once or twice.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24It was a world of almost routine corruption.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26Then an extraordinary event.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30A murder unsolved to this day.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35Daniel Morgan and Jonathan Rees were private detectives.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40One would die, the other would become the prime suspect.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45I had no reason to hate Daniel at all.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47He was good at what he did.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49We were salt and pepper type characters.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55We worked well.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57And we earned lots and lots of money.
0:20:57 > 0:21:02And I lost lots of money, um...when he died.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06I mean, but I'm not...worried about that now, um...
0:21:06 > 0:21:09but I'm just saying that he was... he was...
0:21:09 > 0:21:13more use to me alive than dead.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15Um...and he was a friend.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22In 1987, Daniel Morgan was found dead in a car park.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24He'd been killed with an axe.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27Did you kill Daniel Morgan or arrange for his murder?
0:21:27 > 0:21:29You're too clever for me.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35- You want an answer? - I would like an answer, yeah.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37No.
0:21:38 > 0:21:39The murder remains mired
0:21:39 > 0:21:42in allegations of corruption and incompetence
0:21:42 > 0:21:45which, to this day, have never been resolved.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51The original enquiry team drafted in officers from the crime squad
0:21:51 > 0:21:53based here, at Catford police station.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59We were a law unto ourselves, that Catford Crime Squad.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11The villains didn't want to commit any crimes on Catford
0:22:11 > 0:22:15because they know, you go to Catford, you'll get fitted up.
0:22:17 > 0:22:23If evidence is not forthcoming, but you know the person is guilty,
0:22:23 > 0:22:25it's just that it's just not there,
0:22:25 > 0:22:29then we would give it a helping hand to get a conviction.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35We got the results, the crime rate fell, everyone was happy.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44The man in charge of the Catford Crime Squad
0:22:44 > 0:22:46was Detective Sergeant Sid Fillery.
0:22:48 > 0:22:49Jonathan Rees' close friend.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57Sid was like a king holding court.
0:22:57 > 0:22:58Everything was done through Sid.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02And Sid could then sort it out with the senior officers.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06The day after the murder, Fillery was told
0:23:06 > 0:23:10to take a witness statement from Jonathan Rees.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12Fillery left the enquiry shortly afterwards.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Senior officers later became suspicious of Rees.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19They believed he was the only person
0:23:19 > 0:23:23who knew where Daniel Morgan would be on the night he was murdered.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29They made a dreadful mistake on the day that they arrested me.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31And from then on,
0:23:31 > 0:23:37it...it...it wasn't an investigation to find the murderer of Daniel,
0:23:37 > 0:23:42it was an investigation to find anyone or anything
0:23:42 > 0:23:45to implicate me, and just me,
0:23:45 > 0:23:47in the murder of Daniel.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49It'd become blinkered.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52Sid Fillery was also arrested,
0:23:52 > 0:23:56but without real evidence, the cases against both were dropped.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Sid Fillery says his friendship with Rees
0:24:00 > 0:24:02didn't compromise the murder inquiry.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05He also says he took his responsibilities
0:24:05 > 0:24:07on Catford Crime Squad seriously
0:24:07 > 0:24:11and his team were busy enough dealing with people they'd arrested
0:24:11 > 0:24:13without falsely creating evidence.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32The Morgan murder ought to have been a wake-up call for the Met.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35But it was another organisation altogether
0:24:35 > 0:24:37that raised the alarm about police corruption.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43A top-secret team within Customs and Excise.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47They were targeting big-time drug smugglers
0:24:47 > 0:24:48and they were called, Alpha.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Alpha was the... Was? Probably still is,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55the telephone intercept section.
0:24:56 > 0:25:01Until now, no customs officer has spoken publicly about its existence.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06When you came into the organisation,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10you'd be given a paper to read which was about interception.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17So you'd read it...
0:25:17 > 0:25:20and you'd be told, um...
0:25:20 > 0:25:23"You might...you need to know about this,
0:25:23 > 0:25:24"but you need now to forget it".
