Michael Howard - 11 Reasons Not to Vote for Him - Reason 9

9) I BELIEVE THAT CRIMINALS SHOULD SERVE THEIR SENTENCES IN FULL.

Wrong – And hypocritical: Amazing really that someone who is supposed to be so clever (he was a lawyer you know) can have failed to see to stupidity of such a statement. I could write a load of guff about my feelings on this one, but I felt it best to leave it to the professionals, the investigative journalists who produced the following gem of information; my thanks to them for doing such an excellent job.

RECORD INVESTIGATION: PAUL FERRIS, MICHAEL HOWARD &THE DRUG BARON'S PARDON

Feb 22 2005
Tory leader in new probe on gun deal
By Richard Elias And Reg Mckay

MICHAEL Howard's political leadership is under threat from a multi-millionaire drug baron contact of former Scots gangland enforcer Paul Ferris. The Tory leader faces new questions over why he freed John Haase - a vicious gangster who poured drugs and guns on to the streets of Scotland as well as his native Liverpool.

A fresh inquiry has been launched into the scandal which saw Haase and his nephew Paul Bennett serve just 10 months of an 18 year sentence.

It was a major shock that Howard - then the self-proclaimed hardest Home Secretary in living memory - had freed two of the most dangerous criminals in Britain. The Home Office said they had been pardoned for helping to get illegal arms off the streets and providing information which helped smash a Turkish drug trafficking ring. But no one was ever arrested in the raids and within days of his release, Haase was back running his criminal empire - and claiming he had bribed his way out of jail.

Sources close to the 55-year-old allege that up to £4.5million was handed out to various people to pave the way for their release. Haase was also a close friend of Simon Bakerman, a small-time Liverpool drugs dealer, who happens to be Michael Howard's cousin. Howard was known to visit the Bakerman family regularly, especially when he went on to watch his beloved Liverpool FC. Howard has for years denied any wrong-doing. There is certainly no suggestion that Howard knew anything of Haase's alleged bribery. But now, with a new inquiry and the imminent release of Home Office records, he faces even more searching questions. Today, the Daily Record can shed fresh light on the murky deals that led to the release of Haase - and tell for the first time of how Ferris played a major role as a fixer.

Ferris spent time in Manchester after being found not guilty of the murder of gangster Arthur Thompson's son, Fatboy, in 1992. There, he hooked up with exiled Glasgow gangster Rab Carruthers, then a powerful criminal in the north-west of England. In 1993, while Haase was in jail waiting for his trial on drug trafficking, he sent a delegation to see Ferris and Carruthers. Ferris said: 'These guys said Haase and Bennett had been offered a deal. If they gave information on the whereabouts of illegal arms, they would receive a lighter sentence for the drugs. 'They wanted to know if they should go ahead with this deal. Could they trust the cops?
'Tam McGraw, The Licensee, had been playing this game in Glasgow for years. I knew for a fact the cops simply forgot about one guy's serious RTA offences. Another bloke wanted on a murder charge was allowed home from exile in Spain for one last free Christmas with his family before being lifted.

'Both deals were secured by trading arms. 'I told Haase's men that McGraw's trick was to buy these arms from dealers. These were guns that never had been, or would ever be, used in crime. 'It was a kind of double con but nobody cared. The dealers got paid,the accused got a deal and the cops looked good. Everyone won. 'During one gun amnesty, a senior Strathclyde police officer was on TV proudly presenting all the arms they had taken off the street. 'Pride of place was a Kalashnikov. When have you heard of a Kalashnikov being used in Scotland? Apart from that guy Noel Ruddle taking a maddie and shooting folk a few years ago? 'That gun and a stack of others had simply been traded and the players kept their shooters.'

Official documents show Haase and Bennett did give tip-offs leading to the recovery of a huge amount of arms including Kalashnikov assault weapons, Armalite rifles, Thompson machine guns, Uzi sub-machine guns, 80 new shotguns, ammunition and a massive load of Semtex explosive.

Sometimes the cops described the finds as 'major arm stores of the IRA'. But we now know Haase's gang planted the arsenals in various locations around the north-west of England. Customs also gave the pair credit for the recovery of large amounts of ecstasy and cannabis and the location of a heroin factory. Haase gave information on a handgun that had been smuggled into Strangeways prison in Manchester as part of an alleged breakout plan. At that time, Strangeways housed several IRA terrorists. Yet not one individual was arrested in connection with any of these tip-offs.

In 1996, Haase and Bennett were found guilty of smuggling £18million of heroin into Britain from Turkey. However, before they were sentenced, counsel for the two men approached trial judge David Lynch. They supplied him with reports from Customs, the National Criminal Intelligence Service, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service. All the agencies claimed both Haase and Bennett had co-operated following their arrests and asked that they be given a reduced sentence. Customs' case was put forward by Paul Cooke who was also Haase and Bennett's handler. Some of Cooke's colleagues were deeply unhappy at his actions. Still, Judge Lynch gave the pair 18 years, a light sentence given the amount of drugs involved. Afterwards, he wrote to then Home Secretary, Michael Howard, suggesting he may 'exercise the Royal Prerogative of mercy' for their help.

