In the judgment, Thomas, sitting with Mr Justice Foskett and Mr Justice Hickinbottom, said the agreement between Virgin and the Met risked damaging the police's reputation for independence.

He said: "It did in fact provide an incentive for the police to devote resources to assisting Virgin in their claim for compensation and gave rise to a perception that their independence was being compromised."

The most senior judge in England and Wales also warned about the possible dangers of more prosecutions being privatised as state funding is being cut for both the police and Crown Prosecution Service,

A retired police sergeant who is facing child porn allegations has accused his sons and their friends of downloading obscene images on to his home computer.

Dozens of illicit pictures, featuring children as young as five, were found on devices seized by police from Neil Shand’s home in Aberdeenshire.

The married 51-year-old is on trial at Banff Sheriff Court, accused of possessing obscene images of children between December 2008 and December 2010.

It is also alleged that he took or permitted the taking of the photos over the same two- year period, when he was a serving officer with Grampian Police.

Shand, whose address was given in court papers as 28 North Street, Aberchirder, denies all allegations.

Yesterday, on day four of his trial, it emerged that Shand is incriminating his three grown-up sons Connor, Luke and Glenn and several of their friends who occasionally stayed home and may have had access to their PC.

Giving evidence, IT worker Luke Shand, 27, admitted he had looked at adult websites on the main computer – in the kitchendining area of his parents’ house – but insisted he had never accessed child porn.

Asked by fiscal depute Karen Dow how he felt about being incriminated by his father of being responsible for downloading the images, Mr Shand jun said: “I just know it wasn't me.”

He said the main computer, which was found to have 41 pictures of children buried on its hard-drive, was password-protected, but the password was written down on a piece of paper next to the keyboard.

Asked if he knew whether his brothers or friends looked up mainstream adult sites at the house, he said: “I’ve never actually caught anyone looking at porn, but I assumed that they did. We’re all men, after all.”

Joiner Glenn Shand, 19, told the court that he never looked at pornography on the family computer.

And he said his friends would only have access to the PC under his supervision.

The court had previously heard that a memory stick was found in Shand’s sock drawer when police searched his home in December 2010.

The trial, before sheriff Edward Savage, is due to continue next week.

RUISLIP, WEST LONDON A disgraced police officer caught on camera punching a woman three times in the head was spared jail today (tues) after a judge said his victim was 'no shrinking violet'. PC James Kiddie, 45, attacked Sarah Reed in the busy Regent Street branch of Uniqlo and then tried to coach a witness, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard. In shocking CCTV footage played in court the officer is seen to remove his overcoat and jacket, before searching the 30-year-old woman's handbag. The father-of-two then forces the woman back in a chair, looming over her in the shop storeroom where she had been detained by security.

Berkin Elvan, who has been in a coma since June 2013 after being struck in the head by a gas canister during a police crackdown on protesters, died March 11, his family announced via Twitter.

“To our people: We lost our son Berkin Elvan at 7 a.m. in the morning. Condolences to us all,” Elvan's parents said in the message.

The young teenager, the eighth person to be killed in the Gezi Park protests, went into a coma after sustaining a head injury from a gas canister as he went to buy bread during a police crackdown in Istanbul’s Okmeydanı neighborhood last June. Elvan has since become one of the prime symbols violence faced by protesters throughout the nationwide Gezi demonstrations.

He had only turned 15 in January while still in a coma. A ceremony will be held at a cemevi in Okmeydanı before the burial in Feriköy cemetery on March 12.

Scores of people gathered in front of the hospital where Elvan was convalescent for over nine months, in a show of solidarity with the family upon calls on social media.

Tension rose between a group of demonstrators and the police, which again resorted to tear gas regardless of the fact that the hospital's entrance was nearby.

“Riot police arrived in front of the hospital as the funeral was ongoing to be sent to the forensics department. Some people also went that way and protested against the police. A scuffle occurred. The police officers did not restrain themselves at all from using gas. They once again used disproportionate force,” said Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) Istanbul lawmaker Melda Onur, who was participating in the vigil. "Tear gas even entered inside the hospital," she added.

Onur also said a child was brought into the hospital after being injured due a tear gas canister.

Another man, who was going to the hospital to visit his sick wife, was also injured after being hit in his head by a tear gas canister.

Tributes also poured in under the hashtag #BerkinElvanÖlümsüzdür ("Berkin Elvan is immortal").