0:25:26 > 0:25:27It was very secret.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31Within our organisation, very few officers ever worked there.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39Very few officers ever knew where it was done, the physical premises.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41Very few officers ever knew how it was done.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47Alpha began as a small team and grew rapidly.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51It was hugely successful.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53I mean, it was absolutely critical to our success.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57- Yeah, yeah... - Officers worked in shifts.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01Whenever the criminals were talking, they had to be listening.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03You're getting into the heart and soul
0:26:03 > 0:26:05of the individual and their colleagues.
0:26:05 > 0:26:06You're getting to understand them.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10You're getting to understand their movements, what time they get up.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13You're getting to understand who's important in their lives.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15Yeah.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17And, of course, people don't say,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20"I'm going to smuggle 50 kilos of cocaine next week".
0:26:20 > 0:26:22That's not how it works.
0:26:22 > 0:26:2650 grand's worth of shirts. That's it.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28They'll say to a pal, "Have you got the shirts?"
0:26:28 > 0:26:30And the pal will say, "Well, I think...
0:26:30 > 0:26:33"I think, er...I'm getting them next week".
0:26:37 > 0:26:40That was intensive. My hearing suffered as a result of it.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43- All those hours with headphones on? - Absolutely.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54By the end of the 1990s, cocaine busts had risen fivefold.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Heroin seizures more than doubled.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Millions and millions of pounds were at stake.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05And it wasn't just drug dealers that Alpha could hear.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07The most significant source of information
0:27:07 > 0:27:10about bent police officers was from telephone intercepts.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14And the range of criminality which police officers were involved in
0:27:14 > 0:27:17was everything from just having a drink with a so-called informant,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20or, I mean, in one or two cases,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23police officers being right at the heart of smuggling episodes.
0:27:23 > 0:27:26At its peak, they were listening in
0:27:26 > 0:27:29to up to a dozen bent cops at any one time.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33Alpha briefed senior officers at Scotland Yard.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39The lower-grade detectives were almost indistinguishable
0:27:39 > 0:27:42at some stages from the criminals with whom they operated.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44And they were socially mixed up together
0:27:44 > 0:27:47in a way that's quite difficult to conceive.
0:27:47 > 0:27:48I mean, we had intelligence at one stage
0:27:48 > 0:27:50of two criminals who were targets of ours
0:27:50 > 0:27:54playing football for a Metropolitan Police football team.
0:27:54 > 0:27:55Very hard to believe.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04For the time I was there, at least six police officers were arrested.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06But convicting them was extremely difficult.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08Extremely difficult.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15It wasn't just Customs and Excise
0:28:15 > 0:28:19who were warning the Met about the scale of corruption.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21So, too, was the Met's own internal auditor.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26The Met employed 55,000 people when I was there.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28If you employ 55,000 people,
0:28:28 > 0:28:30you won't have 55,000 totally honest people.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37You'll have some people who join because they're criminals.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40Some become criminals when something happens in their personal life.
0:28:40 > 0:28:44You're going to have some people who've been suborned by criminals.
0:28:44 > 0:28:45It's the nature of the job.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47SIRENS WAIL
0:28:49 > 0:28:50Peter Tickner was brought in
0:28:50 > 0:28:53after the Met's assistant director of finance
0:28:53 > 0:28:55had stolen £5 million.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02The end result of that was I got the job of head of audit at the Met
0:29:02 > 0:29:04and given the power to look at everything.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08He found out that contractors working for the Met
0:29:08 > 0:29:10were a Trojan horse for corruption.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15I was contacted by a head of audit of another government department.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18They had a problem with a dodgy works contractor
0:29:18 > 0:29:20who was paying bribes to a member of their staff.
0:29:22 > 0:29:23When he started asking questions,
0:29:23 > 0:29:28he was told the dodgy contractor was also being employed by the Met.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31So I went and saw my mate and he said,
0:29:31 > 0:29:34"I've been warning them they're using dodgy contractors,
0:29:34 > 0:29:37"but nobody will listen to me on the support side".
0:29:40 > 0:29:43A check was done on the home address of the company director
0:29:43 > 0:29:45with Met intelligence.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47We got the reply, "I wouldn't touch him if I were you.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51"That's Frank. That's the well-known armed robber." What?!
0:29:51 > 0:29:53You know? Totally stunned.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57The Met had signed a £1 million three-year contract
0:29:57 > 0:30:01with a maintenance company owned by a known criminal.
