Licence to Kill

I've had a week straight out of Franz Kafka.
"What is Mr Catney charged with?"
"AOABH, Threat to Kill, Interfering with an Officer in the course of an investigation"
"What, no GBH? No GBH with Intent?"
"No"
"What evidence has been submitted?"
"Police reports. Interview statements. Mr Catney is contesting the charges. He's made countercharges."
"No photographs have been admitted?"
"No"
"What about medical reports?"
"No"
"What???!!! No medical evidence and no photographs?"
"No"
"Well how am I supposed to get them in?"
"You have to give them to the police"
"The police are trying to keep them out!!"
"You have to give them to the police"
"So they're the gatekeepers"
"Ah, yeah"
"Can the Ombudsman not give the photos to the prosecutor?"
"You have to give them to the police"

I needed valium and an afternoon to recover from that.

Round Two.

"No Mr Murray. Those photographs are for our own use."
"But you have the Continuity of Evidence Statement?"
"It's not our job to conduct the investigation. We investigate the police. Your complaint is a disciplinary matter. This is misconduct, not criminality. We would only give the photographs to the prosecutor is we were pressing charges against the police"
"But they're withholding evidence. The prosecutor has tried and tried and tried to get medical evidence off them and they haven't given it. How could the prosecutor press charges for AOABH in the absence of medical evidence? They cannot get a conviction without it"
"Um, ah. I was going to discuss this with my line manager. The medical evidence is your best bet. The photographs might not be admissible."
The cops insisted they weren't. Stuart Cassells insisted they were inadmissible and was, interestingly enough joined in this by Inspector Jim Young and Sargeant Alan Bell who just, as it were, happened to be passing. That's why the Police Ombudsmans' office sent investigators out to get the photographs and a Continuity of Evidence Statement. I want you to give the photographs and the statement to the prosecutor"
"But they're for our own use. And anyway they were collected six months after the assault."
"They're digital photographs. Each image is a file containing the date and time it was taken and if it was modified."
"But they were collected six months after the asssault."
"That's because the police refused to investigate and only did so after it was revealed to them that my assailant and his six alleged witnesses were party to the giving of a false name. On the day of my assault I went to a neighbour's house and was told to go straight to the police. There were no officers in the station, but the auxiliaries called an ambulance.. The paramedics said I had a serious head injury and had to have it X-Rayed. The police came, the ambulance went away and six officers confronted me in a small room in a somewhat unpleasant manner and told me not to press charges. They said that Katrina O'Neil had six witnesses who heard me threaten to burn down the house with her and the kids in it and then attacked her boyfriend, but they didn't want to press charges. Now I had concussion, but still had the wit to say,
"Why does she not want to press charges. If someone threatened to burn your house down with you and your kids in it would you not want to press charges? Maybe they don't because I'm the one sitting here covered in blood."
Then they cautioned me for the crime of criticising this man's girlfriend, a public figure, for her failures in her public role. I note that you've closed the case on that"
"Oh? I don't think I'm dealing with that case. No, no, I'm not."
"You know that it went to trial and I was acquitted on all three charges and am sueing the cops for false arrest, malicious prosecution and Human Rights abuses. I would have thought the Ombudsman would have been interested in the Human Rights aspect"
"Um, Ah"
"There was another complaint that was closed. I was arrested for criticising another member of that committee. The Ombudsman's office took the police line that because I had been cautioned and placed on this thing called "The Harrassment Register" and had criticised this public figure on the internet again the cops had no case to answer. The Human Rights issue just didn't exist for them."
"Um, I'm afraid I wasn't dealing with that case, but I'll be speaking to my line manager today."
"Do you have the disk with the photos there?"
"Yeeees???"
"It'll only take you a minute. Just pop it in and have a look at it"
"Ummmm"
"I really think you should look at it"
"Um...I really should go.......my line manager....."
"What about the medical evidence?"
"You really need to argue that with the prosecutor. I'm afraid we can't help you"

I will deconstruct this for you, and the line of reasoning is perfectly logical and coherent, and thus very terriffying:-

• The police are determined that Mr Catney not go to jail. That much is obvious.
• The police are gatekeepers for the Prosecution Service and decide who gets charged with what. The prosecutors just shrug their shoulders and go along with it. They clearly have no interest in justice. Thus murder charges get reduced to affray and so on. They just don't care. They even press charges in the absence of medical evidence knowing that the case will fail. It's no skin off their nose. They get paid no matter how crap they are.
• The cops have insisted that Mr Catney be charged with the minimum possible offense. He could have pled guilty and walked, but he's contesting it.
• This will be an opportunity for Katrina O'Neill to throw one of her Performances. I can picture it now. Every lie under the sun will be thrown at me. I will have no opportunity to answer those allegations in court. Her performance will be suitably extreme. For her this is Apotheosis, pouring her efforts into an emotional incontinence of Hollywood proportions.
• A scapegoat is needed for the debacle that has become the Holylands. Why not blame Alan Murray for everything from arson to intimidation to this, to that, to the other thing. The police surely have a file, but curiously, no evidence. I must be a Holyland Ninja, despite having no criminal history. Either that or they're incredibly stupid and incompetent. Or perhaps their "intelligence" is defective or false (hint hint).
  
• The cops really, really, really don't like me. This is Northern Ireland (that's another hint). By making sure Mr Catney gets off because they have withheld evidence and got Katrina O'Neill to throw the performance of a lifetime, and thrown every smear in the book at me, they have given him a licence to come after me again. Even someone as incredibly stupid as him can work it out. He doesn't need to be given instructions. Thus there is no direct link to the cops. This is very convenient.
  
• Mr Catney has no fear, no consequential thought and a history of extreme violence. His last assault on me was nearly fatal. The next attack will come without warning on a dark winter night. He likes to stab people.

• The cops have given him a Licence to Kill.

This chain of reasoning is simple and terrifying and undeniable. The officer given the task of Perverting the Course of Justice and doling out death warrants is a mere willing pawn. He could certainly have chosen not to do this. He could have blown the lid on the whole thing. He made his choice, and if it all goes tits up, will take the fall for those who gave the orders. This is Northern Ireland. It's the same old cops, the same old courts. Murder is reduced to Affray. Informers are given a licence to kill. This is not Justice. This is Northern Ireland.