A QUESTION IN THE HOUSE 1980

The question had been asked and the answer given.
"How many people have died in police custody since 1970?"

We knew of a few that had reached the headlines and of course Blair Peach was not in custody, just battered.

"None of my men did it" said the Chief Constable, "because they said so".

I wonder what they used the cosh for?

"Well, how many? A dozen or two..maybe?"

"Near enough" said the Minister hopefully.

"Twenty-five?" we asked.

"Well..." said the man "Two hundred and forty-five to be precise, but some from natural causes, of course".

"How many policemen have been charged with murder or GBH?" we questioned.

"Well, none actually. The Director could not find enough evidence".

"How much do you need?"

"Well, a lot really because we have to be extra sure if a policeman is charged - he knows too many ways to get out of it and he can fix his friends".

"And they say juries don't like convicting policemen".

I wonder why?

Who were these 245 people we asked.

"We don't know really and it would cost far too much to find out, and seeing that we now pay the police so much money
To stop being corrupt, we can't afford to look up our records -
That is,........... if we had any"

"After all what's 245 dead people in a decade -
All criminals with shooters, terrorists, Marxists and poofs

Served 'em right!"