0:30:01 > 0:30:02His workmen had access
0:30:02 > 0:30:06to police stations all across South East London.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10And it turned out they changed the DCI's notice board
0:30:10 > 0:30:12at Tower Bridge.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15They'd also changed the locks on the cells at Tower Bridge.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18And they'd done other minor works and maintenance in the office
0:30:18 > 0:30:20where detectives were doing armed-robbery investigations
0:30:20 > 0:30:23in Tower Bridge. And this was an armed robber who'd been in there.
0:30:23 > 0:30:24So God knows who they sent,
0:30:24 > 0:30:28or who went around all these police properties. I hate to think.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34Peter Tickner says he tried to raise his concerns with a senior officer.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36It didn't go down well.
0:30:36 > 0:30:40All the paperwork he had in front of him, he threw at me, like that.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43And words to the effect of, quite loudly shouted, you know,
0:30:43 > 0:30:46"You're not a detective, you're not a police officer,
0:30:46 > 0:30:47"you're not trained in investigation.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50"You have no right to investigate anything in the Met.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52"That's a police officer's job! What the blank, blank, blank
0:30:52 > 0:30:55"do you think you're doing a police officer's job?!"
0:30:59 > 0:31:02Later, he discovered the armed robber was passing information
0:31:02 > 0:31:07to an organised-crime gang that was itself under police surveillance.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13Of course, nobody talked to anybody inside the Met.
0:31:13 > 0:31:15This is classic, you know, divide.
0:31:15 > 0:31:17The operational side were running an operation,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20they were trying to nail the big villains in the South East.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22They weren't interested that one of the villains
0:31:22 > 0:31:24had a works and maintenance contract with the Met.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28Organised crime was getting a toehold.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30And the Met was getting a bad reputation.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34Customs didn't trust them,
0:31:34 > 0:31:36MI6 didn't trust them, MI5 didn't trust them.
0:31:36 > 0:31:38Nobody trusted them.
0:31:40 > 0:31:42That corruption problem
0:31:42 > 0:31:45wasn't confined to an individual officer here or there.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55It impacted upon offices, squads, teams, et cetera.
0:31:55 > 0:31:58So, if you like, this suggestion of corrupt networks.
0:32:01 > 0:32:05It was obvious the Met had a problem it could no longer ignore,
0:32:05 > 0:32:08but it didn't know how big the problem was.
0:32:08 > 0:32:13In 1994, the Met Commissioner ordered a top secret operation
0:32:13 > 0:32:15to get better intelligence.
0:32:18 > 0:32:20If you're going to tackle corruption,
0:32:20 > 0:32:23particularly allegations of police corruption,
0:32:23 > 0:32:25you need to understand the nature of it,
0:32:25 > 0:32:30so you need to undertake a scoping and intelligence-gathering operation
0:32:30 > 0:32:32to ascertain what the problem is.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34If you don't get that,
0:32:34 > 0:32:37you're not going to know how best to investigate it.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45So they wanted an undercover squad that could gather intelligence
0:32:45 > 0:32:47that could be used to try and nail these bastards.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54The squad that would nail them was called CIB 3.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58It was based in this now-empty office block.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02The detectives were hand-picked, and became known as the Untouchables.
0:33:04 > 0:33:05It was very confidential.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14Even within the squads we worked in silence.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17We didn't discuss jobs that we were involved in.
0:33:18 > 0:33:22The scoping exercise identified a number of officers
0:33:22 > 0:33:26that were clearly involved, or believed at the time to be involved.
0:33:26 > 0:33:27The truth of the matter,
0:33:27 > 0:33:30they were serious and organised criminals with police badges,
0:33:30 > 0:33:34if you want a description of them, and we were set up to target them.
0:33:38 > 0:33:40Two of its biggest targets
0:33:40 > 0:33:42were Kevin Garner and Terry McGuinness
0:33:42 > 0:33:44of the Met's elite Flying Squad.
0:33:46 > 0:33:50McGuinness was one of my DCs on the Flying Squad.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57He got caught in a sting operation
0:33:57 > 0:33:59where they went into a house
0:33:59 > 0:34:02and stole lots of drugs that had been put there.
