It'â€™s called Operation Pear Tree.
Our brief was to embed an undercover officer
within an organised crime group.
Detective Sergeant John Corbett.
CORBETT: I'â€™m just trying to get to the truth.
The top brass, they don'â€™t want me to succeed.
But there'â€™s a bent copper running organised crime.
I'â€™m sure of it.
The man that broke in, I never saw his face.
He said you'â€™d know why he'â€™d done it.
I assaulted your gaffer'â€™s wife.
He'â€™ll make sure I go down. There'â€™s no two ways about it.
1-0 to 4-5, the order is Fahrenheit.
We'â€™ll lose all of Corbett'â€™s intel.
We know that Corbett is a cold-blooded killer.
Give yourself up!
You shoot me and the truth never comes out.
HASTINGS: Lee Banks. - Who the hell are you?
Superintendent Hastings.
- [Knife slices] - You'â€™re a rat, John.
A rat.
What if he did blow Corbett'â€™s cover?
It doesn'â€™t bear thinking about.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
- How much? - A hundred grand.
MOFFATT: Haven'â€™t we earned a payday?
I don'â€™t want the fiasco of Operation Pear Tree,
which was not of your making,
add a disastrous coda to an otherwise distinguished career.
Cover it up with all this stuff. Come on.
I never asked you how your exams went.
Yeah. Got a date for my interview.
It'â€™s clear that the threshold test has been passed
and therefore it is my lawful right to arrest you
on suspicion of conspiracy to murder John Corbett.
No, no, no.
You will be held in custody
while we gather further evidence.
What is happening here? I am being framed!
Today was just for starters.
Now I'â€™m gonna prove that Hastings is H.
[Low chatter]
[Chatter quietens]
The inquiry into Superintendent Hastings is not a matter
over which you'â€™re entitled to exercise choice.
Cooperation is your lawful duty as police officers.
Failure to comply is an offence
under police conduct regulations.
Anyone obstructing my officers can and will face arrest.
But let'â€™s not fall out over this.
I'â€™m sure we can all work together nicely.
DI Fleming, DS Arnott, can I borrow you a minute?
Ma'â€™am.
[Low chatter]
Seven years and counting.
No one'â€™s worked more closely with Hastings than you two.
You'â€™ve better insights into the man than anyone else in AC-12.
So...what you know, I need to know,
my team needs to know.
Ma'â€™am, I'â€™m not comfortable kicking
the Gaffer when he'â€™s down.
- He recruited you. - Yes, ma'â€™am.
Mm-hm.
Stuck by you when perhaps some others wouldn'â€™t have,
shagging witnesses and suspects and the like.
I sympathise with your loyalties, I really do,
but we have found 50 grand stashed in his hotel room.
So, if I were you, I wouldn'â€™t go around
professing too close a loyalty to Hastings.
Otherwise, people might just start suspecting you
of being an accessory to his offences.
"H". A senior police officer
sitting at the top of an institutionalised relationship
between organised crime
and corrupt police officers.
AC-12 failed to bring him down.
I won'â€™t.
[Door opens]
Wow.
- [Knock at door] - 50 grand?
Ma'â€™am, sarge? Can we talk, please?
Sure. What'â€™s up?
I'â€™ve been looking into Corbett's past like you asked me to.
You said it was confidential
and I couldn'â€™t share it with anyone.
- What have you found? - Er...
May I ask what'â€™s going on in here?
Yeah. A private conversation.
Didn'â€™t you hear DCS Carmichael? We need to know everything.
- It'â€™s Michelle, isn't it? - Yes.
Listen, Michelle, we'â€™re AC-12.
We do this to other units week in week out,
so don'â€™t try telling me how it works.
We'â€™re witnesses not suspects.
Now stop making a tit of yourself and piss off.
- Sorry. Go on. - Well...
It goes back to Superintendent Hastings'â€™ service
with the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
When he was a PC in the 1980s,
he was interviewed in connection
with the disappearance of Anne-Marie McGillis.
- Corbett'â€™s mum? - Yeah.
- The records aren'â€™t brilliant. - No. Never were in them days.
They'â€™ve been retained as the disappearance is unsolved.
- You'â€™ve got this on file? - Yes, sarge.
But I'â€™ve kept it security-protected.
Well done. I don'â€™t want you getting in trouble,
so you should share the file with DCS Carmichael'â€™s team.
- Yes, ma'â€™am. Thank you, ma'am. - [Kate clears her throat]
For Christ'â€™s sake, Kate.
I'â€™m just calling it as I see it, Steve.
The truth comes first.
What, we help Carmichael hammer nails in the Gaffer'â€™s coffin?
You heard Carmichael. If the Gaffer is found guilty,
I guarantee it'â€™ll be us she'â€™ll be after next.
We "must'â€™ve known Hastings was bent".
What if the Gaffer'â€™s innocent? We'â€™ll have betrayed him.
He'â€™ll come after us and we'â€™ll deserve it.
Yeah. Well, I don'â€™t know about you, Steve,
but I'â€™m not gonna sit around and wait for a kicking from anyone
when there'â€™s police work to be done.
[Outer door opens]
GUARD: Stand clear of the door.
[Door clangs, buzzer]
[Key chain jingles]
[Lock turns, door squeaks]
Corbett'â€™s murder, Hastings'â€™ arrest -
fortunately it will all be covered
by our application for Public Interest Immunity.
Nothing need ever come out.
Unless Carmichael proves a link between Hastings
and organised crime.
We have to go public with that.
There'â€™s pros and cons PR-wise.
Which makes me think we need to erm...emphasise the wording.
Wording?
Operation Pear Tree'â€™s objective
was to examine institutionalised links
between corrupt police officers and organised criminals.
Most people would prefer us spending that money
reducing response times,
putting more bobbies on the beat.
Anyway, I'â€™ll leave that with you.
Where are you going?
The inquiry into Superintendent Hastings must be above reproach.
Wouldn'â€™t hurt to make sure.
[Door closes]
[Dog barking]
- Well, this is never easy. - No.
Sorry for your loss.
KATE: We'â€™re sorry to have to ask,
but we'â€™re making further inquiries
into John'â€™s undercover operation.
I can'â€™t help you.
I'â€™m not sure I would even if I could.
I met John a few times.
He was a very brave man.
Steph, from what Merseyside Police have told us
about your reaction to the news of your husband'â€™s death...
it has made us question some of the things
you said to us when we was last here.
You'â€™re not in any trouble.
We just wanna do right by John.
- Sit down, if you like. - Thank you.
It was all an act before.
John told me that was how to play it. To...protect him.
Going back to our visit on the 10th of March...
..we asked you about John'â€™s links to Northern Ireland.
He grew up over there.
When his mum died, he was took in by his auntie.
Did John ever talk about his mum?
Yeah.
We'â€™ve got a name. Anne-Marie McGillis.
Anne-Marie, yeah.
What did John say about her?
John never said much.
To be honest, I don'â€™t know how much he ever knew.
He was... He was only a kid when it all happened.
About nine or ten.
When what happened?
The story was Anne-Marie was...was helping the police
and then the police betrayed her...
..let on she was an informant,
and that'â€™s why she got killed.
Did John ever say there was a particular officer involved?
When he was older, his auntie said
there was one that Anne-Marie had talked about,
a young fella her age.
I think he took a shine to her and...
she trusted him to look out for her.
He should'â€™ve but he didn't.
Or worse.
What do you mean, worse?
Something John said.
This copper, he was... he was married,
and there was a bit of scandal about him
spending so much time round Anne-Marie'â€™s.
