Bernard Hogan-Howe

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Person.png Lord Bernard Hogan-Howe   PowerbaseRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(policeman)
Bernard Hogan-Howe.jpg
BornBernard Howe
25 October 1957
Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
Alma materMerton College (Oxford), Fitzwilliam College (Cambridge), University of Sheffield
SpouseMarion (née White)
Member ofRoyal United Services Institute for Defence Studies/Fellows
British senior policeman

Employment.png Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis Wikipedia-icon.png

In office
12 September 2011 - 22 February 2017
DeputyCressida Dick, Craig Mackey
Preceded byTim Godwin

Lord Bernard Hogan-Howe is the former Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (head of London's Metropolitan Police Service) who was succeeded in Spring 2017 by Cressida Dick.[1]

On 18 July 2011, Home Secretary Theresa May announced Bernard Hogan-Howe's temporary appointment as Acting Deputy Commissioner following the resignation of the Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, and the appointment of the incumbent Deputy Commissioner as Acting Commissioner. Hogan-Howe applied for the position of Commissioner himself in August 2011 along with other candidates,[2] and was successful in being selected for the post on 12 September 2011 after appearing before a panel of the Home Secretary and the Mayor of London and receiving the approval of the Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, before he was formally appointed by The Queen.[3]

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe was knighted in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to policing[4] and was ennobled on 7 November 2017 as Baron Hogan-Howe of Sheffield, in the County of South Yorkshire.[5]

Background

Hogan-Howe was born in Sheffield in 1957, the son of Bernard Howe. He attended Hinde House School, a dual primary and secondary school, where he completed his A-levels. He was brought up single-handedly by his mother, whose surname of Hogan he later added by deed poll. After leaving school, he spent four years working as a lab assistant in the National Health Service.[6]

Whilst still with South Yorkshire Police, he was identified as a high-flier and selected to study for an MA degree in Law at Merton College (Oxford)[7] which he began at the age of 28.[8] He later went on to gain a Diploma in Applied Criminology from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from the University of Sheffield.[9][10]

Police career

Bernard Hogan-Howe began his police career in 1979 with South Yorkshire Police and rose to be District Commander of the Doncaster West area. In 1997, he transferred over to Merseyside Police as Assistant Chief Constable for Community Affairs, moving onto area operations in 1999. Hogan-Howe then once again transferred this time to the Metropolitan Police Service as Assistant Commissioner for Human Resources, July 2001–2004.[11] He was then appointed Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, 2005-9.[12][13]

Hogan-Howe had called for a "total war on crime" whilst Chief Constable and argued that the Health and Safety case which was successfully brought against the Metropolitan Police after the Jean Charles de Menezes shooting was restrictive of allowing the police to do their work.[14] He had also called for a review of the decision to downgrade cannabis from a class B to a class C drug.[15] He thereafter was one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Constabulary, 2009–2011.[16]

Commissioner

On 12 September 2011, it was announced that Bernard Hogan-Howe would become Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis on 26 September. He was briefly Assistant Commissioner responsible for professional standards before formally commencing the role as Commissioner. During that period, a decision was made within the department of professional standards to use the Official Secrets Act 1989 to compel The Guardian to reveal its sources regarding the News International phone hacking scandal. The order was swiftly rescinded five days prior to Hogan-Howe's formal term of office.[17] On 16 January 2012, Hogan-Howe gave a talk at the London School of Economics entitled "Total Policing: The Future of Policing in London."[18]

In February 2013, Hogan-Howe was criticised for defending police officers who had, according to an appeal court ruling, used "inhuman and degrading treatment", in breach of the Human Rights Act, when handling an autistic boy in a swimming pool. The criticism was specifically directed against the money spent on the appeal and his refusal to apologise and to improve training police officers for the humane treatment of people with disabilities.[19] In September 2012, Hogan-Howe did ask an independent commission headed by Lord Adebowale to review cases where people with a mental illness died or were harmed after contact with police. The report arrived in May 2013[20] and contained severe criticism; Hogan-Howe responded to the commission's recommendations with a plan for change, announced in June 2014.[21]

The Met

Full article: The Met
In The Met (L to R): PC Andy Perversi, DS Tracey Miller, Ch Supt Victor Olisa, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Det Sgt Bob Dolce and PC Sonia Rochester

In October 2013, it was announced that the Metropolitan Police Service is to be the subject of The Met, a BBC One documentary five-part series going behind the scenes at Britain's largest police force. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said he was "delighted" to work with the BBC "on such an important project":

