Once kept in custody and arriving at court if they had admitted the offences they then nearly always pleaded not guilty and were again remanded to prison.
The reader may by now wonder the logic of all this and there was a logical reason.
Taking advice from their retained solicitors whilst all this was done.
Many had a series of convictions and knew they would go to prison, if they initially pleaded not guilty and were remanded in custody the case may take weeks or several months if the trial was to be held at the crown court.
When the case finally came for hearing they would at the last minute plead guilty.
The answer is revealed; when a person is on remand not having been convicted, prisoners could wear their own clothes, receive food and other items in prison from their family. If they had funds they could spend it on tobacco. In other words have a much easier life than once convicted.
Having served the remand time and then appearing pleading guilty their lawyer would ask for a more lenient sentence to give credit for the guilty plea. The time served was automatically taken off and as most criminals can qualify for release on licence having served a third of their sentence in most cases these habitual criminals served little what was known as “Hard time” in prison.
Claude was surprised the first time some such persons were arrested and on arrival at the police station insisted on holding there hands above their heads, the whole of the time they were being booked in, interviewed or otherwise dealt with. Claude eventually asked and obtained an explanation.
“In some police stations in large urban areas criminals alleged the police made allegations they had been assaulted by the youths resulting in the police taking positive measures to restrain them on other occasions the police made false charges they had assaulted officers. They had invented the system of hands up and you can’t say I did anything.
Once they were guests they were not normally violent but were to quote a phrase “A bloody nuisance.”
They constantly rang the cell bell for some attention, amongst the most regular, about every ten minutes were, “Have you got a ciggy boss?”(Cigarette)
“Have you got an Echo?” (Liverpool Echo, newspaper)
“Have you got another paper?”
“What have you got for my meal?”
“Can someone get some money out of my property and buy me some ciggys?”
This may well all sound interesting reading even to some degree funny but as Claude was to discover some years later these young men were dedicated criminals in a life of crime they knew all the angles excuses and bolt holes.
No matter how comical they might appear on occasions, one needed to be very vigilant and even then as Claude was to discover this would not be enough with a little help from a fellow officer, he always believed.
Life was not always so rosy thought Claude as he sat and pondered.
One day Claude was on duty in the police station at Ashton when two men arrived carrying the briefcase. Arriving at the front counter and after identifying themselves as officers from Headquarters, they were permitted inside and were standing in the sergeant’s office.
“We need to see the custody sheets,” said one of the officers.
Claude went and brought the sheets, which they then checked stopping at one sheet they noted the details. The officers then said, “Let me see your pocket book”
Claude then produced this and it was examined and handed back to him.
The one man went into the station commander’s office and made a telephone call.
It was only after all this was completed one of the two men said, “We are from the complaints and the complaints and discipline department we are investigating a complaint that last week end you arrested a man and detained him here around midnight.”
“At 2 am, the mother of the man arrested came here to visit him. She found the police station door was locked all lights were on but she could get no reply.”
“Her son was locked up all night, it follows that she thought he must have been left here locked up on his own without any supervision.”
“A clear breach of the new laws covering the care and custody of prisoners.”
“I see, said the investigating officer, “from looking at the detention sheet and your note book he was in fact not detained here but after arrest he was transferred to the main cells at Copton Headquarters.”
“I have telephoned and their sheet confirms he was there at that time.”
“In that case that is the end of the matter we will go and tell the complainant.”
The only time he had transgressed in regards to discipline was, those bloody Scousers thought Claude they almost did for me.
One day three Liverpool men had appeared at the local court, on remand from prison. The normal procedure had been for the prisoner transport to arrive at the police station and hand over the prisoners there.
They would have then been entered on the custody sheet and amongst other things their property would have been recorded and secured in sealed bags in the lockers provided. On this occasion the prison officers went directly to the court and then handed the three men over to the only officer there a constable actually on a rest day but who had been called in specifically to give evidence in another case.
The prisoners were no concern of his but as he was there he became involved, the prisoners had been handed over to him because he was there the officer was given their property bags which were sealed up. He took the bags and signed for the men.
The duty Inspector and Claude as the sergeant were engaged in the courts. When the courts were finished the youths were again remanded in custody and were transported back to the police station to await transport to the prison.
Claude arrived back and began to log the men onto the custody sheet. Having finished with the one man he had been locked up and his property secured in the appropriate locker.
It was now the turn of the second man and he was dealt with likewise. Whilst Claude was entering the details of the third man the duty inspector arrived with the men’s solicitors. The Inspector stated that the men wanted cigarettes and directed Claude to take the money from the property of one of the men he had locked up. The man had agreed with his solicitor for this to be done. The Solicitor would then go into the town and purchase the cigarettes. Claude pointed out he was busy but the Inspector insisted as the solicitor needed to get off.