Maybe it suited him for Anne-Marie to go missing.
Did John have any evidence of this?
Not as I know of.
Was there a name for this officer?
If there was, I never heard it.
Not from John.
Did John ever connect this family history
to the undercover operation he was involved in
at the time of his death?
John never told me what his jobs was about,
for me own protection... and his.
Why are you so interested in what happened
in Northern Ireland?
Is there a connection?
We don'â€™t know.
Corbett never mentioned Hastings to Steph.
He was only a kid when it happened,
maybe he never knew the name.
Still. The undercover officer recruited to investigate links
between the OCG and corrupt officers, all the way up to H,
just happens to be the son of a woman
murdered on the Gaffer'â€™s patch?
Now we know why Corbett was so convinced the Gaffer'â€™s bent.
What we don'â€™t know is if someone else knew
about Corbett'â€™s past link to the Gaffer
or if Corbett managed to put himself forward for the job.
Exactly.
Any chance of it being a coincidence?
Coincidence my arse.
I see you'â€™ve cleared everybody out.
That will save the mutual embarrassment
when I'â€™m reinstated.
DCS Carmichael had concerns about security.
AC-12 had a corrupt DI who shot his way out of here.
- You manage to get any sleep? - Not much.
[Clears her throat]
Thank you, as you were.
This heavy mob that you'â€™ve parachuted in,
they look a bit trigger-happy to me.
Our man, Police Sergeant Kyle Ferringham,
he knows this building inside out.
You will not find a safer pair of hands.
You just said it. He'â€™s your man. I'â€™ll stick with mine, thank you.
[DIR tone starts]
[DIR tone stops]
Second interview of Hastings in the presence of his solicitor
by DCS Carmichael, DI Brandyce, and PS Tranter.
You remain under caution.
As you know, you may be held for up to 24 hours
at which point you will be released
or charged with conspiracy to murder John Corbett.
Pausing interview.
PS Ferringham, on official business.
- What'â€™s going on? - Gill Biggeloe,
Senior Legal Counsel to the PCC,
attending as an official observer
to ensure correct procedures are followed.
- Why wasn'â€™t I informed? - You just were.
Thank you.
Ma'â€™am.
Hi, Ted.
[DIR tone starts again]
- [Tone stops] - Resuming interview,
now with PCC'â€™s Senior Legal Counsel observing.
- Mr Hastings... - I... I thought, ma'â€™am,
that we had agreed that I would be addressed by my rank?
Given the gravity of the charge,
I know we'â€™d both hate to be accused of special treatment.
Best we treat you like any normal, regular person
who'â€™s been accused of plotting to kill someone,
don'â€™t you agree?
When did you receive confirmation
that John Corbett had assaulted your wife?
I'â€™m sorry to probe. I know this must be extremely upsetting.
- On the 12th of March. - When on the 12th of March?
During the operation to apprehend him.
Oh. I see.
Talk about a pressure situation. My heart goes out to you.
To have that trauma at that same moment
as being in command of armed officers surrounding Corbett.
Still, and I'â€™m sorry about this,
I do need to ask you about the events that followed.
DI Brandyce.
Document 53 in your folders.
Document 53 is a copy of the report
made by the Tactical Firearms Commander
during said operation on the 12th of March.
Written on the 13th of March and received later that day
by the Strategic Firearms Commander.
Drawing your attention to page 3 of said report,
paragraph 4.
"Superintendent Hastings relayed
a Fahrenheit order to DS Arnott."
- Did you give said order? - Yes.
What'â€™s your understanding of said order?
The authority to deploy lethal force
to prevent immediate loss of life
or prevent immediate danger to the public.
Responsibility for issuing said order
lies with the Strategic Firearms Commander.
For the order to be issued by any other officer is unlawful.
Corbett had already drawn his firearm.
DS Arnott was facing an immediate threat to life.
I was concerned DS Arnott would hesitate
and Corbett would discharge his firearm.
I gave the order to save my officer'â€™s life.
In your mind, having just learned
that Corbett had tortured your wife...
..no other motivations were at work?
None.
And he was involved in the death
of one of your officers, PC Bindra.
- Yes. - You weren'â€™t vengeful
- towards Corbett? - My first concern remained,
as it should do for all police officers,
the preservation of life.
You weren'â€™t concerned with preserving Corbett'â€™s life.
I did not cause his death.
He brought it upon himself when he went rogue.
I take no pleasure in this
but the man had it coming to him in spades.
I'â€™d like to return to the remarks you made to DS Railston
following the assault on your wife.
That'â€™s Document 60 in your folders.
Document 60 is a crime report by DS Samantha Railston
detailing statements made by Edward Hastings
on the 8th of March.
Page 2, para 3: "Superintendent Hastings stated:
'â€™Whoever's responsible better start praying
he'â€™s up in front of the judge before I get my hands on him.'â€™"
What did you mean by that?
It was rhetorical.
What would you have done if, as per your statement,
you had "got" your "hands on him"?
I'â€™d have done what any police officer would have done
and arrested him for grievous bodily harm.
What any law-abiding officer would do.
I am a law-abiding officer.
And yet on the 12th of March
you ordered DS Arnott to shoot John Corbett in cold blood.
To prevent an immediate loss of life.
Later that day you visited Lee Banks,
an OCG member on remand in Blackthorn Prison.
Yeah. To harvest information on the OCG.
When DS Arnott did not deploy lethal force against Corbett,
did you take matters into your own hands and disclose to Banks
that John Corbett was an undercover police officer?
- No, I did not. - Disclosing this information
with the expectation it would be passed on to the OCG?
No!
I'â€™m sorry to labour something I know you find very upsetting
but I'â€™d like to return to
the injuries John Corbett inflicted on your wife.
- If you must. - Thank you.
The case was dealt with by the Serious Crime Unit.
Document 60 in your folders.
Drawing your attention to page 2, para 2:
"When questioned, Superintendent Hastings
denied knowledge of any significance
to the pattern of injuries sustained by the victim."
That what you said to DS Railston?
Yes.
Thank you for being truthful with us.
I can'â€™t tell you how much easier that makes everything.
Now, as part of our inquiry,
we'â€™ve been given access to your service record.
The service record is summarised in Document 2 in your folders.
The service record indicates
Edward Hastings joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1982
and served as a police constable for seven years
until his promotion to police sergeant and transfer in 1989.
I don'â€™t mean to put you on the spot
but seven years'â€™ policing in Northern Ireland in the 1980s
and you never came across injuries
that involved the wrists, knees and ankles?
Yeah, but you have to remember that my team
had only just discovered that DS Railston'â€™s Officer Commanding,
Detective Chief Superintendent Hargreaves, was corrupt,
having been an accomplice with the OCG
in their armed robbery of the Eastfield Depot.
So you'â€™re offering by way of an explanation
that you withheld information
for fear of how it would be misused by Railston?
The assault on my wife appeared to be the work of
the organised crime group we were investigating -
a threat or a warning to me
to suppress the inquiry.
I didn'â€™t want to give them the satisfaction of knowing
how upsetting I found the whole event.
So you did appreciate the significance of the injuries?
Yes, all right. Look, if you want me to state the obvious.
Yes, a resemblance to punishment and/or torture
meted out by paramilitary and/or terrorist organisations.
Indeed, so now let'â€™s turn to
your service with the Royal Ulster Constabulary
in the period 1982 to 'â€™89 inclusive.
Document 62.
PC Edward Hastings served in West Belfast.
A periodic professional assessment
submitted in the summer of 1988
by Police Sergeant Thomas Cranford
notes the following... [Clears her throat]
"Hastings appears to have
a rapport with the Catholic community
due to his own Catholic tendencies."