"I hope that over the coming months, we can reveal the true scale and complexity of the challenges faced by officers and staff across the service."[22]

On 5 June 2015, Simon Jenkins of The Guardian attended the press viewing of The Met's first episode in the presence of Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe and reported that a BBC official said how “privileged we felt” to be given access to the great man, and hoped the film “will not seem a puff piece for the Met”:

"I caught a twitch of a smile on Hogan-Howe’s face. 'I don’t want this to seem shroud waving,' he said, and then coolly pointed out he had endured a 20% cut in his budget and now faced the same again"

Challenged on whether the film showed the Met as “institutionally racist”, Hogan-Howe declined to answer, except to state that it matters "that others think so".[23]

Bernt Carlsson murder inquiry

Patrick Haseldine's letter to The Guardian of December 7, 1989
DC Crawford's 2002 book: "The Lockerbie Incident: A Detective's Tale"
Bernt Carlsson, the prime target on Pan Am Flight 103

On 28 May 2015, veteran Lockerbie campaigner Patrick Haseldine wrote to Hogan-Howe:

Dear Sir Bernard,

MURDER OF BERNT CARLSSON, UN COMMISSIONER FOR NAMIBIA

On 7th December 1989 The Guardian published this letter from me:

"Finger of suspicion"
"Exactly one year ago, you published my letter suggesting that Mrs Thatcher might have a blind spot as far as South African "terrorism" is concerned.
"Fourteen days after publication, Pan Am Flight 103 was blown out of the sky upon Lockerbie. Of the 270 victims, the most prominent person was the Swede Mr Bernt Carlsson – UN Commissioner for Namibia – whose obituary appeared on page 29 of your December 23, 1988 edition.
"I cannot be the only puzzled observer of this tragedy to wonder why police attention did not immediately focus on a South African connection. The question to be put (probably to Mrs Thatcher) is: given the South African proclivity to using the diplomatic bag for conveying explosives and the likelihood that the bomb was loaded aboard the aircraft at Heathrow (vide David Pallister, The Guardian, November 9, 1989) why has it taken so long for the finger of suspicion to point towards South Africa?
"Were police inquiries into Lockerbie subject to any political guidance or imperatives?"[24]

The only “investigation” of Bernt Carlsson’s murder was conducted by Scottish Detective Constable John Crawford whose 2002 book, "The Lockerbie Incident: A Detective's Tale", states (on pages 88/89):

"We even went as far as consulting a very helpful lady librarian in Newcastle who contacted us with information she had on Bernt Carlsson. She provided much of the background on the political moves made by Carlsson on behalf of the United Nations. He had survived a previous attack on an aircraft he had been travelling on in Africa. It is unlikely that he was a target as the political scene in Southern Africa was moving inexorably towards its present state. No matter what happened to Carlsson after he had completed his mission in Namibia the political changes were already well in place and his demise would not have altered anything. This would have made a nonsense of any alleged assassination attempt on him as it would not have achieved anything. I discounted the theory as being almost totally beyond the realms of feasibility. We eventually produced a report on all fifteen (the 'first fifteen' of the interline passengers) to the SIO (Stuart Henderson), each person had their own story and as many antecedents as we could gather. The other teams had also finished their profiles of their group of interline passengers. None of them had found anything which could categorically put any of the interline passengers into any frame as a target, dupe or anything else other than a victim of crime."[25]

There is reason to believe that the following individuals either conspired to murder, or were complicit in targeting, Bernt Carlsson in the Lockerbie bombing of 21 December 1988:

I should be grateful if Scotland Yard would now launch a Bernt Carlsson murder inquiry.

Yours sincerely,

Patrick Haseldine[31]

Lockerbie crime scene at Heathrow

Lockerbie bomb "planted at Heathrow"
Replica of the Lockerbie "bomb bag" that was loaded into baggage container AVE4041
Remains of baggage container AVE4041
11 September 2001 - Front Page News

On 30 June 2015, Patrick Haseldine wrote a second letter to Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe (Royal Mail recorded delivery reference BZ774647706GB):

Dear Sir Bernard,

My letter of 28th May 2015 asked you to launch a murder inquiry into the targeting of Bernt Carlsson on Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded on 21 December 1988 over Lockerbie in Scotland. In case you are reluctant for Scotland Yard to get involved, I offer the following to justify action by the Met.

