Jeremy was under surveillance by the drugs squad on evening his family died

[nugnug]

but was this round the clock surveillance.

[Roch]

Jeremy does not know about it...

So you are therefore alleging that this potentially vital piece of alibi evidence has come from 'Z'?

[mike tesko]

but was this round the clock surveillance.

Yes, including eavesdropping, and so the drugs squad would know that Jeremy really did receive the call from Ralph at whf...

Surveillance was authorized on a warrant which lasted for 28 days from the middle of July 1985...

[HMEssex]

Yes, precisely this is what my informant told me about a month ago...

Don't know what to say!

Were EP made up from a complete set of numpties/liars or what?  They must have great bleedin' pensions!  Scuse my French...

[mike tesko]

Yes, including eavesdropping, and so the drugs squad would know that Jeremy really did receive the call from Ralph at whf...

Surveillance was authorized on a warrant which lasted for 28 days from the middle of July 1985...

The warrant had to be authorized by a senior officer or the Home Secretary or someone on his behalf because the surveillance included eavesdropping (telephone tapping)...

[nugnug]

int hat case he would have to be doing a bit more than growing cannabis in his back garden

[mike tesko]

int hat case he would have to be doing a bit more than growing cannabis in his back garden

Police suspected him of supplying drugs to people in London and Scotland...

[nugnug]

yes but for them to bother the home secretary about it he would have to be doing it on a pretty large scale.

[Chochokeira]

int hat case he would have to be doing a bit more than growing cannabis in his back garden

Jeremy's father was growing opium poppies under license in 1985. If the police received a complaint about Jeremy growing cannabis, they would presumably have paid particular attention to this complaint in view of this crop. I do not recall JM claiming that Jeremy had any designs on his father's opium crop and I would expect her to have mentioned this if it was an issue, so it wasn't. The police, however, would not have known that this was not an issue at the time.

[mike tesko]

yes but for them to bother the home secretary about it he would have to be doing it on a pretty large scale.

I think reference to Home secretary was because to instigate a phone tap, it had something to do with the telecommunications act, or something or other, but in reality a senior officer and by this I mean of the rank, Detective Chief inspector, or Higher up, could authorise it locally and such applications never actually went to the home secretary, I could be wrong...

[Roch]

Nuggy,

Civil Servants use documents that mention 'secretary of state' etc.  Low level employees routinely sign official docs on behalf of officials 20 levels above them. 

[mike tesko]

I think reference to Home secretary was because to instigate a phone tap, it had something to do with the telecommunications act, or something or other, but in reality a senior officer and by this I mean of the rank, Detective Chief inspector, or Higher up, could authorise it locally and such applications never actually went to the home secretary, I could be wrong...

I do actually know a little bit about this because in the mid 1980's to the early 1990's the No.3 regional crime Squad adopted similar tactics when targetting me, they not only used surveillance cars, but also telephone taps and the force helicopter...

[mike tesko]

So when the relatives questioned whether Sheila did it, why on earth didn't the police tell them??

I think in a round about way, that is what 'Taff' Jones was trying to tell the family when he effectively threw them out of Witham police station? I also think that was one of the reasons why 'Taff' did nothing with the silencer (2) the relatives tried to introduce with the intention of implicating Jeremy in the shootings, 'Taff' couldn't tell the relatives all he knew about the investigation because at that stage the drugs surveillance was still ongoing...

[Reader]

You mentioned many years ago that Jeremy was being investigated by the drugs squad and had been put under surveillance, though you didn't know for certain whether that surveillance included the night of the killings. You also stated years ago that Jeremy was under surveillance by the drugs squad when he let himself into the farmhouse via the bathroom window (after the killings). How did you know, and did Jeremy try to get any documents related specifically to that investigation? Did Jeremy confirm (or admit) to you that he was growing some cannabis plants in his garden? If the police knew about those plants, I imagine they might well have been interested in his phone calls. Has Jeremy been told specifically that information relating to this drugs squad investigation is unavailable to him due to PII?

[mike tesko]

I think in a round about way, that is what 'Taff' Jones was trying to tell the family when he effectively threw them out of Witham police station? I also think that was one of the reasons why 'Taff' did nothing with the silencer (2) the relatives tried to introduce with the intention of implicating Jeremy in the shootings, 'Taff' couldn't tell the relatives all he knew about the investigation because at that stage the drugs surveillance was still ongoing...

The surveillance was provisionally for 28 days, and did not conclude until mid September 1985...