Are you able to tell us about your background?
Well, I'â€™d really rather not.
A Catholic in the RUC, you were in the minority.
I was, and am, a police officer.
I do not discriminate against my fellow officers
on grounds of creed
and I would appreciate the same courtesy.
Well, the Sergeant writing up
that RUC periodic professional assessment
didn'â€™t mind referring to it.
Document 62 continued,
"Hastings'â€™ family background is more complicated,
which may prove valuable in future assignments."
What did he mean by that?
- You'â€™d have to ask him. - We did.
Document 65 in your folders.
Statement by former Police Sergeant,
now retired, Thomas Cranford,
submitted to Anti-Corruption Unit 3
on the 14th of March.
"We all thought he was Protestant.
"Edward" and "Hastings"... What else is the fella going to be?
Turned out that was a sensitive subject.
His old man was a Protestant but he'â€™d married a Catholic
and when he went off, his mum brought up young Ted that way."
- Why did you leave the RUC? - Well...
The kind of talk we just heard being quoted didn'â€™t help.
In 1989, you suffered serious injuries.
On the 29th of June, 1989,
an RUC patrol vehicle drove over a pipe bomb,
causing the death of PC Patrick O'â€™Malley
and serious injury to PC Edward Hastings.
Hm, two Catholic officers targeted...
Yeah, well, it doesn'â€™t take a genius to see why
I put in for a transfer.
Or were you targeted for another reason?
I don'â€™t know what you'â€™re referring to.
I'â€™d like to examine events in the period 1988-89
and specifically a special assignment you took part in.
Do you recognise the name Anne-Marie McGillis?
For the DIR, I'â€™m showing interviewee Image 41,
an RUC file photograph of Anne-Marie McGillis.
Mr Hastings?
You'â€™re going back 30 years here. Come on.
Well, let'â€™s see if this can jog your memory.
Document 78 in your folders.
Document 78 is a report
entered into the Royal Ulster Constabulary files
on Missing Persons, dated the 23rd of May, 1989.
Anne-Marie McGillis was reported missing
on the 19th of April, 1989.
The night before, Tuesday the 18th of April,
Anne-Marie left her son with a neighbour,
informing the neighbour she was popping out
for a couple of hours to visit a friend in hospital.
Anne-Marie never returned to collect her son.
No witnesses came forward to reveal Anne-Marie'â€™s movements
on the night she disappeared.
No one known to Anne-Marie was able to identify
the family friend who was admitted into hospital.
Missing Persons concluded that this person didn'â€™t exist,
that Anne-Marie had deceived her neighbour
regarding her activities on the night she disappeared.
A number of individuals known to Anne-Marie
were interviewed in the missing persons inquiry.
One such individual was Police Constable Edward Hastings.
Do you recall these events, Mr Hastings?
Some.
What do you recall?
Well, Anne-Marie'â€™s husband
had been murdered a few years before.
Apparently he was active during the Troubles
in one of those nasty little tit-for-tat killings.
Anyway, she blamed someone higher up the chain of command
for her husband'â€™s death. You know...
She felt that he was sacrificed needlessly.
Grief, I think...
..made her turn to passing information
to the police about terrorist activities.
She was a CHIS, an informant?
Yeah.
And did you play a role in Anne-Marie serving as a CHIS?
Yeah, well, she lived on my patch. You know, in those days
it was very difficult for the RUC to enter certain areas,
to...to put it mildly,
and I think some local women
found out my mother was a Catholic and that I was too
and I think that bought a bit of trust.
You were instrumental in Anne-Marie trusting police
with information she was disclosing
- about terrorist organisations? - I helped, that'â€™s all.
Did you have meetings with Mrs McGillis?
Some.
According to the file you didn'â€™t always meet in covert locations.
You were seen entering and leaving her home.
Yes, well, you know, I'â€™d give her a hand with odd jobs.
There was no man about the house.
I'â€™m no expert in RUC covert tactics in the 1980s
but I'â€™d have thought making it appear
a young woman from a Republican community
has some kind of friendship with a police officer
is only going to invite trouble,
the sort of trouble that might get you targeted by a pipe bomb
or get your lady friend murdered.
I object to the term "lady friend".
What level of friendship was it?
What do you mean?
She was an attractive young widow.
Yes, and I was a married man!
The file says there were rumours you were conducting an affair.
Yeah, but that'â€™s what they were: rumours. Just gossip.
Drummed up by people no better than they should'â€™ve been.
Regardless, you can see how your intimacy
could'â€™ve put Anne-Marie in jeopardy.
That'â€™s not what happened!
[Sighs]
Did she meet a police officer to pass information
on the evening of Tuesday the 18th of April, 1989?
Yes.
- You? - Yes.
What happened that night?
Well, she told me that she'â€™d made up some story
about going to visit a sick friend.
She passed the information to me
and as far as I know she returned home.
Were you involved in her disappearance?
No.
As God is my witness, I was not.
According to the file,
you were the last person to see her alive.
That is an equivocation, Detective Chief Superintendent,
as well you now.
I'â€™ll rephrase.
You were the last person
to admit to police in an official statement
to seeing Anne-Marie McGillis alive.
I watched her walk down the street, turn the corner.
Anne-Marie McGillis trusted you implicitly.
Yes, I believe she did.
One theory considered by the RUC
is you exploited that to lure Anne-Marie to her death.
- Completely false. - That as a Catholic
you were susceptible to relationships with
the organisations Anne-Marie was informing on.
Look, you know, growing up back then, in the 'â€™70s,
they were everywhere, part of the culture.
This sort of organisation?
Oh, come on, no. I didn'â€™t want any part of that.
I became a police officer.
Anything familiar about their appearance?
It was a different time, different thing.
They'â€™re wearing the clothing associated with OCGs
AC-12 have been investigating for seven years or more.
There'â€™s no direct connection!
Anne-Marie McGillis'â€™s remains weren'â€™t found until 2001.
Document 72.
Document 72 is the postmortem report
on Anne-Marie McGillis.
Cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the head.
Additional gunshot wounds were detected bilaterally
on the victim'â€™s wrists, knees and ankles.
Lesions caused by haemorrhage indicate these gunshot wounds
were inflicted when the victim was still alive.
Anne-Marie McGillis was tortured
in the same pattern as that inflicted on your wife.
Well, that'â€™s how they did it back then.
But this does not necessitate a direct connection.
Her son. Did you ever meet him?
Er...
No. She always left her son with some neighbours
or a family friend.
- She never wanted him involved. - When Anne-Marie disappeared,
her son was orphaned at the age of ten.
He was taken in by Anne-Marie'â€™s sister and brother-in-law
who resided in Liverpool.
The boy was adopted and he took her surname.
Corbett.
John Corbett.
[Breathing heavily]
Corbett was Anne-Marie'â€™s wee fella?
[Sobs] Oh, no.
GILL: Would you like a break, Ted?
Yes, of course.
HASTINGS: [Strained] OK.
- Anything I can do, sir? - Just give me a minute.
[Sobs]
Mark Moffatt.
- DI Fleming. - DS Arnott.
Do you have a minute, sir?
The sir'â€™s long gone.
Mark'â€™s fine.
I don'â€™t know if you remember us from AC-12.
- Can you give us a minute? - Yeah, sure.
Water under the bridge, as far as I'â€™m concerned.
No hard feelings.
We have some questions about your commercial relationship
with Superintendent Hastings.
Well, Ted was an original investor
in a development that went south about six years back.
