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Press Releases
Inside Out: Threats to kill – what the police knew
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The new series of Inside Out on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One East Midlands returns to examine whether a police
force should have known about a notorious crime gangs' plans to
execute a retired couple.
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The programme is broadcast on the day
the Independent Police Complaints Commission publishes the
results of a two-year inquiry into how Joan and John Stirland
were protected.
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The Stirlands were murdered as revenge for a killing carried out
by Joan Stirland's son. The couple had fled to the Lincolnshire
Coast after their home in Nottingham was blasted by gunfire in
the months before their deaths.
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Inside Out has established Nottinghamshire Police failed to pass
on crucial intelligence to Lincolnshire Police which could have
alerted it to how much danger the couple were in.
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Colin Gunn, who is serving 35 years for conspiring to kill the
Stirlands, was already the subject of Nottinghamshire Police's
most sophisticated assault on organised crime.
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Intelligence
gathered during the investigation had, the programme claims,
already established Gunn's gang of criminals were making plans to
target Joan and John Stirland.
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But Lincolnshire Police never
received the full extent of that intelligence. The programme
reveals, for the first time, what Nottinghamshire Police knew.
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Joan Stirland telephoned detectives from Nottinghamshire on the
morning of the murders to tell them a neighbour had seen a
prowler the night before.
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Inside Out also has the details of the
astonishing delays in responding to the call.
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Lincolnshire Police, who brought Gunn and two others to justice,
has released tapes of its interviews with Colin Gunn to the
programme.
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The programme will also broadcast, for the first time, tapes
Nottinghamshire police refused to release of a corrupt constable
tipping off Colin Gunn's gang about police investigations. DC
Charles Fletcher is now serving eight years in prison.
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And
viewers will hear claims by a former Nottinghamshire Police
detective that the force was close to arresting Colin Gunn at
least three years before he was eventually arrested.
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Nottinghamshire's Chief Constable, Steve Green, declined to be
interviewed for the programme.
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Inside Out, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One East Midlands, Friday 22 February 2008, 7.30pm
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Notes to Editors
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Inside Out can be viewed online at bbc.co.uk/insideout from 8.00pm on Friday 22 February.
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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Birmingham Press Office
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