0:34:02 > 0:34:04A great investigation - all on camera.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06They were caught bangs to rights.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12Garner and McGuinness were arrested in 1996
0:34:12 > 0:34:16trying to steal £400,000 worth of cannabis.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23They confessed, and became the first ever police supergrasses.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26They named 80 officers they said were bent.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30McGuinness made an allegation
0:34:30 > 0:34:32that the whole of the Flying Squad was corrupt.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36Using supergrasses was controversial,
0:34:36 > 0:34:39and it snared some very senior officers...
0:34:39 > 0:34:41including Albert Patrick,
0:34:41 > 0:34:44one of the Met's most respected murder detectives.
0:34:47 > 0:34:52He was accused of stealing £8,000 recovered from a Post Office robbery
0:34:52 > 0:34:54and using it to pay for a Christmas party.
0:34:56 > 0:35:0131 years' service, and I'm getting accused of corruption.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03Think about it. Are you with me?
0:35:03 > 0:35:04It just didn't stack up.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08At the time, Albert Patrick
0:35:08 > 0:35:11was in charge of Scotland Yard's most explosive case -
0:35:11 > 0:35:13the murder of Stephen Lawrence.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17- REPORTER:- Senior officers at Scotland Yard
0:35:17 > 0:35:20confirmed that Mr Patrick was being investigated
0:35:20 > 0:35:22in relation to a corruption inquiry
0:35:22 > 0:35:26at the Flying Squad's East London offices where he worked before.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34The corruption allegations forced his removal.
0:35:35 > 0:35:40I went on television that afternoon and said I'd clear my name.
0:35:40 > 0:35:41I did, six months later.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44I cleared my name, but it hurt my wife.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46It hurt my family. It hurt my friends.
0:35:47 > 0:35:5080 officers had been accused of corruption
0:35:50 > 0:35:52on the word of two bent cops.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56Only five, including the supergrasses,
0:35:56 > 0:35:58ever went to jail.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01It was innovation, it was new techniques,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05and we made mistakes and we were criticised.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07Do I think debriefing people
0:36:07 > 0:36:10and using them as witnesses is a good thing?
0:36:10 > 0:36:13In hindsight it probably wasn't, actually,
0:36:13 > 0:36:15it wasn't the best technique -
0:36:15 > 0:36:17but it gave an awful lot of information
0:36:17 > 0:36:19which later went on to be corroborated.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30At the height of the supergrass investigation,
0:36:30 > 0:36:33175 detectives were fighting corruption.
0:36:43 > 0:36:44To me, it was proportionate resources.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46175 detectives aren't that many
0:36:46 > 0:36:50when you think how many major investigations we undertook.
0:36:53 > 0:36:58One of those investigations was the decade-old murder of Daniel Morgan.
0:36:59 > 0:37:03His former business partner, Jonathan Rees, was still a suspect.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06Detective Sergeant Sid Fillery had left the police
0:37:06 > 0:37:08and was by now working with him.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12CIB 3 began a spying operation on the pair of them.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18They uncovered a bent cop and a plot against an innocent woman.
0:37:21 > 0:37:22I remember sitting in the van
0:37:22 > 0:37:25with all these policemen all laughing and joking,
0:37:25 > 0:37:29um...before they took me to the police station.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38And, you know, I was under arrest, basically.
0:37:41 > 0:37:43Kim James didn't know what was happening, or why,
0:37:43 > 0:37:45but the Untouchables did.
0:37:47 > 0:37:51They'd recruited a former detective to go undercover.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53His job was to get close to Jonathan Rees,
0:37:53 > 0:37:56someone he used to know.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58So, I said, "Well, I suppose if I was going to go about it,
0:37:58 > 0:38:00"it would be along the lines of,
0:38:00 > 0:38:02"I was a disgruntled pissed off ex-policeman
0:38:02 > 0:38:03"who had been treated badly."
0:38:08 > 0:38:13He hates the police because he got locked up for his partner's murder,
0:38:13 > 0:38:15so I said that would be a good starting thing.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22Rees fell for Haslam's approach,
0:38:22 > 0:38:25so his CIB 3 handlers asked him...