We got it back on track, so I offered Ted a buy-in
to try and recoup his original losses.
And did he?
Unfortunately he couldn'â€™t come up with the funds.
According to Superintendent Hastings,
you loaned him Â£50,000 off book.
[Laughing] 50?
Yeah. That'â€™s the figure we'â€™ve been given.
I don'â€™t know how Ted'â€™s got that idea.
Does the name John Corbett mean anything to you?
No. Sorry.
If that'â€™s all?
Thanks for your time.
Give Ted my best.
Well, we drew a blank on Corbett.
Well, you saw his reaction when we mentioned the 50 grand.
Something'â€™s not right. Need to find out what.
[DIR tone starts]
[Tone stops]
Resuming interview. You remain under caution.
Now let'â€™s examine in more detail
some evidence we found in your hotel room on the 14th of March.
Image 9.
You'â€™ll recall Image 9 shows item reference MB-1.
You'â€™ll recall item reference MB-1
is a brown envelope addressed to you
containing item reference MB-2.
MB-2 are banknotes in the sum of Â£50,000.
Superintendent Hastings has already given
a full and clear explanation regarding this item.
To summarise,
it was an unsolicited advance on future profits.
Superintendent Hastings
was extremely uncomfortable about the loan
and phoned Mark Moffatt to return the money.
DI Brandyce.
We took further steps to detect the source of said cash.
I told you, it came from Mark Moffatt.
DI Brandyce.
Document 40 in your folders.
Forensic analysis of banknotes MB-2
detected microscopic pollen deposits.
Pollen grains detected on MB-2
were subjected to chemical analysis.
The chemical structure of pollen grains detected on MB-2
closely resembles the chemical structure
of pollen grains detected on items of evidence
gathered during AC-12'â€™s inquiry into Operation Pear Tree.
Said evidence are item reference JLM-5
and item reference JD-5.
Image 12, Tina.
Image 12 shows
a cache of banknotes in the sum of Â£25,000
detected under floorboards at 21 Cleric Way.
Recognise the banknotes shown in the image?
- No, no, I do not. - Said banknotes were detected
at a property belonging to Vihaan Malhotra.
Image 31.
Image 31 shows item reference JD-5.
JD-5 is a cache of banknotes in the sum of Â£5,000
- detected at 17 Hazelton St. - Said banknotes were detected
at a property belonging to PS Jane Cafferty.
The similar pollen structures
detected on items JD-5, JLM-5 and MB-2
indicate a 99.5% probability
the items derive from the same original source.
I have not been bribed!
The 50 grand found in your hotel room came from the same pot
as that used to bribe Vihaan Malhotra and PS Jane Cafferty.
And according to evidence obtained by your own unit,
those individuals were in the pay
of the same organised crime group
in which John Corbett was embedded.
I do not have a connection with Malhotra or Cafferty!
- This bribe proves you do. - No.
Was it an inducement or a reward for telling Lee Banks
the identity of the undercover officer within the OCG?
I disclosed nothing to Banks.
A disclosure which brought about the murder of John Corbett.
- No. - What was Corbett onto
that you were so desperate to keep hidden?
I'â€™ll repeat the question.
What was John Corbett onto
that you were so desperate to keep hidden?
Look...
..you have fabricated a motive where none existed.
Who would want John Corbett dead?
- What do you mean? - If you didn'â€™t, who would?
Clearly any individual against whom
John Corbett might be gathering evidence,
including members of the OCG with whom he was embedded.
Were there any specific corrupt police officers targeted
- by Operation Pear Tree? - Not that I'â€™m aware of.
Hm.
Now Document 5 in your folders.
This is a copy of a document seized by AC-12
on the 23rd of February
from the offices of Operation Pear Tree.
I direct you to page 6, paragraph 6.
"It remains to be determined
if police officers of senior and/or executive rank
are actively complicit in organised criminal activities
either as individuals or as a conspiracy.
A hypothesis to be examined by the operation
is that said alleged complicity
is orchestrated by a single police officer
of senior or executive rank."
Do you recognise those words?
Yeah, yeah. I'â€™ve read the file.
There'â€™s a helluva lot of ifs and buts in there.
Page 6, paragraph 8:
"DI Matthew Cottan,
serving in Anti-Corruption Unit 12
from 2013 until his death,
recorded a dying declaration on the 18th of July, 2015."
Thank you, Tina.
KATE: Who was top dog, Dot?
You were the Caddy.
We know that.
[Sirens in distance]
- Told... - Told?
You told someone, someone very senior.
DOT: Prom...
KATE: Promotion? Someone promoted you?
Who?
Come on, Dot.
Come in, he can'â€™t talk.
Right, blink for the first two letters of his name.
A, B, C, D,
E, F, G,
H, I...
H. His name begins with H.
Right, second letter.
A, B, C, D,
- E... - That'â€™s it. Out of the way!
I'â€™ll start bagging.
Thank you, Tina.
In his dying declaration, DI Cottan declared that
the name of the senior officer
commanding the complicity with organised crime began with H.
Page 6, paragraph 8 continued,
"An investigation by AC-12
concluded in 2017
that H was Assistant Chief Constable Derek Hilton.
Hilton was found dead on the 5th of May, 2017.
However, the hypothesis must be examined
that H is an officer other than Hilton."
Recall these words?
The evidence against Hilton was overwhelming.
Clearly, if any new evidence came to light,
AC-12 would gladly investigate.
Has any other officer ever been accused of being H?
I'â€™ll repeat the question.
Has any other senior officer ever been accused of being H?
- Yes. - Who?
The accusation was a calculated falsehood
designed to sabotage a lawful anti-corruption inquiry.
Who was accused?
In an effort to sabotage an AC-12 inquiry
that was about to uncover his own offences,
Assistant Chief Constable Derek Hilton
falsely accused the Senior Investigating Officer...
in order to discredit AC-12,
discredit the inquiry
and to protect his own wrongdoing.
The SIO being who?
Myself.
To be clear, you were served with a Regulation 15 Notice.
The allegation against Superintendent Hastings
was disproved.
It wasn'â€™t disproved.
There was insufficient evidence to prove it.
I'â€™d argue they'â€™re the same thing.
They'â€™re not. They're really not.
Detective Chief Superintendent,
better to save the commentary and stick to asking questions.
Just saying.
While I'â€™ve got your attention,
I wonder if we can dig into
this search of Superintendent Hastings'â€™ hotel room.
- This has all been covered. - Not by me.
What were the grounds for the search?
Section 18 [5].
Well, why then does Document 12 in your folders,
the arresting officer'â€™s report,
refer to Section 32 as the legal power used
to carry out the search?
DI Brandyce?
The correct search form was supplied.
Afterwards, yes,
but initially it seems that the officers at the scene
of Superintendent Hastings'â€™ arrest
were under the impression
that the search was being carried out under Section 32.
You were there at that time, weren'â€™t you?
- Yes. - So under what power
did you carry out the search at the time?
There was some confusion.
I see that, DI Brandyce.
You carried out the search under Section 32.
There'â€™s even the original search form in the file.
Thank you.
As we all know,
Section 32 permits the search of a premises
the detainee was at either at the time of his arrest
or immediately prior to that arrest.
I refer to Document 13 in your folders,
the statement given by Superintendent Hastings
on the 14th of March.
Superintendent Hastings
states that he travelled from this office,
Anti-Corruption Unit 12,
to the Edge Park Hotel.
Superintendent Hastings
wasn'â€™t in his hotel room at the time of his arrest
or immediately prior.
Section 32 was the incorrect legal power.
This mistake was detected and corrected
only after the search.