Different from a Royal Pardon - an acceptance that someone has been unjustly convicted - the Royal Prerogative is meant to be used for guilty, convicted men who have acted with great bravery on behalf of the state. Granting the Royal Prerogative is entirely in the Home Secretary's power. Howard agreed and less than a year after their conviction, Haase and Bennett were freed. But instead of disappearing, Haase continued to run the criminal empire he had built up through extreme violence.

A well-known Liverpool gangster said of that time: 'Haase had just had the luckiest of breaks and escaped going to jail till he was an OAP. You'd think he would have kept a low profile. 'Yet the day after he got out of the nick, he was peddling smack openly. It was as if he thought he was immune to prosecution, licensed to commit crime. 'When the cops didn't lift him, I started to believe his boasts that he had bribed a lot of powerful people.'

Local MP Peter Kilfoyle, in whose Liverpool Walton constituency the drugs had been found, was outraged by Haase and Bennett's release and immediately started asking questions. The night before he was due to raise the matter in the House of Commons for the first time, he received a phone call from Howard.

Kilfoyle said: 'Howard asked me not to raise the issue because lives were at stake. 'We might have been in opposition but he was the Home Secretary. Thinking he meant our police or Customs officers were at risk, I withdrew the question. Now I'm wondering if it was Haase and Bennett he meant were at risk.'

But Haase couldn't stay out of jail forever. Five years after his release, a 46year-old from Dumbarton, Walter Kirkwood, was stopped by the cops in a hire car as he sped north from Merseyside. In the car, police found a bag holding an Uzi machine pistol, a Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum revolver, 170 rounds of banned 9mm ammunition and 49 rounds of .38 illegal dum-dum bullets. That deadly cargo had been bound for the streets of Glasgow - and Kirkwood had been paid a mere£400 for the job by Haase.

At the start of his trial,Hasse roared at the judge: 'You can't try me. Only the Prime Minister can try me.' Haase's protests were to no avail. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Kilfoyle never stopped campaigning for the truth, asking questions in parliament of the Paymaster General, the ultimate head of Customs and Excise. In March 2001, he said in the House of Commons:

'It is my belief that Haase and Bennett set up the arms caches in Liverpool and the smuggling of a gun into the prison. 'I ask the Paymaster General whether her department, for example, has interviewed Paul Ferris about Haase and Bennett's attempts at weapons purchases?' Kilfoyle went on: 'In Liverpool, it was generally thought that the gun caches that were given up to Customs were an insurance policy for Haase and Bennett. 'There is deep concern that Customs and Excise have been gravely misled by two practiced liars.'

Kilfoyle believes he has never received satisfactory answers - and is still asking questions on the subject three years later. Referring to Haase's claims that he bribed his way out of prison, Kilfoyle added:

'I should also put it on record that one name that is always mentioned in this context is that of a local criminal, Simon Bakerman, a man who has done time for drug-related offences. 'The allegation is repeated time after time and it merits somebody, looking into what, after all, would be a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. 'I repeat - was Paul Ferris interviewed about the gun purchases of Haase and Bennett?'

Last night, Ferris said: 'I've never been interviewed about this matter. 'But if there is to be an investigation, let's hope it's truly independent and not another case of cops covering up for cops.'
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur has been ordered to investigate the affair. He will re-interview all the main players, including Cooke. But this time, Simon Bakerman will be called to give his version of events. Kilfoyle added:

'It is important for the public to understand the consequences of the decision to release these gangsters, when the man who made it is asking them to vote him into the highest political office. 'It showed great incompetence. I welcome the police investigation but it will be difficult for the people of Liverpool to forgive Michael Howard or his disastrous decision that led to the city being further swamped with drugs and guns.'

A Scottish police officer added: 'The load of guns and bullets Haase was sending to Glasgow was lethal. It wasn't the first consignment of guns he had sent up here. We have little to thank Michael Howard for in granting that evil man the Royal Prerogative.'

A spokesman for Howard's office said: 'This is a matter for the Metropolitan Police but all the procedures were followed. 'He has nothing to hide and the papers will show that.'

Ends

I would say it shows a level of incompetence, bad judgement and possible nepotism in a Home Secretary who, by the very dint of his office, should have known better, wouldn’t you?

Apologies to all my readers.......

So sorry not to have kept you all enthralled with my regular writings. I've been away on tour with a production of Romeo and Juliet (don't think Shakespeare, OK?) and have just returned ready to continue with my regular notes about life and the good old U-of-K (is there an anagram to be had here?) . Reason 9 for not voting for Michael Howard and a further installement of "The Making of Demcracy" will follow shortly (bet you can all hardly wait). Until then, try and be patient and read something of worth to keep your mind limbered up for my next offering.............Love and hugs. Doris.