24 Hours In Police Custody shows how corrupt cops are really snared
The police set about trying to find a blackmailer - only to discover it turns out to be one of their colleagues
HARD-hitting documentary 24 Hours In Police Custody is back. The fly-on-the-wall Channel 4 programme uses 80 cameras rigged up in Luton police station in Bedfordshire to catalogue a day’s dramas as they unfold.
And in an episode with a twist at the end worthy of cop drama Line Of Duty, astounded detectives discover their wanted man is one of their own.
Here we recount how the case developed, step by step.
A MAN walks into Luton police station clutching an envelope that he has just found left on his car windscreen.
1. The ransom
Inside it are pictures of him walking from a motorhome, with a typed note demanding £1,000 or his loved ones will be told he has visited a prostitute.
The note, signed “Light Justice”, says: “You have made an error in judgement. A massive error in judgement. The next step is for you to decide.
“On Thursday 16 March between 12.05 and 12.12 you used the services of a prostitute in Sedgewick Road, Luton. We’re sure that you will agree that the photographs along with the copies of the website provide quite damning proof of your actions that day. Do you really want the people closest to you to know about this?
“You made a bad decision and put your perversions above your family. You will pay £1,000 today.”
But after the police set about trying to find the blackmailer, what they discover will shock them — for it turns out to be one of their colleagues, Detective Constable Gareth Suffling.
The dramatic footage in 24 Hours In Police Custody includes the blackmail victim, a married man, nervously telling an officer: “I went online and got the phone number of a prostitute in Luton.
2. The van
“She told me she was in a mobile home. I went in, I gave her £30, she gave me oral sex. I didn’t think anything of it.”
3. The chief
The case falls to Detective Chief Inspector Jerry Waite and a team at Luton CID which includes Detective Sergeant Will Taylor. The detectives immediately realise it is a professional job.
The police do not pay blackmail money, but DS Taylor says if the victim is willing to use his own cash, they can plant it in order to detain a suspect. Officers package up the money and the victim drives to the drop-off point in time for the deadline.
A specialist police surveillance team monitors the drop-off point from a nearby hidden location. But the deadline expires without the money being collected.
However, the police decide to leave it there and continue to watch.
4. The hooker
Meanwhile the unit’s only current line of inquiry is the prostitute, Kirie. DS Graham McMillan, of the Major Crime Unit, traces her and her business partner Ian to a pub car park in Rotherham, South Yorks.
She says she knows nothing of the blackmail, adding: “I pay my taxes, I’ve got an accountant and I do everything above board.
“I’m a limited company so everything is clean. I never want to get in trouble for anything.”
And neither of them saw anyone taking photos near her motorhome that day, and the police are happy with her response.
But the clocking is ticking.It is now four hours since the blackmailer’s deadline and the team are still no closer to identifying their suspect.
As the hours pass, and their blackmailer is still on the loose, the team are concerned about the victim’s safety.
DCI Waite says: “A demand can start out as £1,000. Next week it could be £5,000, £10,000. Is it going to be a threat to their family? A wrong decision could totally affect someone’s life.”
DS Taylor tells the victim to call 999 if he sees anything untoward and gives him his mobile number as a point of contact.
The victim is worried his wife will find out. DS Taylor tells him: “I can say I’m Will from your phone provider. The password will be, ‘I’m calling about your upgrade.’”
5. The money drop
Officers continue to watch the drop-off point but nothing suspicious has been recorded. At the station, DCI Waite tells his team: “We can’t leave the money out there for ever. At some point I’ve got to say whether we missed the boat or not.”
Intelligence officers check to see if anyone has made any recent online search requests about the victim’s personal details. DCI Waite, who has been in the force for 27 years, says: “In trying to identify a suspect I’d like to say nothing ever surprised me.
“Nine times out of ten you know what’s going to happen and where the case is going to go. However once in a blue moon you are totally shocked at what you find.”
And it seems today is one of those exceptions, as an officer says down his mobile: “A message from Jerry — no one to go home.”
DCI Waite has received a breakthrough and pulls a select few colleagues into a private room, where he tells them: “This doesn’t leave the room.”
6. The corrupt cop
Then, on his orders, detectives are sent to the hidden surveillance unit to speak to one of the officers monitoring the drop-off point.
DC Suffling is watching a screen as they enter. One detective says: “Gareth, you probably know I’ve met you before.
7. The arrest
“I’m DS Mark Devine from the Major Crime team. We’re investigating this blackmail today. I’m here to arrest you on suspicion of blackmail.”
As DS Devine reads him his rights, Suffling breaks down in tears. DS Devine tells him: “Now obviously you’re shocked, right, but we don’t come and do this sort of thing for nothing, do we?”
Suffling is cuffed and led away. Detectives have discovered he checked the victim’s car registration number on his police computer to find out his address — before the victim even reported the blackmail.
Cameras at the station show Suffling being taken into custody. An officer keeps watch on him in his cell.
The news quickly spreads among Suffling’s disbelieving colleagues. However, they had noted he was acting strangely while working on the case, looking at his phone and drinking excessive amounts of water. Meanwhile the race is on for DCI Waite to find more evidence to charge him. At Suffling’s home, he briefs a team before they search the property.
8. The letter
Then he gets a call to say that in Suffling’s bedroom the search team has found pictures of the victim, while a torn-up letter is found in the kitchen bin. An officer puts the pieces together and discovers it is a copy of the demand letter.
The evidence is mounting. Suffling had been trying to set himself up as a private investigator and was in debt.
Officers analysing CCTV footage from a business near where Kirie’s motorhome was parked that day spot their suspect.
When questioned, Suffling says: “No comment”, and with the custody clock running out he is suspended from duty and allowed home on bail while investigations continue.
Then, in another surprise twist to the case, the Major Crime Unit receives a confession letter via Suffling’s lawyer.
Suffling claims he did not plan to make any personal gain from the blackmail and was doing it to help a vulnerable prostitute to get into a drug referral scheme.
He also claims he looked up such drug referral programmes on his phone.
9. The website
Officers analyse data from Suffling’s phone but can find no such evidence in his search history. Instead, it reveals searches for “Crime to make easy money” and “How to make crime pay” as well as porn video sites and the page where Kirie advertised her services.
10. The confession
Following his confession, Suffling is charged. In September last year he pleaded guilty to blackmail and misconduct in a public office at St Albans Crown Court.
He was jailed for 18 months but Bedfordshire Police felt the sentence was too lenient and appealed, after which it was increased to three years by the Court of Appeal.
His colleagues remain baffled by Suffling’s spectacular fall. Only last January he received a commendation for his investigation into a child sex abuser who groomed and sexually assaulted six teenage boys.
DS Tom Hamm, who Suffling worked under for 18 months on the case, says: “Gareth was held in such high esteem. No one had a bad word to say about him.
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“He was really good at what he chose to do, because he had the knowledge and he had the leadership. He could have gone as high as he wanted, really, so I don’t know why he’s done what he’s done.
“If I had the opportunity to talk to him I think I’d only have one question and it’s just why? That’s it.”
24 Hours In Police Custody returns on February 19 at 9pm on Channel 4.