An independent enquiry would then take place by this new team into the conduct of the Dorset Police and the trial. I was asked to preserve all material in the case, including court exhibits and police officers’ note books which would then be seized by senior police officers from another force.
CRIME SLUNK SCENE SPUTNIK TRIAL
These were serving prisoners to whom Causley had made admissions regarding his wife’s killing while he was in prison awaiting trial for a life insurance fraud. I was told that doubts had arisen over the evidence given by one or two prosecution witnesses at the original trial which may have led to a miscarriage of justice. I was asked if I was involved in the case of Russell Causley, who was convicted of murder at Winchester Crown Court in December of 1996. The caller introduced himself as a senior investigator with the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). Life was good, indeed life was very good – then the phone rang. Together with another detective superintendent, I was responsible for all homicide enquiries, major sensitive investigations and the tricky business of managing informants. I had twenty-five successful homicide investigations under my belt, I had investigated over a hundred suspicious deaths or suicides and my office wall was covered in certificates of commendation from chief constables and various judges. This is a very rural location and was a long way from the buzz and excitement of Weymouth, Bournemouth and Poole where I had built my career in the CID. In February 1999 I was a detective superintendent in the Dorset Police based at the force headquarters which are located in the centre of the county at Winfrith. Whilst this book covers the worst of human behaviour, it also highlights the bravery and triumph of the human spirit, by those ordinary people who were caught up in these events.Ĭhapter One The Ups and Downs of a Detective’s Life He then went onto serve two years in Israel and Palestine, where he worked with a US-led team to reform the Palestinian security services in cooperation with a European effort. The killers were suspected to be the local police. He describes the difficulties he had in dealing with some senior members of the Iraqi Police in particular, the refusal of a Deputy Minister of Interior, who declined to reopen an investigation into the murder of a British security contractor and four Iraqi citizens. He was involved in the investigation into the murder of British aid worker, Margaret Hassan, and is deeply critical about the role played by the UK government. He served a year in Iraq between 20 and gives insights into the Shia takeover of the police and other institutions plus, some unsettling accounts of human rights abuses. He describes in detail the investigation of human trafficking for the sex trade and illustrates some conflicting rivalries between the UN and the European Union police mission. He then worked in Bosnia for the UN, where he was the commander of the eighty-strong UK police contingent. He had spent most of his service as a detective, and had been involved in the investigation of a number of murder cases and other serious crimes.In 2000 he led the British forensic team on exhumations in Kosovo and describes the horror and brutality carried out by Serb paramilitaries. Tony Nott retired from the Dorset Police in 2002 at the rank of superintendent.