Dozens of protests are planned in cities around the country for this evening.

HDN

Berkin Elvan's mother Gülsüm (C) and father Sami (L)
cry as they are joined by activists in front of the
Istanbul hospital where their son was in a coma for
269 days.
'PM Erdoğan took my son away'

The teenager’s parents were shattered when they joined activists keeping vigil for Berkin.

“It is not Allah who has taken my son away. It is [Prime Minister Recep] Tayyip Erdoğan,” said the mother, Gülsüm Elvan.

Erdoğan had memorably praised police for “heroic action” during the Gezi resistance last June, despite the murdered victims and serious injuries sustained due to the repeated brutal crackdowns on protesters.

The mother of Ali İsmail Korkmaz, a 19-year-old protester who died after being beaten during the Gezi protests in Eskişehir by a group of men including plainclothed police officers, came to the hospital to offer her condolences to Elvan's family.

Lawyers representing the family had said Elvan’s condition worsened over the last week, with his weight dropping to 16 kilos from 45 kilos.

Elvan suffered an epileptic fit on March 6, his heart stopped a day later, and on March 9 doctors diagnosed an air pocket in his lungs.

HDN

Emel Korkmaz, the mother of Ali İsmail Korkmaz, offers
her condolences to Gülsüm Elvan.
“His young body resisted for 267 days against the damage caused by the gas canister fired by the police, the same way our people resisted against fascism. But that resistance has been decreasing gradually and the damage to his inner organs is growing due to the fact that his brain functions are very low," a statement from the lawyers released on March 9 said.

In a first for a government official, President Abdullah Gül had contacted the family on March 10 as a police intervention was ongoing against a vigil held in front of the hospital in Istanbul’s Okmeydanı neighborhood.

Gül expresses condolences

Gül has publicly expressed his condolences after Elvan's death March 11. "He was only fourteen when the incident happened. I share the family's sorrow," Gül said.

A top business officials also expressed "deep regret" over the death.

"Nothing is more important than the life of a 15-year-old boy and other young people who we lost during the Gezi incidents," Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) Chair Muharrem Yılmaz said in a written statement.

Yılmaz also said he hoped that Elvan would be "the last loss on our conscience."

US warns citizens over calls for protests

Calls for protests across Turkey in the afternoon of March 11 were releyed on social media. Meanwhile, the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul has warned American citizens in Turkey after calls for demonstrations in Istanbul and elsewhere were made. "You should avoid areas of demonstrations, and exercise caution if in the vicinity of any large gatherings or protests. U.S. citizens are reminded that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and escalate into violence,” a statement said.

Earlier, March 11 three busloads of mourners went to collect Elvan's body at the Istanbul forensic lab, while another group of around 500 protesters marched from the hospital to a cemevi in the boy's neighborhood of Okmeydanı to wait for the remains. On the way, protesters shouted "Police, sell simit and live with honor" and "Berkin's murderers are Tayyip's cops" when they passed dozens of riot police deployed at the Perpa Electrical Market. Although the crowd jeered, police refrained from attacking.

The family has repeatedly slammed officials for protecting the perpetrators and announced that they would be starting a legal process at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), as no effective domestic investigation had been carried out over the last seven months. The officers who took part in the crackdown that cost Elvan's life are still on duty.

Five protesters, Mehmet Ayvalıtaş, Ahmet Cömert, Ethem Sarısülük, Ali İsmail Korkmaz and Ahmet Atakan, died directly as a result of crackdowns on the Gezi protests last summer. Two others are also counted as part of the Gezi victims, including Medeni Yıldırım, who was shot during a demonstration against the building of a new gendarmerie post in Diyarbakır’s Lice district, and Hasan Ferit Gedik, a leftist protester who was murdered by drug gangs in September 2013 in the Gülsuyu neighborhood of Istanbul's Maltepe district.

London's top counter-terrorism police officer has been removed from his post after he was implicated in a report that concluded the force spied on the family of a murdered teenager.

The Metropolitan Police said on Friday that Richard Walton had been transferred following publication of a report on the killing of Stephen Lawrence, who was fatally stabbed in a racist attack in 1993.

No one was convicted of the murder for almost 20 years.

The report, which has exposed police racism and incompetence, found that an undercover policeman spied on Lawrence's relatives during a public inquiry into the force's botched handing of the case.

Walton was one of the police officers making submissions to the inquiry, and met with the undercover officer while it was underway.