According to the National Geographic Channel, the Lockerbie crime scene extended to over 2000 square kilometres and in total some 4 million pieces of wreckage were collected and registered on computer files. The documentary stated:

”Early analysis of the wreckage showed signs of an explosion in the front left luggage hold of the plane, indicating that if it was a bomb that had caused the explosion then it had to have been loaded in Frankfurt.”[32]

New analyses by Barry Walker[33] and by Dr Morag Kerr[34] show that the bomb suitcase could not possibly have arrived on the feeder flight Pan Am 103A from Frankfurt. Instead, the two experts have demonstrated that the Lockerbie scene of crime should now be focused on Heathrow airport, where the Pan Am 103 bomb originated.

According to my researches, this is how the bomb suitcase was ingested at Heathrow:

At about 20:00pm (GMT) on 20 December 1988, when flight SA234 took off from Johannesburg airport, full details of the flight's passenger manifest were transmitted to South African Airways office in London. This was the cue for a team of Civil Co-operation Bureau operatives, led by the CCB's London-based director Eeben Barlow, to break through a security door at Terminal 3 of Heathrow airport leading to the Interline Baggage Shed from where flights would be loaded the following day. The CCB team then ingested the primary suitcase (or "bomb bag") through this security door and tagged it for loading on Pan Am Flight 103.[35] For baggage reconciliation purposes, this Samsonite hardshell primary suitcase would replace Nicola Hall's bag (which would be diverted to Pan Am Flight 101). Thus the "bomb bag" and Bernt Carlsson's grey Presikhaaf hardshell suitcase were the first two pieces of luggage placed in the AVE4041 baggage container by loader/driver John Bedford.

Heathrow security guard Ray Manly, who discovered that the padlock had been cut on security door CP2 leading to the Pan Am baggage area, told the Lockerbie appeal court at Camp Zeist in 2002:

"I believe it would be possible for an unauthorised person to obtain tags for a particular Pan Am flight and then, having broken the CP2 lock, to have introduced a tagged bag into the baggage build up area."

Manly immediately reported the break-in to the police but was not interviewed by Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Squad until 31 January 1989. The officers who interviewed Manly apparently did not pursue the lead or pass on the information.[36] No mention of the Heathrow break-in was made at the 2000-2001 Lockerbie trial of the two Libyans Megrahi and Fhimah.[37]

Ray Manly's account of the break-in at Heathrow remained hidden for over twelve years, then suddenly made front page news on 11 September 2001 in the Scottish Mirror ("Lockerbie: The Lost Evidence") and was carried by BBC News that morning at 08:42 GMT ("Key Lockerbie 'evidence' not used").[38] This short-lived Lockerbie story was effectively buried a few hours later when reports of the 9/11 attacks in America began to swamp the media.[39]

Please acknowledge this letter and let me know if you require additional information to proceed with the Bernt Carlsson murder inquiry.

Yours sincerely,

Patrick Haseldine

Murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher

On 28 July 2015, Patrick Haseldine's third letter to Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe repeated his call for a Bernt Carlsson murder inquiry[40] and quoted from a comment by former GCHQ officer Mike Arnold on the Facebook page Who Killed Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher?:

Mike Arnold sacked by GCHQ over testimony on Yvonne Fletcher's murder
"We were involved in the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher"
"Removing Bernt Carlsson signals nobody is untouchable"

"All of the following becomes highly probable because I know for a fact that we were involved in the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher:

"We and the Americans bombed Pan Am Flight 103 to persuade South African foreign minister Pik Botha to sign the Tripartite Accord; thus with the Americans protecting our vested interests both political and financial.

"The destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 with the Americans demonstrated our intent and was also a threat, and removing Bernt Carlsson was a convenient and powerful signal, i.e. nobody is untouchable.

"It is also clear that we sabotaged Chinook ZD576 to facilitate the IRA cease-fire and to terrify me in CES5; which quickly resulted in my unfair dismissal from the MoD as a Civil Servant.

"The implication of the BBC Lockerbie report on the early morning of 9/11 implies that British Intelligence knew what was about to happen in New York, and may indeed have played a complicit role for the CIA.

"The first report appearing in the Scottish Mirror implies that they were the cut-out; similar to how British Intelligence used The Times to place a small and misleading account for what happened to me at GCHQ into the public domain.

"As part of the bigger picture, it is probable that British Intelligence scripted the premature BBC report that WTC7 had collapsed. British Intelligence blatantly scripted The Times, Daily Mail and BBC around me.