0:38:25 > 0:38:27Could I steal the office keys?
0:38:27 > 0:38:30I said, "What would be the point of that?"
0:38:32 > 0:38:36He said, "Well, then we've got access."
0:38:36 > 0:38:38I said, "Yeah, but if they lose a bunch of keys,
0:38:38 > 0:38:40"what would you do if you lost your house keys?"
0:38:40 > 0:38:43I said, "You'd change all the locks."
0:38:43 > 0:38:44So, he said, "Oh, that's a point."
0:38:47 > 0:38:50So, I said, "Have you not heard of taking impressions of keys?
0:38:50 > 0:38:52"I might be able to help you there."
0:38:52 > 0:38:53"Why?"
0:38:53 > 0:38:56So I said, "Well, that way they don't lose them,
0:38:56 > 0:38:57"they're not going to replace the locks."
0:38:57 > 0:39:01"Oh, yeah. Meet me at Gatwick Airport."
0:39:01 > 0:39:04He said, "I'll arrange to get you some key boxes."
0:39:12 > 0:39:15They wanted the access to bug it up.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20So then they could put the equipment in -
0:39:20 > 0:39:23and, really, that's what they did.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30The Untouchables were listening 24/7.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34Jonathan Rees had a client involved in a custody battle.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36Simon James paid Jonathan Rees
0:39:36 > 0:39:39to put his wife Kim under surveillance.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47The job was simple enough, but he suspected,
0:39:47 > 0:39:49and had been told by friends of hers
0:39:49 > 0:39:52she was mixing with the wrong people...
0:39:57 > 0:40:00..and that she was earning some extra income by...
0:40:01 > 0:40:02..dealing.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06Jonathan Rees couldn't find any evidence
0:40:06 > 0:40:08Kim James was dealing drugs -
0:40:08 > 0:40:10because there wasn't any.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12That didn't stop him.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14He hatched another plan -
0:40:14 > 0:40:18steal her keys and put a camera in her flat.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22It was all perfectly legal.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26The... At worst, a trespass.
0:40:26 > 0:40:32We got the keys removed from her vehicle,
0:40:32 > 0:40:36but when we tried to use them, the keys,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39we didn't have a key for the communal door,
0:40:39 > 0:40:42so that was, basically, the job was dead in the water.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46Simon James wanted sole custody of their son Daniel.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49He wanted his wife's home raided, so he and Jonathan Rees
0:40:49 > 0:40:53paid a policeman £1,500 to make it happen.
0:40:53 > 0:40:54The reason for going through him
0:40:54 > 0:40:56was that if we'd gone to the local police station
0:40:56 > 0:40:59and said, "Oh, we think this has happened, we think that's happened,
0:40:59 > 0:41:02"and we've got these suspicious things happening,"
0:41:02 > 0:41:03they'd have told us to go away.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06Rightly so, they've got better things to do.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10So we would have got a second class service,
0:41:10 > 0:41:16whereas by using this contact, we got a first class service -
0:41:16 > 0:41:19and he passed over that information to the other side.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22Were you breaking the law paying the police officer to do that?
0:41:22 > 0:41:24I wasn't, no.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31All this time, the Untouchables were listening in.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36Their tape recordings revealed what was really going on.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42Namely, plant cocaine in her car.
0:41:53 > 0:41:55And this was being monitored.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04The police officer Jonathan Rees paid
0:42:04 > 0:42:07was Detective Constable Austin Warns.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09He told another detective
0:42:09 > 0:42:12that Kim James would have drugs in her house that night.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17Information from an informant - an informant that never existed.
0:42:19 > 0:42:23He then fed these lies into the Met's criminal intelligence system.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25Kim James was arrested.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32They even looked in Daniel's bedroom.
0:42:32 > 0:42:34They looked in his cot.
0:42:34 > 0:42:36They strip searched me.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39And then they didn't find anything.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43So then they said, "Oh, we're going to have to go and look in your car,"
0:42:43 > 0:42:46and somebody shouted something.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50They had found a lot of drugs in my car.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53They said that it was cocaine, lots of it -
0:42:53 > 0:42:58enough for me to have been given a lengthy prison sentence.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03Detective Constable Austin Warns pleaded guilty
0:43:03 > 0:43:05and was jailed for four years.
