Wick family call for complaints against police to be investigated by ombudsman
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THE family of a Caithness man whose body was found in Wick harbour in February 1997 has called for complaints against the police to be investigated by an ombudsman.
June and Hugh McLeod, the parents of 24-year-old Kevin, and his uncle Allan McLeod made the plea after meeting with former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini in Inverness on Wednesday.
Dame Elish is carrying out a probe into the way complaints against the police are handled and flew to the Highland capital to meet the McLeods.
They told her there should be an "end to police investigating police" and an assurance that officers cannot use retirement or resignation as "a get out of jail free card" in an attempt to avoid potential dismissal.
The family would like to see an ombudsman appointed to look at complaints against the police with "professionalism and integrity".
The McLeods claim Kevin was murdered because of the injuries on his body but the police say his death was the result of a tragic accident.
After the meeting with Dame Elish, Allan McLeod, speaking on behalf of the family, said: "We are grateful for the opportunity to meet with Dame Elish to discuss our personal experience and to put forward specific points which we believe are required for people to have confidence in the police complaints system.
"People don't trust police investigating police. We need a complaints system that is open, transparent and truly impartial. Kevin’s case is the prime example for change.
"It is important that allegations of misconduct can be fully investigated and resolved even if the officer involved is no longer a serving officer. If any officer has committed an act so serious that it warranted possible dismissal, then they should be held to account for their actions.
"If gross misconduct is proven and an officer has already left the force, he or she should be named on a public register preventing them from serving again with any other policing body in the UK."
The family says the most serious complaints against the police should be investigated independently and not by the Scottish Police Authority or the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner.
Mr McLeod said the family feels encouraged by recent developments and highlighted the admission by Police Scotland in 2017 that Northern Constabulary failed to act on the procurator fiscal's instruction to investigate Kevin’s death as murder. They are also pleased a review of the case is being undertaken by Merseyside Police.
Referring to the arrest this week in connection with the disappearance in 1976 of Inverness woman Renee MacRae and her three-year-old son Andrew, Mr McLeod said: "We are so happy and delighted for Renee MacRae’s family and friends regarding this major development in their case. We can only hope that Police Scotland will now adopt the same attitude, determination and commitment with Kevin’s case by also catching his killer(s) which legacy force Northern Constabulary failed to do.
"These developments gives us hope that we will eventually get justice for Kevin. We suspect that all the agencies involved in his case were complicit from the very outset in concealing the catalogue of police failures from the family."
