Spokes, lies and videotape: Police 'still not telling truth over Plebgate,' says Andrew Mitchell as officer Pc Keith Wallis to be charged with misconduct in public office
The policeman who says Andrew Mitchell called him a pleb will not face criminal charges. The former minister is furious and presented CCTV evidence in support of his case. So who’s telling the truth?
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The former cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell accused the police tonight of systemic dishonesty over the Plebgate affair and demanded a Downing Street protection officer face him in court to repeat his “toxic” lies under oath.
Mr Mitchell condemned the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service for what he said had been a failure thoroughly to investigate the officer, who first accused him of using the word “pleb” in an altercation outside Downing Street last year.
And he claimed that he had been shocked by the “sheer number” of people who had contacted him making similar accusations of police misconduct of which he feared “many” were true.
“If the police can do this in such a casual way in one of the safest areas in Britain and get away with it, then they can do it to anyone, anywhere and at any time,” he said.
Mr Mitchell was reacting to a decision by the CPS and the Independent Police Complaints Commission not to take either criminal or disciplinary action against PC Toby Rowland – the officer at the heart of the controversy.
PC Rowland alleged Mr Mitchell called the police “f**king plebs” who should learn their “f**king place” when diplomatic protection officers refused to let him cycle through the main gates of Downing Street.
When PC Rowland’s log of the incident was leaked to the media it led eventually to Mr Mitchell’s forced resignation as the Government’s Chief Whip. However, three months later CCTV footage emerged casting doubt over the police evidence and a criminal investigation was launched. Mr Mitchell said it was extraordinary the investigation had “meandered” for over a year but had at no stage interviewed PC Rowland under criminal caution or arrested him.
“The important issue is who invented the three lying phrases about plebs and people knowing their place,” he said. “These three phrases attributed to me are completely untrue; they were made up and disseminated by a police officer.
Earlier in the day the CPS announced that one Downing Street Protection Group officer, PC Keith Wallis, would face charges for misconduct in public office over allegations that he had written to his MP and falsely claimed that he witnessed the incident.
Four other officers will face charges of gross misconduct – two for their claimed involvement in leaking the story to The Sun and two for allegedly providing false evidence to the police investigation.
All could potentially lose their jobs. Three others will also face less severe internal disciplinary action.
However, the CPS said it had not seen any evidence to justify claims that PC Rowland had lied in his account on the police log.
“Much of the press reporting to date has assumed that the CCTV recordings show that the gate officer lied about the words used during the incident,” said the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders.
“The CCTV footage that has been aired publicly was edited and did not show the full picture. We have been supplied with previously unseen and unedited footage of the incident from five different cameras. The CCTV footage does not determine the issue completely as it could be consistent with either the accounts of the officer on the gate or Mr Mitchell. It is clear from the footage that there was sufficient time for the words to have been said either as described by the gate officer or as described by Mr Mitchell, and this has been confirmed by an expert.”
Ms Saunders added that the new footage also appeared to back up claims made by PC Rowland that there were witnesses to the incident.
“[The footage] does show that there are a small number of members of the public present immediately in front of the gate at the relevant time, but what cannot be seen is how many people were off-camera but in the vicinity, at least some of whom then quickly came into view.
“This is consistent with the officer’s account that several members of the public were present. No officer ever mentioned ‘crowds’ being present.”
But Mr Mitchell’s lawyer Stephen Parkinson, who was given access to the new unseen footage, disputed the CPS’s interpretation of the film.
“The film simply does not back up PC Rowland’s assertion that there were several members of the public witnessing the scene who ‘looked visibly shocked’ at the foul language,” he said.
“This is important because once you conclude that PC Rowland embellished his account how is it possible to believe the rest?”
Michael Crick, the Channel 4 News journalist who originally aired the footage, also reacted angrily to the CPS statement.
“C4 did not edit CCTV footage to change or alter sequence of events. Our three CCTV streams were image-matched frame-by-frame to confirm veracity,” he wrote on Twitter.
He added: “C4 News has tonight submitted FOI [Freedom of Information] request to CPS to provide ‘any evidence’ to justify their claim the Plebgate CCTV we showed was ‘edited’.”
Mr Mitchell’s close political ally David Davis claimed that PC Rowland would have had to have said 40 words in five seconds if the officer’s account was to be believed.
He told journalists: “According to Rowland, 40 words were spoken, excluding the last response from Mitchell, in that last five seconds.
“Most people speak at two to three words per second. No one speaks at eight words per second.”
Mr Mitchell, who is suing The Sun for defamation, said he expected PC Rowland to come to court and “swear to his account” under oath.
But the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, insisted the police investigation had been a “ruthless search for the truth”. “I believe that public trust and confidence in the integrity of the police is fundamental to us providing an effective service for the public,” he said.
“I expect my officers to serve the public without fear or favour.”
But Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, admitted the case could still damage the police.
“I think any event of such significance and such publicity has the potential to damage police public relations,” he said.
“I think what’s important is when they are discovered they are faced up to and dealt with in a transparent and open way.”
In a statement, PC Rowland said, “I stand by my account of events in Downing Street on 19 September 2012. This has now been thoroughly investigated and the CPS has confirmed there is insufficient evidence to take any criminal proceedings against me.
“In addition, neither am I subject to any disciplinary proceedings. I confirm that I am prepared to give evidence under oath if required.”