Commentary
| Published date | 01 March 2010 |
| Date | 01 March 2010 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1350/pojo.2010.83.1.510 |
| Subject Matter | Commentary |
The
Police
Journal
COMMENTARY
The successful prosecution of Commander Ali Dezaei in Feb-
ruary 2010 at Southwark Crown Court has brought to an end the
career of a police officer whose name has, over the years, rarely
left the front pages of the national newspapers. The jury was to
take just over two hours to find him guilty of misconduct in a
public office and perverting the course of justice. Commander
Desaei had abused his position to arrest and falsify a case against
Waad al-Baghdadi, a web designer. In sentencing Desaei, the
judge was to state that he was guilty of a grave abuse of trust and
that a four-year gaol sentence was necessary to ‘send a clear
message that police officers of whatever rank were not above the
law’ (O’Neill, 2010).
The case has great significance not least because of the rank
of the officer involved. Not since 1977, with the prosecution of
former police Commanders Wallace Virgo and Kenneth Drury,
has an officer of this seniority been subject to successful prose-
cution. Moreover, in the Desaei case a further novel feature
proved to be that the investigation was undertaken by the
Independent Police Complaints Commission led by Nick Hard-
wick, who was later to describe Ali Desaei as a ‘criminal in
uniform’ and a ‘bully’. There is no doubt about the facts of the
case as many of the events surrounding Desaei’s arrest of Waad
al-Baghdadi were to be captured by CCTV cameras both inside
the restaurant where the initial confrontation occurred and on the
street where Desaei was to call for assistance and handcuff
Waad.
Desaei’s claim that he had in fact been threatened and
stabbed by the suspect was to be rejected not least because of the
evidence of the doctor called in to deal with the wounds. He was
to conclude that Desaei’s injuries were in fact self-inflicted. This,
along with the CCTV evidence and 999 recordings, supported
Waad al-Baghdadi’s version of events and was to lead the
prosecution counsel to argue that it involved the ‘wholesale
The Police Journal, Volume 83 (2010) 1
DOI: 10.1358/pojo.2010.83.1.510
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