HOW CONVENIENT FOR TONE !!

28th August 2009

Balkwell death investigation to be reviewed following IPCC recommendation




Following recommendations by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, Essex Police have decided that an external police force should be brought in to conduct a thorough review of the investigation into the death of Lee Balkwell.

Mr Balkwell, 33, died on 18 July 2002 following an incident at Baldwins Farm in Upminster, in which he was crushed in the mechanism of a cement mixer. Mr Balkwell’s father, Les, has made a large number of complaints about how Lee’s death was investigated by Essex Police and the IPCC is conducting an independent investigation into these complaints.

The initial scoping work around that complaints investigation identified concerns about the original police investigation and, as a result, the IPCC recommended to Essex Police that they appoint an external police force to conduct a re-investigation of Lee’s death. Following discussions Essex Police have agreed to an external force review to determine whether any lines of enquiry were missed in the original Essex Police investigation.

IPCC Commissioner Rachel Cerfontyne said: Although seven years have passed since Lee’s death, Mr Balkwell’s concerns remain that the full facts behind Lee’s death have not been established. The IPCC’s ongoing investigation can only look at the specifics of Mr Balkwell’s complaints about the investigation into his son’s death. It is outside the IPCC’s remit to investigate Lee’s death as there is no allegation that it was at the hands of police officers.

Therefore, given the concerns about the original investigation, we believed it appropriate and timely to recommend to Essex Police that Lee’s death needed to be re-investigated by an external force.

Although our recommendation was for a full re-investigation, I have decided to accept a thorough review of that original investigation into Lee’s death at this stage. This review will identify whether any lines of enquiry were not followed or any evidence missed. If there were, then they would need to be investigated thoroughly.”

Ms Cerfontyne added: I hope this decision gives Mr Balkwell some comfort. It is not yet the full re-investigation that he has hoped for, but it does bring in the scrutiny of an outside force to the investigation, which is something he has been seeking for a long time. ”
-ends-

dianeh wrote:I looked up the Balkwell case a few weeks ago. It seems that the poor man was murdered but the police either didnt investigate, or are hiding something.

What I dont understand, is what Bennett has to do with this. My advice to Mr Balkwell, is sever all contact with Bennett now.

And here is the press release. NO mention of Bennett or his complaint, just about Mr Balkwell and the complaints he made, the only ones that count.

28th August 2009

Balkwell death investigation to be reviewed following IPCC recommendation




Following recommendations by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, Essex Police have decided that an external police force should be brought in to conduct a thorough review of the investigation into the death of Lee Balkwell.

Mr Balkwell, 33, died on 18 July 2002 following an incident at Baldwins Farm in Upminster, in which he was crushed in the mechanism of a cement mixer. Mr Balkwell’s father, Les, has made a large number of complaints about how Lee’s death was investigated by Essex Police and the IPCC is conducting an independent investigation into these complaints.

The initial scoping work around that complaints investigation identified concerns about the original police investigation and, as a result, the IPCC recommended to Essex Police that they appoint an external police force to conduct a re-investigation of Lee’s death. Following discussions Essex Police have agreed to an external force review to determine whether any lines of enquiry were missed in the original Essex Police investigation.

IPCC Commissioner Rachel Cerfontyne said: Although seven years have passed since Lee’s death, Mr Balkwell’s concerns remain that the full facts behind Lee’s death have not been established. The IPCC’s ongoing investigation can only look at the specifics of Mr Balkwell’s complaints about the investigation into his son’s death. It is outside the IPCC’s remit to investigate Lee’s death as there is no allegation that it was at the hands of police officers.

Therefore, given the concerns about the original investigation, we believed it appropriate and timely to recommend to Essex Police that Lee’s death needed to be re-investigated by an external force.

Although our recommendation was for a full re-investigation, I have decided to accept a thorough review of that original investigation into Lee’s death at this stage. This review will identify whether any lines of enquiry were not followed or any evidence missed. If there were, then they would need to be investigated thoroughly.”

Ms Cerfontyne added: I hope this decision gives Mr Balkwell some comfort. It is not yet the full re-investigation that he has hoped for, but it does bring in the scrutiny of an outside force to the investigation, which is something he has been seeking for a long time. ”
-ends-

So if the IPCC is doing a review of the case, what is it exactly that Bennett is up to, that requires his attention away from his forum friends. As far as I can see from reading the IPCC press release, it is nothing to do with Bennett at all.

Catkins wrote:FROM PFA via Vagues..........



I am reluctant to speak for Debbie but what I will say is that she of course took the full force of the 'Sunday Express' article portraying her to millions of readers as a 'Stalker' and of course Mike Gunnill's antics as a photographer trying to get an image of her as a 'hard cow' and then as the door-stepper of her ex-husband, no doubt hoping for a bit of 'dirt' (of course, the disappointed 'Sunday Express' couldn't find any as there is none).

O.K., she had a momentary laugh at Gunnill's expense. And the Madeleine Foundation has been attacked because of her six-word posting to that effect.

Just to make it plain once again, prompt action was taken yesterday by Debbie and myself to contact Steve and ask him to remove the offending article from our website.

I just know there will be further attempts to criticise the Madeleine Foundation on this thread by some of the many McCann-believers who are vying with each other to make critical comments and undermine the work we are doing.

However, I'll be unable to post for a while as the Independent Police Complaints Commission has just released a highly significant press release on another case I've been working on for over two years - the death of Lee Balkwell. After over 7 years of his father trying to get an outside police force to conduct an independent police force to carry out the investigation into his son's death, the I.P.C.C. has now accepted that the Essex Police investigation was 'seriously flawed' and has recommmended an outside police force to be brought in. Their press release came out this morning.

This follows my complaint to the I.P.C.C. back in November 2007 on behalf of Les Balkwell when around 23 former or current Essex Police officers, some of them of senior rank, were made the subject of over 100 complaints of misconduct and corruption. Regulation 9 cautions were issued against 18 of those officers in December.

Essex Police has now agreed in part to implement the I.P.C.C. recommendation. It's a major advance after over two years of graft on the case and there is a lot of media interest. It'll be a while before I've got time to revisit the board and respond to any more Gunnill-related complaints.


Tony Bennett
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http://madeleinefoundation.org


Just a tad convenient methinks !!!!!