Now, as items MB-1 and MB-2 submitted in evidence
were detected unlawfully,
I can'â€™t see how the cache of Â£50,000
can be used in evidence against Superintendent Hastings.
Well, that is for a court to decide.
Well, given what I'â€™ve heard,
the judge will almost certainly exclude it.
And it'â€™s the only evidence you'â€™ve got
linking Superintendent Hastings to organised crime.
[She taps a pen]
I think we'â€™ll call a temporary halt,
give my team time to examine further evidence.
Mr Hastings, you will be returned to custody
and charged or released
within 24 hours of your original arrest.
Approximately six hours.
Interview terminated.
- [She clears her throat] May I? - Yes.
Yes, of course.
Gill, I don'â€™t know what to say.
I am not gonna lie, Ted,
it is a good job that someone was paying attention.
God knows where your solicitor was during all that.
Everything is here in black and white.
I know. I don'â€™t know why I didn'â€™t see it myself.
The idea that you are corrupt is ridiculous.
Clearly, Mark Moffatt'â€™s lying about the money.
You don'â€™t have a bent bone in your body.
This'â€™ll all go away, Ted.
Trust me.
Thanks, Gill.
- Thank you. - Yeah.
DI Fleming, DS Arnott to see DSU Powell.
[Door opens]
It'â€™s fine, I've got this.
- Ma'â€™am. - Ma'â€™am.
Detective Superintendent Alison Powell
with DI Fleming, DS Arnott, AC-12.
Confirm that you grant permission for this recording.
- DI Fleming, confirmed. - DS Arnott, confirmed.
We'â€™d like to fill in some background
on how John Corbett was recruited.
How was Corbett assigned as the UCO?
John was one of a number of candidates
considered for the role.
He presented with a distinguished record
of successful operations against organised crime.
Did he come to you first, ma'â€™am? Did he volunteer?
What are you getting at, DI Fleming?
It'â€™s a straight question, ma'am.
There was a shortlist, the candidates were evaluated,
Corbett was selected as the right officer for the job.
Who selected him?
Look...
I made the recommendations on Corbett.
This was my operation.
But you can'â€™t put all of this on me.
I wasn'â€™t the only person involved.
Who else was involved in selecting Corbett?
[Device beeps]
This is off the record.
How long have we got?
Just a few hours.
We'â€™re gonna have to blue light it.
We just got the email.
I'â€™m calling for authentication.
- Thanks. CARMICHAEL: Edward Hastings?
New evidence against you has come to light.
It will be submitted in written form
and you and your solicitor will have four hours to consider it.
- What new evidence? - Great, thanks.
Pending further investigation, I will be seeking an extension
of 12 hours to your permitted custody time.
- What evidence? - Take him to the cells.
Come on, Ted, we should do as they say.
[Gate beeps]
- Thank you, Tina. - Ma'â€™am.
Looks like we'â€™ve got him, ma'am.
You nearly cost me this case.
I'â€™ll be expecting your transfer request
first thing in the morning.
[Key chain rattling]
[Door is locked, grille slams]
Mrs Corbett, we'â€™ve got a new line of inquiry.
We need your urgent help with it.
- May we come in, please? - Yeah.
- Come on. - Thanks.
[Police radio chatter]
OFFICER ON RADIO: Subject is in the building.
Repeat. Subject is in the building.
This must be awful for you, Ted.
[DIR tone starts]
[DIR tone stops]
Interview with Edward Hastings. You remain under caution.
Have you considered with your solicitor
the new documents disclosed to you?
I have.
Edward Hastings, when was the last time
you were in contact with John Corbett?
Never.
Have you ever been near enough
to make physical contact with John Corbett?
[Mutters] Never. Never.
I'â€™ll ask you again.
When were you last in physical contact with John Corbett?
I only ever saw the fella once.
It was across a very busy street
during an AC-12 surveillance operation.
Must have been 100 yards away.
As you see in the disclosure documents,
specifically Document 106 in your folders,
forensic examination of Corbett'â€™s body
has detected human hairs not belonging to him.
Said hairs were attached to follicular cells,
which permitted DNA analysis.
The DNA found in these follicular cells
matches that of a person on the police database
who is a police officer who has submitted a DNA sample
for routine elimination from crime scene contamination.
As you know from the documents disclosed to you,
the DNA deposits detected on John Corbett'â€™s body
match your elimination samples.
I'â€™ve never been within 100 yards of John Corbett.
Your DNA was found on his body. Can you explain this finding?
I can'â€™t! It must have been planted.
As a result of this evidence, I have been in consultation
with the Senior Prosecutor in the Complex Case Unit.
I did not kill Corbett!
The evidence against you is sufficient
to charge you with the murder of John Corbett.
No, I'â€™m being framed.
I'â€™ll move on to examine your motive for murdering Corbett.
I did not murder Corbett!
May I ask, given the gravity of the murder charge,
why are you continuing?
I have been tasked with investigating
the highest level of corruption between police officers
and organised crime - the highest level.
HASTINGS: I am not corrupt!
I'â€™m the one who's leading the fight against corruption!
The highest level...
is the individual codenamed "H".
Significantly, Cottan led AC-12'â€™s inquiry
into the identity of the police officer
believed to be the intermediary for organised crime,
codenamed "the Caddy".
The Caddy was identified as being Cottan himself.
Superintendent Hastings was the Senior Investigating Officer
on the inquiry into H.
I see an interesting parallel there.
No, no. There'â€™s no parallel there, I'â€™m not H.
Still, there was an allegation that you were.
Why were you reluctant to entrust the investigation
to an independent Anti-Corruption unit?
I-I wasn'â€™t.
Why did you shoot Robert Denmoor?
TRANTER: Image 76 on screen.
Image 76 shows Robert Denmoor, a violent criminal,
with known associations to organised crime.
Denmoor was incriminated in a plot
to tamper with evidence in Operation Trapdoor.
Denmoor was shot dead by Superintendent Hastings
on the ground floor of AC-12'â€™s headquarters
on the 4th of May, 2017.
Denmoor posed an immediate threat to life
and lethal force was required to stop him.
Therefore, the coroner...
recorded a finding of "lawful killing".
The official report records there were a dozen AFOs
on the scene and none of them opened fire.
According to the report, you snatched a firearm
from a wounded AFO.
Yeah, I did.
The round fired by you prevented questioning of Denmoor.
Prevented the loss of life.
Denmoor would have been a key witness
who could have confirmed Hilton as H.
- Yes. - Or excluded him.
Yes, also.
You were prepared to lose priceless evidence -
the same judgment you demonstrated on 12th March,
when you ordered DS Arnott
to deploy lethal force against John Corbett.
I told you, Corbett was armed,
he was responsible for the deaths of Maneet Bindra,
Lester Hargreaves.
I gave the order to safeguard my officer'â€™s life.
Corbett was notifying DS Arnott of a meeting
with a high-ranking nominal who could well have been H.
But Corbett was a liar!
He was playing games with all of us.
He was a decorated undercover officer
whose courageous actions brought to justice
members of organised criminal groups.
Corbett gave DS Arnott alone details of the meeting with H.
He did.
You ordered DS Arnott to disclose those details?
Damn right! I was his commanding officer, for Christ'â€™s sake!
What the hell'â€™s going on here?
At that meeting, 12th March at the Palisades Shopping Centre,
- what happened? - No meeting took place.
- Why do you think that was? - Well...
Corbett was about to be apprehended by AC-12.
I suspect he lied about the meeting at the Palisades
to secure his own escape.
Or he was telling the truth and the information was leaked to H.
