Counterfeit Money

On the 14/10/98, I was travelling home from Liverpool, after I had been visiting family. At the bottom of Scotland Rd, just before entering the tunnel, armed police pulled me over in a lay-by, I was driving my 4 wheel drive Shogun and there was a lot of police presence due to somebody being shot in a local gym.

The Mob as usual started searching my vehicle, lifted the bonnet up, checking behind the battery holder and also inside the back of the headlamps.

This all happened very fast and before I knew it, I was told to kneel on the floor by police officers with guns, my hands were put in handcuffs, I was then thrown into a police van, like a mini bus, where there were 6-7 police officers with me.

An officer came over to the van saying ‘Take him to St Anne’s Police Station we have found a large amount of counterfeit money in the back of the vehicle’. The officers on the way to the police station were asking me ‘Where’s this money from’, I replied ‘I don’t know anything about it, I’ve been fitted up’.

A Chinese police officer whacked me across the face, as I fell to the floor of the van, he was kicking me in the ribs and stamping on my arm aswell,  another couple of officers were kicking me too, although the Chinese officer was the worst one.

I was eventually taken into custody at St Anne’s where I was booked in and placed into a cell, eventually my solicitor, Colin Samba, came to see me from Liverpool, I told him what had happened, by now it was midnight, I asked him could I call my wife to let her know where I was. We asked the custody Sergeant and he said because money had been found in the vehicle, under section 18, they were going to search my home address and once the search had been done at my house I would be allowed a phone call, this search was being arranged with North Wales Police .

Eventually the custody officer came back to my cell and said a search had been done at the property at about 1 o’clock in the morning, so I was now allowed that phone call.

I phoned home and spoke to Anita, she said about 5 officers had been to the house to search, it was a thorough search, inside the house disturbing my 3 young children and also in the outside buildings, as usual nothing found.

I was eventually interviewed the following day by CID, during my interview I denied all knowledge of the counterfeit money being mine, saying ‘I’ve been fitted up or somebody has borrowed my vehicle and left that there, I often borrow my vehicle out’ as I am builder and I have various lads, sub-contracting to me.

DC Freeman of CID said ‘I find it hard to believe, that somebody would leave something in your vehicle’, little did he know that those words would come back to bite him on the bum.

The interview was concluded, DC Freeman said the money would be sent away to the Bank of England to check they were counterfeit and for forensics to check for any fingerprints on them, I knew that wasn’t a problem as I knew my fingerprints wouldn’t be on them.

I was released and bailed to return back, when there checks had been done. I asked if I could have the keys to my vehicle, the officer told me that my vehicle was at another Police Station in a compound, at Stanley Rd, which was quite a distance from where I was, so I had to go to that police station to pick my vehicle up.

I could see once I got in the vehicle that it had been pulled to pieces and the radio-cassette had been tampered with. On my drive home, I had to stop quite suddenly at a set of traffic lights and as I braked hard, from under the passenger seat, a tray slid out with another radio-cassette in it, I thought to myself that’s a bit dodgy!

When I got home I took the police tray and radio cassette to my solicitors’ office (Don Roberts), I explained the situation to him, Don said, we will wait to see if they charge you with anything and if they did come up with a charge, we would put this to them in court.

See how easy it is DC Freeman, to leave something in somebody’s car without their knowledge, just like somebody did with the counterfeit money!!!

My bail kept getting extended and 18 months had gone by so Don Roberts wrote me a letter telling me to take the radio and tray back to Liverpool and we thought this would be the end of it, to this day, seventeen years later, I have never had a letter to say my bail had been cancelled.

I made a complaint about being beaten up in the back of the van, I did discuss this with my solicitor, what the police say regarding any case, it won’t be investigated until proceedings are finalised, so I thought I would make the complaint after it’s all finished, so approx. 16-18 months later and with the police not moving forward with the case, I made my complaint to Inspector K. Hurman on 7^th April 2000.

You can read for yourself what the PCA said regarding my complaint.

  

 

How convenient, the rules are made to suit them.

JFT96-YNWA