0:43:06 > 0:43:11Simon James had paid Jonathan Rees £8,000 to set up his wife.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15They were both sentenced to seven years
0:43:15 > 0:43:17for conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24I really still to this day feel sorry for her.
0:43:24 > 0:43:25She is raided by the police.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27Of course it was never going to go anywhere,
0:43:27 > 0:43:30because it wasn't cocaine, and it was all corruption.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33Despite his conviction,
0:43:33 > 0:43:36Jonathan Rees still denies he plotted to put cocaine
0:43:36 > 0:43:40in Kim James' car, and that he corrupted a police officer.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46Corruption is if you get someone to do something
0:43:46 > 0:43:48that they shouldn't do,
0:43:48 > 0:43:52or get someone not to do something that they should do.
0:43:53 > 0:43:58He was asked and tasked to do something that he should do.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02We are asking him to take time off from his normal work
0:44:02 > 0:44:10or put himself out to spend time and pass on this information
0:44:10 > 0:44:12to get us that first class service.
0:44:14 > 0:44:19Daniel, the son Kim James came close to losing, is now 18.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22She says if the plot to jail her had succeeded,
0:44:22 > 0:44:24she wouldn't be here today.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28I probably would have ended my life,
0:44:28 > 0:44:33because there's no way that I would have been able to stay in prison
0:44:33 > 0:44:36knowing that my son was with somebody who could do that to them
0:44:36 > 0:44:38and knowing that when I got out,
0:44:38 > 0:44:40there was no way I'd be able to see him.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45The surveillance lasted nearly a year.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51It rescued Kim James from a plot to frame her,
0:44:51 > 0:44:54and found evidence of police corruption -
0:44:54 > 0:44:56but the probes hadn't captured any new evidence
0:44:56 > 0:44:58about the murder of Daniel Morgan.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06In 2011, after yet another investigation,
0:45:06 > 0:45:09Jonathan Rees was formally acquitted of murder.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13He and Sid Fillery are now suing the Met.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18If you tried to write that story in a novel,
0:45:18 > 0:45:20people would say it was so far fetched
0:45:20 > 0:45:22it couldn't conceivably be true.
0:45:27 > 0:45:28And yet it was.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36CIB 3 had disrupted networks of bent cops
0:45:36 > 0:45:40and sent the message that corruption wouldn't be tolerated...
0:45:40 > 0:45:42but it was costing millions.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46There was definitely an issue in that money had to be saved,
0:45:46 > 0:45:47money was tight.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51The heroic days, if you like, of professional standards were over.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55The people who'd really trailblazed the new techniques
0:45:55 > 0:45:59and a real concerted push against corruption,
0:45:59 > 0:46:00that was finished,
0:46:00 > 0:46:03and we needed a more sustainable model.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10Stephen Roberts was the first senior officer
0:46:10 > 0:46:14to calculate how much it cost to send a bent cop to prison.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16Certainly in the hundreds of thousands -
0:46:16 > 0:46:18and it was in the high hundreds of thousands -
0:46:18 > 0:46:21and that clearly wasn't sustainable.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25Not simply because we couldn't afford that sort of money any more,
0:46:25 > 0:46:28but because it was very obvious that there were more targets,
0:46:28 > 0:46:30more potential targets,
0:46:30 > 0:46:34and there would simply be no question of tackling that number
0:46:34 > 0:46:36at that sort of price per head.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39Prosecutions could drag on for years -
0:46:39 > 0:46:42officers suspended on full pay.
0:46:42 > 0:46:44We might be paying them
0:46:44 > 0:46:47out of the public purse for two years.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50And we said, "Well, isn't there anything we can do
0:46:50 > 0:46:52"to short circuit this?"
0:46:57 > 0:47:00We came up with what, at first, I have to say,
0:47:00 > 0:47:02seemed like a rather silly idea -
0:47:02 > 0:47:04which was, "Why don't we just call them in,
0:47:04 > 0:47:08"tell them off and tell them that we don't love them any more?"
0:47:08 > 0:47:13They decided to write to corrupt officers suggesting they resign.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16Officers were told that when their case came to court,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19their contrition might be taken into account by the judge.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24It became known as the 23p initiative -
0:47:24 > 0:47:26the cost of a second class stamp.