We detected no evidence of a leak.
We examined your personal communications records
and found no suspicious calls.
But I do need you to account for two unexplained findings.
We'â€™ve detected activity in the vicinity of AC-12
on unregistered mobile phones,
so-called burner phones, used for illicit communications.
We'â€™ve identified a specific burner phone. Tina, thank you.
Document 92 is a call history of an unregistered mobile:
07700 900856.
The device shows clusters of activity
in the vicinity of AC-12 over the last six weeks,
also engaged in communication with other burner phones.
Cross-checking with door entry download data reveals
only one AC-12 officer was in the building on every occasion
07700 900856 was detected.
That officer was Superintendent Edward Hastings.
Is 07700 900856 your phone?
- No, it is not. - Did you dispose of the phone?
There was never a phone.
Have you ever disposed of a communications device?
Tina.
Document 24. Document 24...
shows screenshots from a laptop forensically recovered
from the Flicker nightclub used by Lisa McQueen
and John Corbett to communicate with H.
As we can see, H issued his orders via text.
I repeat. Have you ever disposed of a communications device?
- No. - PS Tranter, thank you.
As stated by DCS Carmichael,
we examined the communication history of Edward Hastings.
Document 28 in your folders
is said communication history relating to your personal mobile
and your work registered mobile telephone.
From these phones, we'â€™ve been able to harvest location data.
We detected suspicious behaviour on the 5th of March.
Location data places both phones at the Edge Park Hotel
around 1500 hours that day.
The user then switches off both phones for the rest of the day.
When location data resumes the next day, the 6th of March,
the phones are back in the Edge Park Hotel.
Why did you switch off your phones?
I um... I really don'â€™t recall.
Do you recall the significance of that date, 5th March?
Er...no.
That night the OCG carried out a robbery at the Eastfield Depot,
making away with seized goods with an estimated street value
of Â£50 million.
OK, look, I'â€™m sorry. The date must have slipped my mind.
Where were you from 1500 hours on the 5th of March?
Well, I remained...
I remained in and around the Edge Park Hotel on standby
for developments for AC-12'â€™s surveillance operation
on the Eastfield Depot.
This was a... a hugely important operation.
Wasn'â€™t it essential that you be contactable?
Well, we'â€™d established a direct line of communication
through Airwave radio.
I had direct dial access to my officers.
My own works phone was redundant.
Why didn'â€™t you attend the operation in person?
To ensure operational independence.
DI Fleming, she acted as the Tactical Firearms Commander
under an independent Strategic Firearms Commander.
The result being your whereabouts were unknown
until you made contact via an Airwave radio later that night.
That'â€™s neither here nor there.
We attempted to trace your movements on 5th March.
Tina, thank you.
Starting from a radius of 100 metres around Edge Park Hotel,
we examined CCTV and traffic cameras - Image 32.
CARMICHAEL: Who'â€™s seen in this image?
- Me. - What'â€™s the package you carry?
I'â€™m reserving comment.
We traced the taxi'â€™s journey to a drop-off point in Moss Heath.
Again, we examined CCTV cameras in a 100-metre radius.
Image 33.
CARMICHAEL: Who'â€™s seen in this image?
- Me. - And what are you doing?
We know from the recovered laptop from the nightclub
that the OCG communicated with H via online messaging.
Examination of the OCG'â€™s laptop'â€™s hard drive
revealed a sophisticated re-routing system
via various VPNs to disguise H'â€™s IP address.
And while we'â€™re still unable to determinate H'â€™s location,
we know for certain that the hard drive of the computer
would contain metadata proving it was used
to communicate with the OCG.
Evidence that he would take great pains to dispose of.
OK.
Well, we shall come back to it.
As we'â€™ve established, the night of the 5th of March
saw the OCG robbery at the Eastfield Depot.
At 2240 hours that night,
a Status Zero radio call was made by PC Kieran Bloom,
requesting urgent assistance to Farmers Lane.
How did you respond to that emergency call?
The Authorised Firearms Officers
who were giving assistance to the AC-12 surveillance
of the Eastfield Depot
were the nearest Armed Response Unit.
So, given our responsibility towards preserving life,
I authorised the AFOs to render assistance.
As a result of your actions, the OCG were able to flee Eastfield
with Â£50 million worth of seized goods.
My decision was based on saving police officers'â€™ lives.
Priceless, I would say.
H would have wanted the robbery to succeed, wouldn'â€™t he,
so that he could have shared in the proceeds?
That'â€™s hypothetical.
You went to a nightclub known to be an OCG haunt
in the hope of effecting a meeting
without independent authorisation.
Yeah, but look, you know...
they'â€™d killed Maneet, they'd murdered Lester Hargreaves,
they'â€™d held up the Eastfield Depot.
Time was running out.
You pretended to be H successfully enough
for the OCG to share with you the proceeds of the robbery.
No, I was using them to find out where the proceeds were hidden.
Who better to impersonate H than H himself?
That is not what was happening.
Like I told you, time was running out. I was desperate.
Well, it'â€™s convenient to rationalise all this
as the desperation of a failing SIO.
But before we do,
let'â€™s consider the communications made
between Corbett and you via a computer link. Tina.
Document 105 in your folders and on screen.
Document 105 is a transcript of a written message
composed by you and transmitted
on the evening of the 12th of March.
Please look at line three, which reads:
"I can definitely pull the right strings."
CARMICHAEL: Note the misspelling of "definitely".
Going back to earlier messages
believed to have been written by H.
Please look at the message transmitted on the 3rd of March.
"Eastfield Depot is definitely high risk."
Again, note the misspelling.
How closely had you studied the messages by H?
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, quite closely.
Closely enough to duplicate the misspelling of this word?
Yes.
You'â€™re the SIO on one of the biggest
Anti-Corruption operations this force has ever seen
and you have the headspace to learn to spell like H?
Yes.
Isn'â€™t it more likely that you inadvertently misspelled it?
- No. - Isn'â€™t it more likely
you made the same mistake as H because you are H?
I am not H.
Looking at another part of the impersonator message.
Line four: "I need you to bring all this to a close."
What did you mean by that?
What H meant was that the Eastfield goods were a liability
and needed to be taken out of the country quickly.
It could imply another meaning - the order to execute Corbett.
No, absolutely not!
What private material was stored on the hard drive
of the laptop computer that you erased on the 5th of March?
It'â€™s not relevant to this inquiry.
If we'â€™d been able to find H's computer, we'â€™d have proof.
You disposed of your computer because you knew
it would prove beyond all reasonable doubt you are H.
No.
Then why did you dispose of the computer?
I was looking at pornography.
Nothing illegal, nothing extreme.
I just did not want it to be found, that'â€™s all.
Nothing illegal or extreme,
but you disposed of the computer?
Look, it was private stuff.
So, you know, my wife has left me, and...
Jesus Christ.
Look, I really don'â€™t want to discuss it.
And after you entered the nightclub as part of your erm...
..unauthorised undercover operation,
you were next located where the Eastfield goods were concealed.
It was pure chance a burner phone,
inadvertently left on by an OCG member, meant you were found.
We'â€™d be forgiven for thinking you didn'â€™t want to be found.
That'â€™s simply not true!
The net was closing in, your identity was being unmasked.
You'â€™d reunited with the OCG in order to share in the profits
of the Eastfield robbery.
No, look, look...
I had risked my life and my career in order to catch them.
The two most precious things to me in the whole world,
I'â€™d laid them on the line.
Because I was so determined.
And I was so desperate that AC-12 would not fail.
One thing I keep going back to is that dying declaration
by DI Cottan - Tina.