Lawrence was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack by a gang of white youths at a London bus stop on April 22, 1993.

Five suspects were arrested within days, but stprosecutors concluded that there was insufficient evidence to progress with murder charges for any of them.

Two of the men, Gary Dobson and David Norris, were convicted in January 2012 on the basis of new forensic evidence and sent to jail for a minimum of 15 and 14 years respectively.

Canadian police surrounded an annual protest against police brutality in Montreal, arresting 288 people before the demonstration had barely started.

The police claim the protest was illegal as the participants did not warn the authorities of their itinerary.

Montreal’s 18th annual protest against police brutality was cut dramatically short Saturday when police rounded up the participants. Minutes into the demonstration, riot officers converged on Jean-Talon Street and began detaining protesters. According to protesters there was a strong police presence, with police horses, cars and a helicopter on the scene.

“It was a veritable army of police ... who occupied the area surrounding the Jean-Talon metro when the protest was to start,” the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality, which organizes the annual protest, said in a written statement issued after the protest.

Police declared the demonstration was illegal and asked the protesters to disperse. However, the activists carried on marching, brandishing banners and chanting slogans, such as “They want us to respect them, but they don’t respect us!”

Riot police then encircled the protesters and began making arrests. The majority of the 288 people who were taken into custody were released shortly afterwards, but four people may be charged under the Criminal Code for assaulting an officer and obstructing the police. Several others could face charges of mischief.

One man sustained injuries to his face during the police intervention and was tended to by paramedics on the site, said officers.

“They refused to share their itinerary, and they refused to give us any details. When we got there, we asked them not to jump onto the street, and they answered by going into the street and yelling at us that they were not cooperating,” police spokesman Ian Lafrenière said. He added that the protest has a bad reputation with the authorities and on previous occasions the demonstrations had descended into violence and rioting.

However, activists had a different version of events and have accused the police of lying about the protesters’ activities.

“It looks good in the media — the police can say (all of these) people were arrested, were breaking windows and stuff, but it’s not true. They were doing nothing,” Claudine Lamothe told the Montreal Gazette.

The Collective Opposed to Police Brutality has staged a protest in Montreal every year for the past 18 years. This year the focused their protest on the issue of “social cleansing” where the authorities try to “get rid of people who are deemed unwanted,” the group writes on its website. The group cites an incident in January when an unnamed Montreal police officer threatened to tie a homeless man to a lamppost in temperatures of minus 30 if he did not move along. Following the incident, Lafrenière told the Montreal Gazette that the officer had been reprimanded for his “unacceptable” behavior.

Greater Manchester Police probed over Shipman victims' tissue samples

The police watchdog is to investigate whether officers misled relatives of people murdered by Harold Shipman when they disposed of human tissue.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is said to have kept samples from victims of the serial killer and disposed of them without relatives' knowledge.
It is one of three Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) inquiries into the force's conduct.
The inquiries follow allegations made by a serving officer.
The IPCC will also look into claims of covering up failings in a sexual abuse case and the bugging of a police office.
An assistant chief constable has stood down from his role in the ongoing Hillsborough investigation during the IPCC inquiries.
'Respectfully dispose'
The IPCC said the whistleblower had made a number of allegations including cronyism among senior officers, failure to follow correct procedures, failure to investigate complaints properly and corruption.
"These are serious allegations and the gravity and nature of the allegations, and the fact that they are made against senior officers within the force, means they must be investigated independently," said IPCC commissioner Jan Williams.
The first IPCC investigation will examine the disposal of the tissue samples.
It was previously reported human tissue was taken from 12 of the 15 women killed by Shipman to establish cause of death.
The samples were kept in storage for a number of years to ensure police had the appropriate evidence should there be appeals against conviction.
However, in 2011 police decided to "respectfully dispose" of the tissue samples without telling the families.
Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy said: "I have stated before that the decisions dealing with the aftermath of the Shipman investigation were complex and sensitive.
"Our priority was to avoid causing further distress to the families."
The second probe is into the actions of a detective chief inspector, who is alleged to have bugged a GMP office.
The IPCC said GMP had denied bugging took place.
The third inquiry is into claims an investigation into alleged sexual abuse was poorly handled and the alleged failings were covered up.
The IPCC said officers whose actions would be investigated during its inquiries ranged from the rank of constable up to Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney.
Sir Peter said Mr Sweeney had "voluntarily" stood down from his work with the Hillsborough investigation as part of Operation Resolve, while the IPCC inquiries take place.
Assistant Commissioner Jon Stoddart who is running Operation Resolve said: "ACC Sweeney has returned to his post at Greater Manchester Police and will cooperate fully with the IPCC investigation until these matters are concluded."
He said he was informing the Hillsborough families and other interested parties of recent developments.
Sir Peter said GMP would fully cooperate with the IPCC.