Claude was halfway through dealing with the man and he had not entered up all the man’s property from the bag that had come with him. Claude was put under pressure to get the money and hand it over and so rose from the table leaving the Inspector and the solicitor with the seated prisoner. Claude then brought the prisoner from the cell and his property, took out the money got the prisoner to sign for it then put him back in the cell and secured his property.
He finally finished off the third prisoner entered his remaining property and locked him up.
The remainder of the men’s time at the police station was uneventful and they subsequently returned to prison.
It was some time later that Claude was duty when two officers arrived from the complaints and discipline department, a superintendent he had known since a young man and an Inspector.
Claude was served with papers that he was under investigation for neglect of duty. The third prisoner had complained when he got back to the prison that items of his property were missing.
The records were checked and it was confirmed that what items Claude had entered did not include several items the prison had recorded on their property sheet when the man had left the prison. It therefore followed items were missing during the time the man was at Ashton Police Station. The inference being they had been stolen at the police station.
The constable on duty at the court was served with papers for simply taking the property bags and not checking them although they were sealed when he received and when he handed them to Claude.
Further enquiries were made and the inves
tigating officers returned but this time were armed with a hammer and chisel. It appears one or more of the youths admitted the third youth had in fact reached over and took several items of his property whilst the inspector and the solicitor had been the only ones with him they had not noticed him doing so. The criminal had then taken them into his cell and put the items through some cracks in a ventilator. The hammer and chisel had now found the items.
Claude was interviewed and stated the facts which were now not in dispute. Claude asked what if any action would be taken against the inspector for directing him to leave what he was doing and against the man who had taken his own property and then made a false claim they had been stolen.
The Inspector from the complaints department had said “you are here to answer questions, not ask them.”
That was the end of the investigation.
Some time later Claude and the Constable appeared before the Chief Constable on charges of Neglect of duty. No charges were made against anyone else, not even the prisoner.
Before the hearing a senior officer spoke with Claude and said, “If you plead not guilty in the circumstances you may get off. The problem is that it is the last day the current chief is working he is aware of this case, I can’t say more than that, if I were you I would plead guilty no one knows what the attitude of the new chief might be.”
Claude thought on it and decided to plead guilty, he often wondered if he had done the right thing but appreciated the help and advice given to him by his divisional commander.
Come the day of the hearing Claude and his constable entered a room, which was fitted with massive tape recording equipment. In addition a lady was present taking shorthand notes. The chief arrived and sat down, and the investigating officer laid out the facts though he made no mention of the fact the Inspector had directed Claude to act as he did, neither did he say yea, yea, yea. The defending officer an old senior officer of Claude’s from his first day on duty spoke for him stating that Claude had been hood winked and Claude’s only problem was he probably worried too much about getting the job done right.
The Chief Constable looked up at Claude and said “Sergeant you have an excellent record, I record a caution” then rose and left. It was his last day on duty and probably his last action as Chief Constable.
After the hearing Claude was called to a private office and told “You will gather from the brief hearing and the attitude of the Chief Constable he was of the opinion from the circumstances you should never have been sent to appear before him.”
The officer added it’s only a caution and therefore will not appear on your record. Some years later Claude had occasion to test the system. He rang the personal records department and asked the lady if his conviction had been removed from his record, as was the case after a number of years in minor cases. The lady checked, returned and said I looked at your file it was only a caution it didn’t appear on your record. Thank you replied Claude, put down the telephone and smiled thinking, if it’s not on my record how did she know it was only a caution.
Another twist in the tale when he was invited to attend to receive his long service and good conduct medal he had submitted a report saying he didn’t want the medal as he had not been of good conduct, referring to the case. There came a reply from a senior officer, which said, “We have the medal no one ever refused it we don’t know what to do with it.”
To keep the peace Claude agreed to accept it.
As to his record and the caution, which didn’t go on the record he chuckled and said to himself, “We are the police, it always goes on the record.”
It would be some years before the news that the obnoxious “You are here to answers questions Inspector,” who had been on the investigation had finally left for other duties and received further promotion.
Claude had to admit his constable colleague at the time who had said to this obnoxious senior officer, “I would rather have a job sweeping the streets, than have your job,” the constable now deceased Claude suspected the officer would have been pleased to hear that the obnoxious officer was travelling home one night from a drinking session and was stopped by local officers, arrested, charged and convicted of drink driving.
