Police Scotland should have no role in complaint against counter corruption unit say MSPs

Police Scotland should have no involvement in an investigation into whether it acted criminally by spying on one of its detectives according to MSPs.

Detective inspector David Moran claimed in a letter to Holyrood’s Justice Committee that the counter corruption unit (CCU) spied on him in relation to a leak over the Emma Caldwell murder investigation.

He claimed deputy chief constable Neil Richardson had given “outrageous” evidence about him to the committee and said: “Consequently I have made a complaint to the Police and the Procurator Fiscal through my solicitor that I believe I am a victim of a crime and that the course of conduct followed was wilful and therefore a criminal action.”

Graeme Pearson, Labour’s justice spokesman, said: “It is very difficult for Police Scotland to investigate itself in this case and the only way to satisfy ourselves is to bring in an outside body.

“In a single police service, it’s difficult to see where independent scrutiny can be achieved when internal criminal inquiries are required. I predicted this difficulty would come up at some point. We have no fallback.”

Another UK force or the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) could be asked to investigate the issue.

But John Finnie MSP raised a potential problem with the PIRC, saying: “One option of course is to have PIRC deal with the administration of such complaints directly, by-passing the deputy chief constable.

“However, I understand that in this case a number of those working for PIRC may have had, either directly or indirectly, involvement in the Emma Caldwell investigation which started this whole chain of events off.”

John Mitchell, PIRC’s director of investigations, worked on the Caldwell case while he was at Strathclyde Police.

A PIRC spokesman said: “The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has the responsibility to investigate allegations of criminal conduct against police officers and they would determine the appropriate authority to undertake such an investigation on their behalf.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “The matter has been referred to the Scottish Police Authority as is normal where complaints against senior officers are received.”