Military police in Comunidade Congonha, near Madureira, Brazil continued their “pacification” operations by executing a woman on her way to buy bread.

Claudia Ferreira Da Silva 38 year old mother of 4 kids, she was also taking care of 4 nephews. Originally people reported that Police shot her 3 times before throwing her body into the back of the vehicle.

The police involved are now claiming that they found her and that Claudia had 4 guns on her. They claimed Claudia was still alive when they threw her in the trunk of their car, and that they were heading towards a hospital. Nothing substantiates this claim of theirs.

To cover up their crime, they threw Claudia’s body in the trunk of their police car. It was about 9am this Sunday when the vehicle of the 9th Battalion (Rocha Miranda) was on Magellan Road headed towards Marechal Hermes in the North Zone of Rio.

After rolling from inside and hanging on the bumper of the vehicle only by a piece of clothing, the Claudia body was dragged for about 250 meters, beating against the pavement as the vehicle was driving. Although warned by pedestrians and motorists, PMs did not immediately stop. An amateur cameraman recorded passing by the scene in a video.

Video via Coletivo Carranca
**** Trigger Warning **** very disturbing images, woman dragged by car…

Met Police corruption probe papers shredded 'over two days'

New details about the mass shredding of documents relating to a corruption inquiry in the Metropolitan Police have been uncovered by BBC News.
It is understood the inquiry produced a "lorry-load" of material and that the shredding took place over two days.
The destruction of the files was highlighted by the barrister Mark Ellison QC in his review of the Stephen Lawrence murder investigation.
The Met said work was "ongoing" to find out what happened to the documents.
Teenager Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racist attack in Eltham, south-east London, in 1993.
Mr Ellison's report found evidence that a detective involved in the original murder investigation had acted corruptly, and that material had been withheld from the subsequent Macpherson Inquiry into the police's handling of the case.

The material that was shredded was from a broader, top-secret investigation into possible police corruption that began in 1993 and came to be known as Operation Othona.

Lengthy process
The Ellison report, published earlier this month, said it needed to see the Othona files to investigate possible links with the Lawrence case, and to establish what was known about police corruption at the time of the Macpherson Inquiry in 1998.
Some computer files relating to the Othona operation were found on a hard drive in a cardboard box in the Met Police's professional standards department in November 2013.
But hard copies of the intelligence were missing. The Ellison review was told there had been a "mass shredding" of them in 2003.
Operation Othona is understood to have generated so much material that it is highly unlikely it could have been destroyed by mistake.

Teenager Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racist attack in Eltham, south-east London, in 1993
One source said there had been a "lorry load" of documents, photographs and videos.
The paperwork would have included surveillance logs, listening device records and informant contact sheets.

A statement from Scotland Yard appears to confirm that the shredding revealed in Mr Ellison's report was a lengthy process.

"The Met team who were gathering the material for Mr Ellison's work found a computer hard drive," the force said in a statement.
"As the officers were working to recover the content of that hard drive they were told that a number of documents were shredded over a two-day period in 2003."
The Met added: "There is ongoing work to find out exactly what happened."
Former officers and staff with experience of record keeping in the Met at the time have told the BBC the mass shredding was disturbing, bizarre and suspicious.
It has bolstered the possibility that the material was deleted because it contained information that implicated officers or damaged the force's reputation.

'Chaotic' record keeping
They also said it was highly unusual to destroy paper records of recent investigations - not just because of the value of the information but also because of the legal requirements to disclose documents to the defence, should anyone be prosecuted.
Theories that the files were shredded as part of a drive to free up storage space or comply with data protection rules are also thought to be unlikely.
However, the ex-officers could not rule out an innocent explanation for the shredding.
They said the force's record keeping was "chaotic" and it was possible copies of the documents existed, but had simply been mislaid.
In 2009 it emerged that the Met Police had lost the case file of a suspected rapist, Wendell Baker, which contained the victim's statement and details of supporting evidence.
Baker was eventually prosecuted - and convicted - but only after his solicitors were ordered by a court to hand over their copies of the file