"It also appears highly probable that we sabotaged RAF Nimrod XV230 because of what I did and what happened to me in CES5; RAF Nimrod XV230 was a stepping-stone to ensuring that I have become an instrument of blackmail against the Americans, i.e. a reminder of our joint complicity in crime and an attempt to ensure that the Americans accommodate our vested interests.

"In a nut shell, my testimony regarding WPC Yvonne Fletcher ‘brings the roof down’ on the Americans.

"Your letter of the 5 December 1988 to The Guardian, and the fact that you have collated much information and directed my attention, implies that you may also be helping British Intelligence."[41]

Please acknowledge this letter and confirm you will proceed with the Bernt Carlsson murder inquiry.

Yours sincerely,

Patrick Haseldine

Trying to pass the buck

Scotland Yard claiming Heathrow airport is "within the Jurisdiction of Police Scotland"
Will Bernt Carlsson murder inquiry be given House-room?
"Squarely within the Jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police"

On 30 July 2015, Sir Bernard's Private Office responded by email:

From : DCC7Mailbox-.Commissioner'sPrivateOffice@met.pnn.police.uk
Date : 30/07/2015 - 12:58 (GMTDT)
To : patrick.haseldine@btinternet.com
Subject : Re: Bernt Carlsson murder inquiry
Dear Mr Haseldine,
I note your recent email to the Commissioner's Private Office and indeed written correspondence.
Whilst I recognise the tragedy and trauma that came from the Lockerbie disaster many years ago, the matters which you are seeking to be investigated are ones that sit within the Jurisdiction of the Police Service of Scotland.
We have previously forwarded your correspondence to them and would respectfully suggest that you make contact with them directly for advice and guidance.
Best regards
Marcus Barnett

To which Patrick Haseldine replied by email (30/07/2015 - 22:41) and by letter of 3 August 2015 addressed to Marcus Barnett, Private Office, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, New Scotland Yard, 8-10 Broadway, London SW1H 0BG (Royal Mail recorded delivery reference BZ774645943GB):

Dear Marcus,
Thank you for acknowledging receipt of my three letters dated 28 May 2015, 30 June 2015 and 28 July 2015 addressed to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe requesting that Scotland Yard should launch a Bernt Carlsson murder inquiry.
"UN Assistant Secretary-General and Commissioner for Namibia, Bernt Carlsson, had less than seven hours to live when at 11.06am on 21 December 1988 he arrived in London on flight BA 391. Strictly speaking he was meant to fly directly from Brussels to New York in time for the historic signing of the Namibia Independence Agreement the day after. But Bernt Carlsson could not make it. He had a meeting. An important meeting with a 'pressuriser' from the South African diamond cartel, which was so secret that evidently not even Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, UN Secretary-General, knew anything about it. Here iDAG maps out the last 24 hours in the life of Bernt Carlsson."
The targeting of Bernt Carlsson on Pan Am Flight 103 falls fairly and squarely within the Jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police, as does the break-in at Heathrow airport in the early hours of 21 December 1988. It was not until 31 January 1989 that security guard Ray Manly was interviewed by Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Squad. He was never questioned again. No publicity was given to the break-in at Heathrow, nor was the issue raised at the Lockerbie trial that was held at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands (2000-2001). Manly said:
"When there was no mention of my evidence at the trial I rang the police, who put me in touch with the defence. They told me no one knew about my statement or the break-in. I find that just incredible."
I look forward to hearing that Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has ordered the Metropolitan Police to launch an immediate inquiry into Bernt Carlsson's murder.
Yours sincerely,
Patrick Haseldine

Calling Police Scotland

On 6 August 2015, Patrick Haseldine emailed Police Scotland:

From: Patrick Haseldine [1]
Sent: 06 August 2015 16:30
To: Contactus@scotland.pnn.police.uk
Subject: Bernt Carlsson murder inquiry
Dear Police Scotland,
Marcus Barnett in the Private Office of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner tells me that my three letters dated 28 May 2015, 30 June 2015 and 28 July 2015 addressed to Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, requesting that Scotland Yard should launch a Bernt Carlsson murder inquiry, have been forwarded to the Police Service of Scotland.
Please confirm receipt of these letters by email.
Patrick Haseldine

Police Scotland responded:

From : Contactus@scotland.pnn.police.uk
Date : 06/08/2015 - 17:39 (GMTDT)
To : patrick.haseldine@btinternet.com
Subject : Re: Bernt Carlsson murder inquiry
RESTRICTED
Hi there,
Are you able to provide details of the address they were sent to and if they were addressed to someone specific?
Kind Regards
Police Scotland

