Saturday 25 June 2016

Did Mervyn Jones mislead the Hillsborough Inquests?

Mervyn Jones was the most senior operational West Midlands Police officer involved in the Hillsborough Inquest / Taylor Inquiry following the deaths of 95 (prior to Tony Bland's death) Liverpool fans at the Hillsborough disaster.   The role of the West Midlands police was to collect evidence to assist the Taylor Inquiry and the original inquests into cause of the death.

Following the disgusting way I was interviewed by two West Midlands Officers, my mother wrote a letter to my Godfather (an ex Policeman) who subsequently wrote a letter to Geoffrey Dear highlighting his concerns over the conduct of his officers.  I have previously blogged how I was threatened, intimidated and how my evidence was changed / altered without my consent.

The letter to G.Dear was passed on to Mervyn Jones who responded to the letter from my Godfather.  He also wrote on the letter an instruction "Initiate a follow up to smooth troubled waters".

See the link below for the letter to Geoffrey Dear and the reply from Mervyn Jones.

http://hillsborough.independent.gov.uk/repository/docs/SYP000028620001.pdf

The handwriting on the letter has been matched to Mervyn Jones from other documents he wrote on were his signature was not redacted.  So it is clear that Mervyn Jones knew about concerns over how I was interviewed by 2 of his officers, given that he replied to the letter from my Godfather.  It is also clear that he did little to ensure a thorough investigation.  No one came and spoke to me over how I was interviewed, rather the officers were asked for an explanation and that was that.   

At Warrington, under oath, Mervyn Jones was questioned over the conduct of some his officers, in particular over how they had interviewed Ian Lee.   Ian Lee, like me, complained of the conduct of WMP.  He stated that "the officers became intimidating and aggressive".

See the bottom of page 5
https://hillsboroughinquests.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/hill280415pmjuryinandout.pdf


On Page 6 - we can see the following exchange

Q. It could only lead, couldn't it, to somebody in Mr Lee's position reaching the conclusion that West Midlands Police were simply doing the bidding of South Yorkshire Police?

M Jones:  If that's -- that's not unreasonable to suppose, sir, but as far as I'm concerned, I was unaware that actions like that were taking place, and if I had have been, I would have done something about it.

Well as far as I can tell, that answer was untruthful.  He was aware, as he had seen and replied to a letter that highlighted concerns of 2 of his officers.

Secondly, in saying "I would have done something about it" - he is again misleading the Coroner / Jury as he did not do something about it in the case of the complaint from my Godfather.  He merely requested a response and did not ensure a proper / thorough investigation. 

His response at the inquests, under oath, was both misleading and untruthful.   This, the most senior operational officer from the WMP.

For info:  Story was covered by the Echo today
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/letter-suggests-former-west-midlands-11523886