Thank you.
Cottan, your own officer, named the top man as H.
Now, finally, there'â€™s overwhelming evidence H is you.
I'â€™m not H.
John Corbett was proving the trail led to your door.
- No. - It'â€™s why you had him murdered.
- No. - You told Arnott to shoot him.
No.
When that plan failed, you visited Lee Banks in prison
and revealed to him Corbett was an undercover police officer.
No, no.
But killing Corbett wasn'â€™t enough.
You needed to know what he had on you.
That was the biggest mistake that you made.
In the final meeting with Corbett,
before you slashed his throat
and dumped him at the breaker'â€™s yard,
one of your hairs contaminated Corbett'â€™s body.
No!
Edward Hastings...H...
I have been in consultation with the Senior Prosecutor
at the Complex Case Unit and will now go back to her,
seeking authority to charge you with the murder of John Corbett,
conspiracy to commit armed robbery,
and malfeasance in a public office.
I think it might be helpful if Mr Hastings
is given some time with his solicitor.
Fine by me.
Thank you, Tina. Well done.
Ma'â€™am.
TRANTER: Interview terminated at 2146.
Where'â€™s the AFOs?
- Kyle. - Ma'â€™am.
There was meant to be armed support
while the Gaffer was being interviewed.
Looks like it'â€™s been scaled back.
It'â€™ll be down to other operational commitments.
Always is.
OK.
GILL: You'â€™ve got to hand it to Carmichael.
There is...a lot stacking up.
And that'â€™s with setting aside
the bundle of cash in your hotel room.
Which I was about to return.
All of it?
Moffatt denies any knowledge of the money,
so nobody'â€™s put the exact sum to him,
but according to the files,
the amount required to buy into the property development
wasn'â€™t 50 grand.
It was 100.
Now, if there is another 50 grand...somewhere...
eventually someone'â€™s gonna find it.
Now, I'â€™m on your side, Ted,
but if I was on a jury,
I'â€™d say this all looks damning.
Now, I'â€™m confident I can talk the PCC
into applying political pressure
to suppress Carmichael'â€™s investigation.
Much better to blow our trumpets
about recovering the stolen goods
and neutralising the OCG.
You'â€™ll have to accept a misconduct charge
for carrying out unauthorised operations...
and resign from the Force.
No doubt, AC-12 will be disbanded.
CARMICHAEL: Thank you. Yes.
The threshold tests have been met.
- [Beep] - What'â€™s going on?
The DCS is onto the Crown Prosecutor.
Mm-hm.
- Ma'â€™am. - Ma'â€™am.
- DS Arnott. - DI Fleming.
The last thing I need right now is another knife in my back.
That was never our intention, sir.
Yeah? Funny way of showing it.
We'â€™ve been making inquiries into some of the gaps
in our understanding of Corbett'â€™s involvement
- in Operation Pear Tree. - Yeah?
Under whose orders? Hers?
No, sir. On our own.
We'â€™re just trying to find the truth.
- What'â€™s going on? - We'â€™ve gathered
further information that may be relevant to your inquiry.
- You can brief me in private. - If it'â€™s OK, ma'am,
we intend to share our findings with Superintendent Hastings
and his solicitor.
His solicitor is making calls.
Well, they'â€™ve come to talk to me
and I'â€™d like to hear what they say.
Quite right. It'â€™s up to you if you want to be in on it, or not.
KATE: Operation Pear Tree was originally authorised
following an instruction from Rohan Sindwhani,
the Police and Crime Commissioner.
Sindwhani had made an election promise
to tackle police corruption.
The specific remit of Pear Tree is to examine whether complicity
between organised crime and police officers
has been institutionalised in this force.
Detective Superintendent Alison Powell,
having no connection to Central Police,
was brought in to lead Pear Tree.
Powell identified suitable undercover officers
from outside forces and submitted their CVs
to Deputy Chief Constable Andrea Wise.
Following a consultation process,
John Corbett was selected to be the UCO.
KATE: Corbett'â€™s background was available
to be examined as part of the process.
This was before his service record
was erased from the database
and large portions of the Pear Tree files were redacted.
DSU Powell informed us that PCC Sindwhani
took no part in the selection process
but it was agreed his Senior Legal Counsel
would act on his behalf.
I don'â€™t need to remind everyone there'â€™s been controversy
surrounding undercover operations.
The PCC required assurances
that Pear Tree was legally watertight.
According to DSU Powell,
the Senior Legal Counsel strongly favoured Corbett
and was instrumental in selecting him.
Corbett had a distinguished record
handling the perils of being embedded
inside an organised crime group.
He was by far the best man for the job.
Ms Biggeloe, when did you first become aware of John Corbett?
Well, when we looked at the files
to, um...select an undercover officer.
Gill Biggeloe, you do not have to say anything
but it may harm your defence
if you do not mention when questioned
something you later rely on in court.
Anything you do say may be used in evidence.
Mm. OK.
Well, given that the DIR'â€™s off,
I'â€™d like to make my own personal recording. Any objections?
CARMICHAEL: I think we need to take a step back, actually.
Recording on.
KATE: If you could kindly bear with us, ma'â€™am.
Ms Biggeloe, did you ever meet John Corbett?
I refer you to my previous response.
- DS Arnott. - As part of our inquiry,
we interviewed Corbett'â€™s widow, Stephanie.
On the first occasion,
she confirmed Corbett'â€™s upbringing in Northern Ireland.
Following our interview with DSU Powell,
we went back to Mrs Corbett with specific questions
regarding Corbett'â€™s recruitment to Operation Pear Tree.
We managed to convince her to cooperate with our inquiry
and reveal hitherto undisclosed evidence.
Following a lawful search of the family home,
under Mrs Corbett'â€™s guidance,
we recovered items concealed by her husband.
Among the items was an audio recording
of a meeting between John Corbett and Gill Biggeloe
which took place in January 2018,
a month before the inception of Operation Pear Tree.
Well, if such a recording exists, it'â€™s inadmissible.
It'â€™s correct that if acting on official police business,
Corbett would'â€™ve required authorisation from RIPA.
Yeah, well, he wasn'â€™t acting on official police business
and I can assure you that my legal team and I
will move heaven and earth
so this particular recording will be heard in court.
Playing recording.
GILL: The RUC officer who betrayed your mother,
his name'â€™s Hastings.
Superintendent Ted Hastings.
CORBETT: What, he'â€™s a super now?
That'â€™s taking the piss. How do you know all this?
GILL: From a private investigator
who'â€™s been looking into Hastings'â€™ past.
It'â€™s all in the file, chapter and verse.
You read it and then tell me how you feel about my proposal.
CORBETT: I'â€™m in. Tell me now.
GILL: We'â€™re setting up an undercover operation
to prove he'â€™s bent.
To finally bring down the man who had your mother killed.
CORBETT: It'â€™s definitely him?
- Hastings? - Yeah.
KATE: Gill Biggeloe sought incriminating material
on Superintendent Hastings
and then used it to manipulate John Corbett
into believing Superintendent Hastings is "H".
Why, Gill?
It'â€™s complicated.
We'â€™ve got time.
Actually, you don'â€™t.
Armed TFC, guns down! Stand by!
We need to shut this building down!
- Guns down now! - Do as he says!
- TFC, now. - Received. Moving in.
- Guns down! - Hands where we can see 'â€™em!
- Hands above your head! - Who authorised this?
We detected apparent security lapses on entering the building.
The SFC authorised us to deploy firearms.
All your AFOs are being disarmed as a precaution.
This burner phone...