Working a night shift Claude was asked by a colleague if he would stop the car, he needed to make a telephone call. Claude complied with the request, the officer was only about five minutes, making the call sufficient time to dial the number awake a sleeping caller give that person time to arise from bed and then answer the phone, he spoke for only the briefest of seconds.
This went on the whole week but from different telephone boxes. Eventually Claude asked his colleague who he was ringing and why not from the office phone.
“I was on leave with my wife and family a couple of weeks ago and unfortunately for us the next room contained a man who was part of a party of salesmen who had been given free holidays for sales they had done. As a result they went out drinking every night and from about 1am until 5am we had no sleep due to the Looney in the next room constantly shouting and banging, then walking up the corridor banging on our doors. I asked him to stop and just received abuse; the hotel didn’t do anything presumably because they weren’t sleeping next to him.”
“One morning when I came down I saw the offender with his suitcases about to leave for the UK. I noted his details, made enquiries and have telephoned him every night disturbing him. He just said to me, "Who the fuck are you? Keep ringing me at this time of the morning I have got to go to work.”
I said to him, "Who the fuck were you, getting pissed every night, and keeping us all awake and ruining our holiday.”
He told me he would go ex directory; I said, "Do that, till then you get called.”
It was always an advantage serving in the police to have a sense of humour. Claude was walking through the town on night patrol with one of his constables, whilst approaching a large function room there was crowd on noisy youths outside. The mayor arrived outside climbed into his vehicle having finished at the function and was then driven off by his driver. As Claude walked by one of the gang of youths shouted, "Hey Friendly if you want to get someone on a breathalyser you want to get him in the car.”
Claude stopped walked back to the youth and taking out his radio pretended to make a radio call.
“This is sergeant Friendly to all officers. Please stop and check the large car travelling through the town, I have received information the driver is drunk.”
Claude then turned to the youths and pointing at the one who had shouted at him said.”Thank you for the information on the drunk driver, if you will call at the police station tomorrow evening I will pay you the usual fee for supplying us with the information as I do for the information you give us about your mates.”
Claude turned and walked away hearing the group jeering and the offending youth saying, “He’s lying I don’t tell them fuck all.”
Some time later the youth was moaning at Claude saying his ex friends didn’t have anything to do with him, Claude replied. “I was walking the town minding my own business; you were abusive and tried to get one over me. In future you leave me alone and I will leave you alone.”
Claude had no further trouble with the youth again.
Being an officer in a town or village over many years had its advantages for one gets to know who is who. From my observations thought Claude it doesn’t seem that way any more, items in this account may indicate I am correct.
Examples of this local knowledge caused Claude to recall the night when a domestic dispute was reported and on arrival the officers were confronted with a man walking away from the scene with a knife sticking out of his chest.
Years later Claude had been on mobile patrol in the town around 2 am one morning and saw a large group of youths standing in the road and in their midst two men were obviously fighting.
These situations of disorder at peak times often had to be handled differently, according to areas, in large towns with a large police presence the poli
ce were able to deal in force. In small towns when there is normally two officers on duty any help miles and therefore time away and in any event all likely help may well be engaged in other matters. It was often prudent to apply a different tact. It should be born in mind in those days as officers were in the public domain on foot over years they and the public were often known to each other, especially trouble makers.
Claude told his driver to stop the police car and having done so both officers got out and stood by the open door of the police car, Claude told his constable to say nothing, yet.
The officers stood there a few moments and then the crowd probably by mind signal began to turn and eventually the whole group were stood silent. This caused the fighting youths to stop and they also looked at the now visible police car, what next thought everyone. A wrong move here could have serious consequence with such a large group of young men all the worse for drink, something had to be said or done it was not possible to do nothing.
Claude broke the silence and said to one of the fighting men in his fifties who had recovered from the carving knife sticking out of his chest.
“Now Ted, you are in your fifties have one lung now taking on fit lads in their early twenties, if you aren’t careful you are going to get yourself injured again. And you lad if you can’t give a bloody good hiding at your age to an old man with one lung I should give it up or this lot here seeing you are likely to kick shit out of you.”
The whole crowd burst into laughter, they turned and all walked away, one youth shouted, “You are correct there, Sergeant Friendly.”
On another occasion a local Chinese takeaway shop called for the police to attend at nearly 1am. On arrival it was packed with youths most the worse from drink. They all needed serving at the same time and some were working a scam. It was common practice in those days for youths to order meals by number, as the staffs were not good speakers of English; the meal was paid for when ordered. The member of staff would arrived shout forty one and place down the meal, which would be taken and the taker was gone, moments later there were complaints the buyer of the meals had not been the one who had taken it.
Police Memories Page 38