Haseldine replied:

From: Patrick Haseldine [2]
Sent: 06 August 2015 20:38
To: Contactus@scotland.pnn.police.uk
Subject: Re: Bernt Carlsson murder inquiry
Dear Police Scotland,
Thank you for this speedy response.
Marcus Barnett in Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe's Private Office should be able to provide the details you require. He is contactable at the following email address: DCC7Mailbox-.Commissioner'sPrivateOffice@met.pnn.police.uk.
Regards,
Patrick Haseldine

Police Scotland responded:

From : Contactus@scotland.pnn.police.uk
Date : 06/08/2015 - 21:05 (GMTDT)
To : patrick.haseldine@btinternet.com
Subject : Re: Bernt Carlsson murder inquiry
NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED
Thank you for your email.
An email has been sent to Marcus Barnett requesting further information.
Regards,
Police Scotland
On behalf of 'Contactus'
Website: http://www.scotland.police.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/policescotland
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PoliceScotland

Police Roll of Honour Trust

In November 2013 Bernard Hogan-Howe took up the role of Patron of the national police charity the Police Roll of Honour Trust. He joined Stephen House and Hugh Orde as joint patrons.[42]

Hogan-Howe has received a number of honours, decorations and honorary doctorates.

References

  1. ↑ "UK Appoints First Woman Scotland Yard Chief in 187-Year History"
  2. ↑ "Four in running to be next Met Police commissioner"
  3. ↑ "Bernard Hogan-Howe new Metropolitan Police Commissioner"
  4. ↑ "New Years Honours: Kate Bush Heads Arts Field"
  5. ↑ "Baron Hogan-Howe of Sheffield in the County of South Yorkshire"
  6. ↑ "Bernard Hogan-Howe"
  7. ↑ "Bernard Hogan-Howe: Dixon of Dock Green is my role model... police officers are not social workers"
  8. ↑ "Bernard Hogan-Howe: a tough cop for a tough job at the Metropolitan Police"
  9. ↑ "Who might be next Met Police commissioner?"
  10. ↑ "The Sheffield Executive MBA: Case study: Bernard Hogan-Howe"
  11. ↑ "MPA appoints two Assistant Commissioners: DAC Tarique Ghaffur and ACC Bernard Hogan-Howe"
  12. ↑ "'Evict gun thugs' families' call"
  13. ↑ "Temporary Chief Constable takes up the baton"
  14. ↑ "No more brave policemen"
  15. ↑ "Cannabis is wrecking lives, says public school head"
  16. ↑ "Her Majesty's Inspectors of Constabulary"
  17. ↑ "The new Met chief's U-turn is welcome – he had made a gross misjudgment"
  18. ↑ "Total Policing: the future of policing in London"
  19. ↑ "Trauma of autistic boy shackled by police"
  20. ↑ "Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing Report"
  21. ↑ "The Met’s New Approach To Recognising Mental Health"
  22. ↑ "Metropolitan Police to be subject of BBC documentary"
  23. ↑ "Sorry, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, but The Met series really is a puff piece"
  24. ↑ "Finger of suspicion"
  25. ↑ "The Lockerbie Incident: A Detective's Tale"
  26. ↑ "From Chequers to Lockerbie"
  27. ↑ "South Africa’s Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) executed Iran’s revenge attack"
  28. ↑ "Why the Lockerbie flight booking subterfuge, Mr Botha?"
  29. ↑ "Craig Williamson: Lockerbie bomber"
  30. ↑ "Lockerbie: J'accuse...Eeben Barlow"
  31. ↑ "Scotland Yard to launch Bernt Carlsson murder inquiry"
  32. ↑ "Lockerbie 20 years on"
  33. ↑ "Charlatans, Fabricators and Conspiracy Theorists"
  34. ↑ "Adequately Explained by Stupidity? Lockerbie, Luggage and Lies"
  35. ↑ "Pan Am 103: South Africa Guilty"
  36. ↑ "Mirror dossier will clear me" Heathrow expose to help Lockerbie appeal
  37. ↑ "'Break-in' before Lockerbie bombing"
  38. ↑ "Key Lockerbie 'evidence' not used"
  39. ↑ "Lockerbie: Heathrow break-in revealed"
  40. ↑ "Sir Bernard gets the message!"
  41. ↑ "Comment by former GCHQ officer Mike Arnold on the Facebook page 'Who Killed Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher?'"
  42. ↑ "New Patrons Police Roll of Honour Trust"

External links

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