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Article from the London Evening Standard of 19 Oct. 1998

Why did the Met let Fayed call the shots in these arrests?

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    Seventeen months ago, a complaint was made to the police's internal corruption service, the Complaints and Investigations Branch, about the involvement of one of the officers concerned.  Despite a covert surveillance operation lasting several weeks, no action has yet been taken.  Following an unexplained attack on a relative and anonymous threats, Miss da Silva fled and now lives in her native Portugal.
    Scotland Yard confirmed the arrest and that a serving officer had been informed he was officially under CIB investigation.

SANDRA LEWIS-GLASS
Mohamed Fayed's letting agent.
Miss Lewis-Glass was responsible for letting flats at Mr Fayed's 60 Park Lane apartment block and was fired on 29 September 1995 after being bugged and followed by one of Mr Macnamara's surveillance teams.  The store suspected she had disclosed information about Mr Fayed's property activities that made him vulnerable to British tax demands.
    On 3 October 1995 Mr Macnamara complained to West End Central police station claiming she had stolen two floppy disks - worth less than £1.  Police that evening sent four CID officers from London to arrest Miss Lewis-Glass at her Croydon home.  She was locked in cells until 3 am and told she had "taken bribes and stolen money from Mr Fayed".  She was released without charge the next morning, although police continued for several days to investigate her and another Fayed letting agent.  Ultimately no charges were laid.  Miss Lewis-Glass sued Fayed for wrongful dismissal, won more than £13,500 and now lives in America. 
    Scotland Yard confirmed Ms Lewis-Glass's arrest and that no further action was taken.

GRAHAM JONES
Group financial director, House of Fraser.
Dismissed after he supported Dodi Fayed's disastrous decision to buy Modena cars, a Ferrari dealership in Surrey which was later discovered to be £2 million in debt.
    On 29 January 1990, Guildford police were called by Mr Macnamara who alleged that Mr Jones had been involved in a fraud connected to the purchase of the business.
    Mr Jones was later seized at Heathrow as he boarded a flight to his native Australia.  Officers had been tipped off by Harrods which used a private detective to pinpoint his whereabouts.
    Police arrested Mr Jones and questioned him at Guildford police station.  He was released three hours later without charge following Harrods' failure to produce any evidence of fraud.  However, the next day a report appeared in a newspaper detailing his arrest.  A job offer from Qantas collapsed shortly afterwards.
    Surrey Police said the force had routinely destroyed records of the case and therefore couldn't discuss why its officers acquiesced so readily to Harrods' request to arrest Mr Jones.

HENRY PORTER
London Editor, Vanity Fair.
In the midst of a legal battle between the American magazine Vanity Fair and Mr Fayed over an article it had published alleging bugging, racism and sexual harassment of employees, Mr Porter was approached by Mr Handley-Greaves who claimed he had recently been dismissed by Harrods.  He said he wanted revenge and was offering an allegedly compromising video of Mr Fayed which, he suggested, could be used as evidence in the magazine's libel defence against Mr Fayed.
    However, Mr Handley-Greaves secretly recorded conversations with Mr Porter and Vanity Fair lawyer David Hooper.  The recordings and transcripts purporting to show Vanity Fair was trying to buy a stolen tape were sent by Harrods to the Commissioner of the City of London Police.  Mr Porter, however, had already realised it was a trap and alerted his legal team.
    City of London police made inquiries with David Hooper and the story was leaked to a Sunday newspaper.  After Mr Hooper was able to prove no negotiations had been entered into with Mr Handley-Greaves -- then, as now, employed by Mr Fayed -- no charges were ever laid.
    City of London Police said: "A complaint was received by our force on 15 October and investigated.  In the opinion of the force, no offences were committed within the jurisdiction of the City of London police and the matter passed to the Met."

EAMON COYLE
Deputy security director, Harrods.
Mr Coyle, a homosexual, resigned in March 1995 after it emerged he had failed to disclose to Harrods bosses that he had a minor conviction.  Three years later he cooperated with a television documentary highlighting Mr Fayed's sexual harassment of female employees.  Harrods called in detectives after allegedly finding a store training video that had been wiped and then supposedly used by Mr Coyle to make a private film of himself and his partner.
    In fact, the training video was incompatible with Mr Coyle's own video equipment.  The footage had been made as a memento by a lover.  Harrods had somehow acquired it and apparently superimposed the film on to the Harrods training tape. 
    Harrods complained to police after Mr Coyle refused to help the store's lawyers in legal proceedings against another employee. 
    In February this year, Scotland Yard detectives told him he was to be arrested and questioned in connection with the alleged theft of the £5 company video cassette.
    However, after he had complained to the CIB and representations were made by his lawyer, Mr Coyle was allowed to attend Chelsea police station voluntarily to give a statement.  His video camera was taken for forensic investigation.  After vigorously rebutting claims of theft, Mr Coyle has heard nothing from police for the past seven months.  His camera has not been returned.
    Scotland Yard confirmed inquiries into the allegations against Mr Coyle are still active -- seven months after he was first questioned.

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