Martin Hewitt, top Met cop on the Madeleine McCann case, makes a cameo appearance in last night's PANORAMA expose of police corruption: 'COPS, CRIMINALS, CORRUPTION' (29 Feb 2016)

by **Tony Bennett** 01.03.16 19:07

Last night, Panorama, at long last, addressed the issue of serious, senior-level police corruption in the Metropolitan Police force, the very same force now entrusted with a five-year-long, £12 million-plus investigation into the reported disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

I would recommend anyone at all interested in the ugly blight of police corruption in the UK to watch it; it's available this week on BC i-player, not sure how long it is available to view. It would be very good to have it put up on YouTube:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b072s2r5/panorama-cops-criminals-corruption-the-inside-story

So far as we on the forum are concerned, there is some interest in a short appearance of Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewittt of the Met very near the end of this 55-minute documentary. He is now the overall commander of the Madeleine McCann investigation, taking the place of Commander Simon Foy, who was handed the job when Operation Grange was set up.

Who can forget his ridiculous comment when he talked about 'the tempo of the investigation moving forward':
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2559216/Madeleine-McCann-case-moving-forward-Deputy-Assistant-Commissioner-Martin-Hewitt-says-amid-reports-police-closing-three-prime-suspects.html

Someone should have told him that tempos go slower or faster, not backwards or forwards.

Maybe they are trained to speak such nonsense. Was it not D.C.I. Redwood that dreamt up the phrase: 'Drawing everything back to zero"?

Back to the Panorama programme: Look out for:

1. The way one of London's most successful cops, Dave McKelvie, was hounded out of his job when he stumbled upon a 'ring' of criminals and corrupt senior Met officers

2. An appearance of Jonathan Rees, widely suspected of hiring hit-men to kill his business partner Darren Morgan in 1987, and a man close to Muroch man Andy Coulson, former Editor of the News of the World

3. Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt making a pathetic attempt at the end of the programme to pretend that the Met was dealing with corruption issues - the Met Police at a senior level is deeply mired in corruption..bring back Sir Robert Mark!

4. References to Dave Hunt and the so-called 'Hunt Syndicate', allegedly the biggest and most powerful criminal gang in the UK. Five years ago, the Sunday Times outed him as a major gangster and said that he was 'too powerful' for the Met to deal with. He sued the paper for libel. And lost, when the judge summed up: "The evidence heard in this court suggests that you ARE a gangster". The journalist who exposed Hunt, Michael Gillard, had to flee to France. Two security firms hired by the Court to protect witnesses and jurors from Hunt's men stood themselves down because of threats of serious violence to them

5. How the corruption extends to Customs & Excise & CPS staff, Court officials, even lawyers and others - like a cancer, it is growing, and urgent surgery is necessary.

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So much more I could say about all this from my own knowledge of police corruption from the Stuart Lubbock and Lee Balkwell cases

by whatsupdoc 01.03.16 20:51

A lot of good points, Tony. Some of the phrases put out are laughable and show a hole in their education.

I think the BBC i-player is up for 30 days. It will be on YouTube fairly soon , I would guess.

by Gene Hunt 04.03.16 14:11

I watched most of this programme and two things immediately entered my mind. 1) How Dave McKelvie was appallingly treated. 2) Call me cynical but WHY is this being shown, and now? It crossed my mind that it's attempting to put the perception of 'there was corruption in the MET/SY, but it's ok now it's almost gone, we're on top of it' for the purpose of any investigation that is in the spotlight or public interest that might appear at first glance to be a cover up / whitewash in the event of it's results being published cannot possibly be such because we've tackled corruption etc. ALA Operation Grange and investigations of child abuse by British elite figures. Just my thoughts.