0:47:27 > 0:47:32To our surprise, I have to say, everybody that we tried it on -
0:47:32 > 0:47:35and there were well over a dozen in the first year -
0:47:35 > 0:47:38there and then signed the letter of resignation
0:47:38 > 0:47:40that was offered to them.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43It was so successful
0:47:43 > 0:47:46that we started to work out how much it was saving us -
0:47:46 > 0:47:48and it came to millions!
0:47:50 > 0:47:53You know, that comparison between the Rolls-Royce of the good old days
0:47:53 > 0:47:54and the Mini now.
0:47:54 > 0:47:55Rolls-Royces are great,
0:47:55 > 0:47:59but if you can't afford the petrol they don't get you very far.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02Mini - you can go a long way in a Mini.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06Might not be quite as comfortable, might not accelerate quite as well,
0:48:06 > 0:48:08but it gets you a long way.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12The glory days of the Untouchables were over...
0:48:14 > 0:48:17..but the threat from the corrupting influence
0:48:17 > 0:48:18of organised crime was not.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27Dave McKelvey's Newham crime squad had been neutralised,
0:48:27 > 0:48:29he believes, by organised crime.
0:48:31 > 0:48:32Do you miss it?
0:48:32 > 0:48:34Yeah.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37If I had the choice, I'd be doing it still.
0:48:37 > 0:48:39I would never have given it up.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47He and his team had been threatened with a £1 million hit,
0:48:47 > 0:48:49put under investigation for corruption,
0:48:49 > 0:48:53and Dave McKelvey himself had been suspended.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57I'd gone from being a very successful, well-respected
0:48:57 > 0:49:01detective chief inspector, quite a senior policeman,
0:49:01 > 0:49:04you know, who was out working at the coalface,
0:49:04 > 0:49:06nicking villains and putting them behind bars,
0:49:06 > 0:49:09to suddenly - my house is being searched.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15Albert Patrick, former of the head of the Lawrence inquiry
0:49:15 > 0:49:17was asked by the Met to look at what had happened
0:49:17 > 0:49:19to Dave McKelvey and his team.
0:49:23 > 0:49:25The first and most important recommendation,
0:49:25 > 0:49:28I think you'd find, was that the investigation
0:49:28 > 0:49:31against Dave McKelvey and two of his colleagues was flawed.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35Mistakes were made, and it should never have happened.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42One of those mistakes involved suspicions
0:49:42 > 0:49:45about an officer called Corrupt Dave.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48These suspicions had already been checked out.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50It wasn't Dave McKelvey.
0:49:53 > 0:49:55They'd been investigated covertly,
0:49:55 > 0:49:58and they knew, as a result of another operation,
0:49:58 > 0:50:00that we were completely exonerated.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02They knew categorically we were clean.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08Corrupt Dave was a completely different officer,
0:50:08 > 0:50:11based at a completely different police station -
0:50:11 > 0:50:14yet suspicion was raised again about Dave McKelvey
0:50:14 > 0:50:18in the corruption investigation that was found to be fatally flawed.
0:50:21 > 0:50:26I think the original intention was to take us out,
0:50:26 > 0:50:30and I think what happened, the events that then followed...
0:50:31 > 0:50:33..they didn't have to kill us.
0:50:33 > 0:50:36Effectively they used the system against us.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41He believes his investigation into organised crime
0:50:41 > 0:50:45had been deliberately derailed - but can't prove it.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49The end result of that is two major trials get dropped
0:50:49 > 0:50:51that cost the public millions and millions of pounds,
0:50:51 > 0:50:55and criminals, organised crime,
0:50:55 > 0:50:59are able to carry on their corrupt relationships,
0:50:59 > 0:51:02you know, people walk free that should never have walked free.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07Albert Patrick is certain the investigation into Dave McKelvey
0:51:07 > 0:51:09was incompetent -
0:51:09 > 0:51:12whether or not it was corrupt, he's more cautious.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16When you put it all together,
0:51:16 > 0:51:23for me, there was clearly a view that...
