HMP Britain

Nottinghamshire Police have been criticised by an inquest for contributing to the murders of a couple–Joan and John Stirland–by a criminal gang.

They had moved to Lincolnshire from Nottingham after their son had attempted to murder gangster Colin Gunn’s nephew and the police feared they would face reprisals.

The inquest at Lincoln Crown Court was read an extract from Mrs Stirland’s 2003 diary after she fled Nottingham.
She wrote: “This is just because police in Nottingham cannot control the Gunn family.”

This was certainly true: the Gunn crime family were behind most of the high-profile crimes within Nottinghamshire and in no small part responsible for its reputation as ‘Shottingham’.

Failing to tackle Gunn is one of the major failings of Nottinghamshire Police; the way they brought him to justice is one of its major triumphs.

Eventually, Nottinghamshire Police did act and began a secret operation to bring Gunn to justice. Operation Utah was formed with this task and those on the operation were vetted for relationships to Gunn and worked separately from the main force; indeed, most of Nottinghamshire Police 2,400 employees were oblivious. The primary reason for this enhanced security was the fear Gunn had penetrated the police; and they were right.

As part of their investigation, which eventually saw Gunn jailed for 35 years, they uncovered two corrupt police men Philip Parr and Charles Fletcher. These two police officers were found guilty of passing information to Gunn’s associates, helping him evade justice.

Data Security

At the inquest into the Stirland’s death, the court heard evidence that Nottinghamshire Police had failed to pass on information to Lincolnshire Police concerning intelligence that the Stirlands may be targeted by Gunn. When the Stirlands reported a prowler in their garden, the police response was inadequate.

The question now must be be why was this information not passed on? Was it a simple administrative and bureaucratic error? Or was it something more sinister: did the police fear passing on this information to another force in case it would ‘leak’ out to Gunn? Were the police so fearful of corrupt elements within its organisation that it fears the distribution of this information?

The IPCC, in their 22nd February 2008, allude to this being a possibility:

“It is apparent that the secrecy surrounding Operation Utah was paramount, which in the right circumstances is appropriate. However, there is no doubt that such a situation inhibited those who had taken responsibility for the care of the Stirlands, when assessing the risks and necessary measures to counter the threats and attacks.”

The police need not have worried: The Stirlands’ new address was eventually found by Gunn who promptly had them murdered. Information as to their new address was given to Gunn by a British Telecom employee.

If nothing else, this case shows how precious “personal data” can be.

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