Hear All Sides

RAY MALLON

YOUR report (Echo, Feb 25) "Mallon in the clear" needs some clarification.

This was a report undertaken when West Yorkshire Police took over Operation Lancet. That force concluded the investigation which resulted in disciplinary charges being preferred against Mr Mallon and he subsequently pleaded guilty to 14 offences.

The document was disclosed to him to assist his defence. It is a review and nothing more. It is interesting that, when it was written, a number of organisations responded to it. One was the independent Police Complaints Authority who supervised the investigation.

Senior member, Tony Williams, wrote at the time that the review was "sadly and badly off target".

He added that the reviewing officer had failed to take account of the many difficulties, some unprecedented, facing the inquiry team. They included:

"The existence of an inner circle, including superintendents, within the force which appeared bent on frustrating the inquiry, the cleverly orchestrated anti-Lancet media campaign, frequently involving personal attacks on those involved in the inquiry, the massive array of counter allegations stemming mainly from Mr Mallon (nearly all of which proved groundless), the intimidation of witnesses, the attempts to bring political pressure to bear and the various stalling and spoiling tactics."

Mr Williams directed his letter to Lloyd Clarke, then Deputy Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, and said it was important the record is set straight.

He added somewhat prophetically: "I fear the worst is yet to follow. I would not be at all surprised if this review is leaked as, from the outset, so many other aspects of this inquiry have."

The full report has not been revealed. It is important that your readers should be aware - to set the record straight. - C Westberg, Media Services Manager, Cleveland Police.

DAVID Blackie accuses Ray Mallon of perverse logic (HAS, Feb 20).

After reading Mr Blackie's letter I had to admire his nerve because a more blatant example of distorted logic I have never encountered.

He said Ray Mallon can not claim to have been cleared of wrongdoing because Mr Mallon has never been cleared by a court. Well, neither have the rest of us, ie most law-abiding people. We've never been cleared because like Ray Mallon, we've never had a case to answer.

Let me remind Mr Blackie that, in this country, you are innocent until proven guilty.

I can, however, understand the logic of his and many police officers' hostility to Ray Mallon. Mr Mallon, as a serving officer, clearly recognised what was going wrong on the streets and had the necessary guts and determination to put it right, regardless of what influential toes he trod on.

And in his relatively short time with Cleveland Police, he accomplished more of real public value than the rest of the force, serving and retired, have done in a lifetime. - Tony Kelly, Crook.

HOW can Cleveland Chief Constable Barry Shaw reconcile his recent extraordinary and unprofessional "empire of evil" rhetoric with the two-year-old independent review which found there was no widespread corruption in Cleveland Police? - Mike O'Carroll, Welbury, Northallerton.

METRIC MARTYRS

I WOULD not give a penny, a dime, or even a euro to Thoburn and Company - the so-called Metric Martyrs.

Why not? There are plenty of right-wing millionaires, in the shadows, backing them. They already have the money to employ a full-time press officer. What is really clever is the propaganda spin that it is the "little men" against the "Brussels bureaucracy".

Of course there is no mention that the 1963 Weights and Measures Act committed this country to eventual metrication. For those with a poor memory, we had not joined "Europe" at the time.

Every single Commonwealth country has already gone metric. I wonder why?

The people behind the Metric Martyrs know that, legally, they are wasting their time and money. What makes it worth their effort is the propaganda coverage with photo-opportunities, TV and press coverage which is priceless for the anti-Europeans.

If readers of The Northern Echo have spare cash, there are many charities in real need. Don't throw it down the drain in fat legal fees for the lawyers. - Stuart Hill, Darlington.

THE letters and distorted support of the so-called Metric Martyrs are really ridiculous enough to call them the Shilling Supporters.

Firstly, nothing stops them quoting things in pounds, they just need to do it in grams as well.

The logical arguments that they follow would result in their being paid in 240 pennies to the pound or 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound. How much support would they get for that? - Peter Freitag, Chair, Tees Area European Movement.

THE Metric Martyrs who have unjustly been branded as criminals are doing a wonderful job fighting for us to retain our individuality from the rest of the world and should continue to do so.

Why measure things in foreign measures to keep foreigners happy in our country? We should use our measures and, if Europe doesn't like it, tough.

If our Government doesn't start to tell the Europeans who's boss here, we'll end up in one ghastly foreign mess.

It saddens me to think that I may still be around to see the country in which I was born turn foreign under ever-increasing foreign dictation. I say keep all things English in England, all things British in Britain and all things foreign, (like metric and the euro to begin with), somewhere foreign. - AJ Crawford, Shotton Colliery.