Customer Reviews

A Fair Cop: The True Story of a Policeman's Struggle to Survive Prison

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was shocked at what this cop had to go through. It is so sad that he had to endure what he endured. I don't think he should have been convicted period.

Britain is supposed to have a justice system that is the envy of the world, we are supposed to have a Police service that sets the standard for policing......

This is a book that will raise many questions, some of which will worry you.

This is the story of PC Michael Bunting who was involved in a violent arrest where he was injured. Astonishingly his assailant pressed charged for assault and although he was convicted, PC Bunting was eventually charged, convicted and sentenced to spend time in prison.

In his book the author takes us through his Police service to the point of the incident and then his time in prison. The first is interesting, the second is harrowing. His service involved a variety of roles, he even managed to arrest the famous Leeds soccer player Carleton Palmer and made the national headlines. So an ordinary, hard working copper dealt a terrible blow with an apparent massive miscarriage of justice. His time in prison was obviously tough but often for the fear of what might happen bundled up with what did actually happen.

But back to those questions...

Why on earth did the Crown Prosecution Service prosecute?
Why did a fellow officer offer incorrect evidence against him?
Why was expert evidence on the injuries Bunting received (and his assailant didn't) ignored?
Why did the Judge convict on such flimsy evidence?
Where was the support from Yorkshire Police?

Sadly they don't get answered but you will have a real sense of unease, either there is something fundamentally wrong with the way the system works, or there is something here we are not being told. To me is appears that a hard working police officer was incorrectly convicted and I have to confess that worries me a lot. The law must be there to protect both coppers and criminals and in this case it failed badly.

An interesting and worrying read. I have pegged this as three stars because I would have liked to have seen more to explain why this was allowed to happen and what challenges there were. The author seems to slightly breeze over external support and campaigning with more focus on the personal impact. This was important, but there must have been more going on, but the author has chosen to focus on what happened specifically to him, rather then what else was going on.