0:51:23 > 0:51:28that OCG had actually achieved what their aim was -
0:51:28 > 0:51:32not by killing the cop, if it was McKelvey,
0:51:32 > 0:51:37but by having the prisoners discontinued at trial.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39Did that happen because of corruption,
0:51:39 > 0:51:42or because of a bit of luck on their behalf,
0:51:42 > 0:51:44and you had a poor investigation?
0:51:44 > 0:51:46I won't give an answer to that.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49I don't have enough accurate information
0:51:49 > 0:51:52or seen enough documentation to give a view either way.
0:51:55 > 0:51:57The Met says organised crime
0:51:57 > 0:52:00remains its single biggest corruption threat.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04We are an organisation that probably deals with
0:52:04 > 0:52:07more organised crime group investigations than any other
0:52:07 > 0:52:10that you are likely to find, certainly in this country.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18We are absolutely alive to the threat
0:52:18 > 0:52:22that organised crime groups pose, and absolutely alive to the fact
0:52:22 > 0:52:25that any decent, sensible organised crime group
0:52:25 > 0:52:27will be trying to corrupt police officers.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32The Met also says it's changed the way it works
0:52:32 > 0:52:35to make it harder for organised crime to corrupt police officers.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42What we have now, the levels of control
0:52:42 > 0:52:44and the levels of oversight,
0:52:44 > 0:52:46it's a very difficult environment, I think,
0:52:46 > 0:52:49for somebody to knock a job off track.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00Dave McKelvey's career was finished.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04The detective who'd been awarded 60 commendations
0:53:04 > 0:53:06left the Met suffering a break down.
0:53:10 > 0:53:12I just literally fell to pieces.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16I was unwell, very unwell. And...
0:53:16 > 0:53:20It was, you know, it was over. My career was over.
0:53:32 > 0:53:34Dave McKelvey sued the Met.
0:53:34 > 0:53:39They settled, apologised - but won't comment on his case.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43Since leaving the police, Dave McKelvey's seen more evidence
0:53:43 > 0:53:48that organised crime could have compromised his investigations.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51From the Met's secret report, Tiberius.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58Named police officers involved in corruption,
0:53:58 > 0:54:01and particularly involved in corrupt relationships
0:54:01 > 0:54:06with this particular, same organised criminal network,
0:54:06 > 0:54:08and yet nothing was done about them.
0:54:10 > 0:54:12One name jumped out.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14An officer in his squad
0:54:14 > 0:54:18who'd seen sensitive intelligence about the Hunt crime syndicate.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26When we started our operation off, we should have been told.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28We should have been made aware of all that.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31They've got to the point where they know all the tactics
0:54:31 > 0:54:33that are used by police.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39David Hunt says he can't comment on the Tiberius report,
0:54:39 > 0:54:41as he's not seen it.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44He says he doesn't have an organised crime group,
0:54:44 > 0:54:47he's not a corrupter of police officers,
0:54:47 > 0:54:51and as far as he's aware, he doesn't know anyone who is.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00Organised crime makes billions.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04The cost of protecting empires - a few bent cops.
0:55:06 > 0:55:10People think that corruption in the Police Service is cyclical.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13It's not - it's the response to corruption that's cyclical.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18If you can protect your group, your syndicate,
0:55:18 > 0:55:23your organisation and you can use a bent cop to do it, they will do it.
0:55:23 > 0:55:28That's in their nature - and you'll probably never stop it.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30Simple as that, you will never stop it.
0:55:33 > 0:55:34For Dave McKelvey,
0:55:34 > 0:55:38the threat from organised crime isn't going away either.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43I've got two choices -
0:55:43 > 0:55:48I could go away and crawl under a rock and hide...
0:55:48 > 0:55:50and live scared.
0:55:50 > 0:55:56Or, I can hope and pray that someone out there
0:55:56 > 0:56:00is going to do something about the corruption that we uncovered
0:56:00 > 0:56:03and they do something about organised crime.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11Dave McKelvey fought a battle against organised criminals,
0:56:11 > 0:56:13and he lost.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16No-one pretends that the war between the police
0:56:16 > 0:56:18and crime gangs over corruption will ever end.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23The question is the same as it's always been -
0:56:23 > 0:56:26who's most determined to win it?