It isn'â€™t the same burner phone I'â€™ve been accused of owning,
by any chance, Tina, is it?
[Sighs] Tina, number.
077...00...
900856.
[Phone buzzes]
HASTINGS: Oh, yeah. There it is.
You see, Gill only ever visited me when she came to AC-12.
That'â€™s how we mistook this phone for mine.
TFC, 6-4.
Any obs on OCG?
6-4. No contacts yet. Stand by.
Looks like the cavalry'â€™s not coming.
HASTINGS: Yeah.
The last time Dot Cottan sent that message out,
he was busted out in a couple of seconds.
Looks like you'â€™re not as valuable as him -
or as valuable as you thought you were.
"As valuable" to who exactly?
Well, Gill told me that she was a defence solicitor.
You meet a lot of shady types doing that.
So you get some major piece of work...
off a serious criminal charge,
they put you on a retainer.
But these retainers come with strings attached, don'â€™t they?
But I suspect that she was enticed by the glamour.
Why frame the Gaffer?
It'â€™s always more palatable to offer up a rotten apple
than to uncover institutionalised corruption.
And as AC-12 have been a constant thorn
in the side of the OCG,
what better rotten apple than their commanding officer?
Right, Gill?
The money in the hotel room. Where did that come from?
I bet you asked some of your little criminal mates to...
slip that through to Moffatt, am I right?
There'â€™s damning DNA evidence against Superintendent Hastings.
It'â€™s hardly damning. A couple of hair follicles. Come on.
Hang on.
Don'â€™t tell me. Was that your doing, Gill?
Don'â€™t worry, Ted.
I'â€™ll spare your blushes in front of everyone.
Gill used the bathroom of my hotel room.
She must have taken some hairs out of the comb...
passed them on to the OCG and they planted them on...
Corbett'â€™s body.
Who killed Corbett?
Did you give the order?
We all know confessing to Conspiracy to Murder
will make me ineligible for immunity from prosecution.
And the institutionalised complicity
between organised crime and corrupt police officers?
Have you not been listening, love?
There'â€™s no such thing.
I'â€™m just one rotten apple.
HASTINGS: Well, never mind betraying me, Gill.
Never mind framing me. What about John Corbett?
I mean, you let him believe that he was chasing the truth.
Justice for his mother. For Christ sake, for Anne-Marie.
But instead he was chasing a lie.
You set a hare running and you sat around
as you watched the dogs rip it apart.
A tragic, senseless death.
3-7. 6-4, sit-rep?
6-4. Still no obs.
KATE: Received.
Ma'â€™am, it appears we no longer need
to defend ourselves against a threat in this building.
I suggest we make arrangements
to transport Miss Biggeloe to custody asap.
- Agreed. - I'â€™ll take care of that, ma'am.
Thank you, Tina.
Gill Biggeloe, you are under arrest
for Perverting the Course of Justice
and Misconduct in a Public Office.
Sir, I'â€™d advise you get out of the building, too.
Yeah. Thank you, Kate.
I'â€™m afraid I'm gonna have to cuff you.
Could be a trek to custody. You might want a loo break now.
Thank you.
Gonna have to come with you. I'â€™m sorry.
KATE: 3-7, 6-4.
6-4. Receiving.
We'â€™re sending down DCS Carmichael and the Gaffer.
We'â€™ll keep Gill Biggeloe up here until we can provide escort.
- 6-4. Received. - Thanks, you two.
I don'â€™t know what to say.
You'â€™re welcome, sir.
Just doing our job.
It'â€™s a damn sight more than that.
[Sighs] I could murder a cuppa.
[Whispered muttering]
Oh, God.
[She sobs]
[Toilet flushes]
Argh!
[Groaning and shrieking]
Help!
Aargh!
[Groaning]
Drop it!
Alpha-Charlie 3-7.
Request urgent cas-evac from AC-12 for two persons,
one low-velocity GSW, one knife wound.
- Gill, are you all right? - Yeah.
- Received, 3-7. - Steve?
Steve, are you all right?
I never shot anybody.
[Panting]
[Police radio chatter]
Confirm premises now secure...
[Gate beeps]
Confirm. DS Arnott'â€™s weapon has been made safe,
ready for forensics recovery.
STEVE: Think she'â€™ll talk?
KATE: She'â€™ll want to make a deal.
Too fond of the finer things to do a prison stretch.
The OCG didn'â€™t think Gill was worth saving.
But someone gave the order to stop her talking.
Who?
What is it?
MEDIC: That'â€™s it. Out of the way.
I'â€™ll start bagging. Respiratory arrest.
[Muffled speech from interview]
McQUEEN: Maybe I can stop others
from making the same mistakes.
Immunity from prosecution
and Witness Protection has been agreed.
There is one final gap we need to fill in.
How did you know John Clayton was an undercover officer,
DS John Corbett?
Didn'â€™t.
Just thought he was a rat.
How?
That leak about the meeting at the Palisades.
It could have only come from him.
How did that work?
John was told the top man wanted a meet
at the shopping centre.
We had a meeting point in one of the walkways.
It was nice and public, so if anyone spotted us,
they'â€™d think twice about trying to take us out.
No one else in the unit knew about the meet
except for me and John.
One of our blokes worked the shopping centre, in security.
He'â€™d seen the coppers waiting to ambush us.
So, we knew for certain the leak had to come from John.
What did Lee Banks reveal to you about John Corbett?
Only that there was a rat in the unit.
Hastings told Lee Banks about Corbett, I'â€™m sure of it.
She'â€™s lying to cover herself.
She knows if she admits to killing Corbett,
she forfeits immunity from prosecution.
- What does Banks say? - He'â€™s still not talking.
Then, without his testimony,
you can'â€™t prove Hastings blew Corbett'â€™s cover.
It'â€™s a dead end, Patricia. Close the case.
- Ma'â€™am, I think if I... - You had a bent officer
on your team.
Glass houses?
KATE: Which OCG members were involved
in the murder of John Corbett?
McQUEEN: A few of them. Not me.
They'â€™re all dead now.
Who inflicted the fatal knife wound
that caused John Corbett to bleed to death?
He'â€™s dead now, too.
Miroslav Minkowicz.
Are there any members of the OCG still at large?
Not that I know of.
Where I grew up, it was easy to fall in with the wrong crowd.
My mum was off her face on drink and drugs a lot of the time.
The person who made me see that there was another way,
to be a useful member of society, was a police officer.
PC Simon Bannerjee.
He'â€™s the reason why I wanted to become a police officer too.
To help people.
- Sir. - Sir.
We'â€™ve been re-examining Dot'â€™s dying declaration.
The frame it was frozen on during your interview
made me spot something we'â€™ve all missed.
Look at Dot'â€™s left hand.
Watch again.
HASTINGS: So, his fingers are tapping? So?
Dot tried to tell us something before he lost consciousness.
He couldn'â€™t speak due to the gunshot wound to his chest.
But he could move his hand.
KATE: Tap, tap, tap-tap.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Morse Code.
Dot, dot, dot, dot.
The letter "H" in Morse Code is four dots.
"H" is not an initial. It'â€™s a clue.
Four dots. Four caddies.
Four police staff in league with organised crime.
Dot...Hilton...
..Gill...
plus one more.
And they'â€™re still out there.
The Deputy Chief Constable and I are pleased to report
Operation Pear Tree has completed
a thorough investigation into institutionalised complicity
between organised criminals and corrupt police officers.
Its robust findings couldn'â€™t be clearer.
There is no institutionalised corruption in this police force.
This constabulary will work tirelessly
to root out rotten apples in its ranks.
[Music drowns speech]