I've had to apologise to Surrey Police, their Chief Constable Gavin Stephens and the PCC Townsend. Below is why...

Jonathan King gives up his complaint about Surrey Police and now accepts the apology made to him regarding officer incompetence.

After the “debacle” of the trial against him in June 2018, where he was declared Not Guilty of several false charges and Judge Taylor refused to allow any retrials, Surrey Police apologised to King for the behaviour of officers involved. (Then) Chief Constable Ephgrave, to his credit, fell on his sword and resigned. (Then) PCC Munro refused to do so and was soundly ejected by Surrey voters when his term expired.

King refused to accept the given apology and complained to the IOPC, who examined the circumstances and UPHELD his complaint, that Surrey Police Professional Standards Department (PSD) had not properly examined officer behaviour.

However, current Chief Constable Stephens, on receiving the IOPC decision, refused to re-open an investigation so King, again, complained to new PCC Townsend and to the IOPC, which has now concluded that it is not the responsibility of Stephens to do this - to quote their decision “The Chief Constable is not personally involved in day-to-day operational policing matters”.

As a result King has now accepted the Surrey Police apology and has apologised to both CC Stephens and PCC Townsend for misunderstanding their responsibilities.

King says “It has been made clear to me that the misconduct of officers is NOT, legally, the responsibility of the Chief Constables of forces. One officer responsible for causing the deaths of three Surrey residents has been booted out of the force - or, to be accurate, has taken early retirement with full pension and is now selling aromatherapy oils, a far more suitable career. Two others not only remain in place but have been promoted. This is the way the system works.”

At the time of rejecting the Surrey Police apology, King said his reason for doing so was because of the deaths of Deniz Corday, Robert Randall and Laurence Pollinger, all of whom attributed their deaths, rightly or wrongly, to Surrey Police and Operation Ravine.

“But they are now dead”, says King, “so it is understandable that Surrey Police does not feel it has to apologise to them. I do not say their deaths were deliberately caused by officers. I consider incompetence far more common than conspiracy. But I do think that, if Wayne Couzens had been a Surrey Police officer and had not made the mistake of killing Sarah Everard instead of only raping her, he would still be with the force, protected and probably promoted. If Derek Chauvin had not been filmed on a smart phone by a passing member of the public, he would be in a senior position at Minneapolis Police, instead of in jail for the murder of George Floyd.
This is a global police problem. They protect their own”.
King believes there will be many more deaths directly attributable to Surrey Police.

“Respected Surrey Headmaster Willie Murdock died as a direct result of officer behaviour. I have no knowledge of his guilt or innocence of any charges made against him but the way he was treated by Surrey Police caused him to take his own life. I am absolutely certain of this. Officers are not properly trained. They believe they can get away with murder and they do. They know their bosses will protect them. The system is there to avoid examination. The Coroners avoided investigation of Murdock’s death by squeezing the inquest through without notifying media. I do not think Surrey Police is a nest of murderers. I don’t want officers fired; I just want a clear message given to them. I do think the force is a cess pit of incompetence which often causes the deaths of innocent people. It is supported by the structure originally intended to expose them”.

King is not anti-police. Indeed he thinks Cressida Dick was a fine Met commissioner and should not have been fired by Khan (who he considers a lousy Mayor). “She wanted to clean up British Police and tried, although I now discover she did not, legally, have to do so. It’s those who refuse to correct serious officer misbehaviour that I object to. I think the vast majority of serving police agree with me”. And he issues his own apology to humanity. “I’m sorry I cannot go on fighting to improve the system. Politicians don’t care. They hold inquiries and condemn with weasel words but they only do anything if they think they can get votes. Media likewise - great at exaggerating to boost circulation or viewing figures; lousy at actually caring. I apologise”.