Officers quizzed over botched Pattingham murder probe
Fourteen serving and former police officers have been interviewed again as the investigation into their part in a botched murder probe continues.
Five men were jailed for the gangland killing of drug dealer Kevin Nunes, 20, who was shot at Pattingham, near Shifnal, in 2002. Their convictions were however overturned by the Court of Appeal last year after the release of a report detailing blunders by Staffordshire Police.
The conduct of nine serving and five retired Staffordshire officers during the investigation is being probed by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Those under investigation include Staffordshire Assistant Chief Constable Jane Sawyers; Marcus Beale, Assistant Chief Constable at West Midlands Police; Northamptonshire Chief
Constable Adrian Lee and Gloucestershire Chief Constable Suzette Davenport.
Spokeswoman Annabelle McMillan said: "All 14 officers have been interviewed again in recent weeks. We are presently considering re-interviewing a small number of the officers and hope to make arrangements soon to do so. "
The IPCC probe centres on how Simeon Taylor, who claimed to have seen the killing, was dealt with, as well as "disclosure issues" prior to the trial in 2008.
Taylor's evidence was said to have been "vital" to the case because investigating officers had been met with a wall of silence.
Amateur footballer Kevin Nunes was found dead in a country lane at Pattingham after being shot five times.
The alleged gangsters, jailed for a total of 135 years for the shooting, were cleared in March last year following the revelation of a damning report into the murder probe during a Court of Appeal hearing in London.
The men jailed for Nunes' killing were Adam Joof, of Derwent Close, Willenhall, and Owen Crooks, of Wolverhampton. Also jailed were Levi Walker, of no fixed address, Antonio Christie, of Devey Drive, Great Bridge, and Michael Osbourne, of Hobgate Road, Heath Town.
They were each originally ordered to serve minimum jail terms of between 25 and 28 years.
The murder probe involved about 180 officers. A total of 1,060 statements were taken, and more than 200 pieces of information were received from the public.
