Why did the WHF case change direction. What caused the flip?
The police knew from the get-go that he was innocent and for best part of a month Taff was pestered by the family as they fought to put the blame on JB. They had a call from inside the premises while JB was outside with the police. A pretty solid alibi.
The logs on their own show JB to be innocent irrespective of the Milbank statement and New Yorker interview.
JM coming forward was a potential turning point but her talk of a hit man was quickly demolished and Taff is said to have commented that” Julie was full of shit”
The other potential turning point was RB’s chat on 06/09/85 with ACC Simpson. What leverage did he have over EP to bring about the change. They knew it would require tremendous cost and considerable and a detailed manpower efforts to frame JB who they knew to be innocent. There was zero physical evidence they could use initially but maybe quite a lot of circumstantial evidence that could be milked or created, through statements from people who did not like JB. They could manipulate statements. A good example of which was CC the grieving father.
The leverage could have been related to EP’s actions on the night or perhaps something personal against PS himself. Though we will never know and so we can only work on the EP’s actions.
The family had no evidence of note other than a firm belief that SC was incapable and was not proficient with firearms.
Unless a member of EP told them what had happened, (SBJ prime but not the only suspect) they had no detailed knowledge of exactly what had happened. PC Carr the son of a friend of RB and a metropolitan police officer tried to infiltrate the investigation and could well have been given information by EP members who did not know of his links to the Boutflour family.
RB could have threatened to go to the press with calls for a neutral force to reexamine the case or some other legal route such as a judicial review.
But we know that a case review had been undertaken under the auspices of a senior EP policeman named Keneally and he had concluded his investigation saying SC was the sole perpetrator.
There are several stories that could have been told to the family.
1 That there had been a call from a female at around 06.09 but the police waited over 90 minutes before entry.
In this case the family could claim lives might have been saved if they had responded more quickly.
2 That an accidental discharge of a firearm had resulted in a victim receiving a shot after death.
Hardly a major flaw in such a complex and evolving catastrophe and perhaps it was understandable given the stress that was caused to the employees who had little experience in dealing with such a major incident.
3 That the police had taken the opportunity to manipulate and move some of the victims in order to undertake training exercises for firearms trainees and SOC trainees.
A misuse of power and normal police rules, as well as a flagrant breach of criminal law rules regarding the preservation of the crime scene. It was also a manifestly indecent and repugnant treatment of the victims
4 That the police were slow to react to the call from JB and had not deployed sufficient resources in a timely manner to suit the emerging crisis.
5 That a victim who was seriously wounded but alive was shot by a member of the TFG in a case of mistaken identity after appearing unexpectedly causing a reflex action by the shooter.
Whatever skeletons ACC PS had in his closet, if any, they would not have affected the actions the various teams took that morning but if he did have a point of vulnerability, it may well have coloured his decisions as to the handling of the case.
In the case of 1 above the Police could easily disarm this. They had a duty of care to their officers as well as the occupants. They only had a quickly drawn map of the building’s layout. At that time, it was still pretty dark. Given the new information they had to rapidly devise a plan that protected both the occupants and their men. This was purely a timing issue only and did not require any rearrangement of the SOC.
In the case of 2 above this was perhaps a genuine accident. If those responsible were subject to an internal enquiry and were found to have broken rules and procedures and faced a suitable punishment it would not create a major problem for EP if another force reviewed the case.
3 is very serious and illegal behaviour. Any training could have been conducted using the original SOC. Such actions would be beyond the pale, and the force would be in serious trouble if it had taken place. As stated, such training could have been conducted with the original SOC.
As for 4 above this is a weak leverage point. They processed information from JB and within 9 minutes had despatched a squad car with three officers to investigate. They had to be sure it was not a hoax call and JB’s arrival rendered it genuine. After a quick reconnaissance they ordered firearms teams, and a range of senior officers were informed and summoned to WHF. Given the distances involved and many of the roads being unlit at that time of night one could call efforts up to this point textbook.
5 above is by far and away the most serious possibility and point of leverage. It is the most likely scenario requiring a restaging of the SOC. If the family became aware of this, they could threaten the EP for having covered up the fact that it was not four murders and a suicide but three murders an accidental killing and a suicide. Any officer regardless of rank who knew this would face serious jeopardy. ACC PS and the EP would as they say, be taken to the cleaners over this. They had covered up a serious error. They had constructed a false SOC to cover up their error.
Taff a believer of JB’s innocence would suffer the same fate and face the same consequences. However, whilst he knew what had happened, he seems to have refused to be a part of the framing process and was put on Gardening leave, which is a credit to his values. He was a sacrificial lamb.
Maybe the framing was to save PS’s neck and what we see which causes us to suspect some accident is a combination of poor recording of the original information and a poorly executed framing exercise where further inconsistencies are created. The Masons I believe try to find issues which are detrimental to people or organisations who they can, when required, manipulate other events and issues to their own advantage. Moral blackmail.
If the flip was not to save PS’s bacon was there some other issue for example large scale wrongdoing within the EP force. A criminal ring of some description within the force such as a paedophile ring or involvement in drug dealing as a couple of possible examples.
