THE case of the three Bolton men who successfully sued Greater Manchester Police for wrongful arrest has highlighted the weaknesses of internal police disciplinary investigations.

While those investigations rejected the men's complaints, a jury came to a very different conclusion and found that PC Gary Mitchell had set a police dog on one of the men.

Even the judge, Recorder Geoffrey Tattersall expressed concern at the discrepancy between the internal inquiry and the court case.

Many people feel uneasy about the police conducting their own investigations into complaints against them. We agree with MP David Young that an independent body should scrutinise such accusations.

We have already called for the police to apologise to the men and explain why an internal inquiry rejected their complaint.

As the judge said, the outcome of the case should be reported to the Chief Constable David Wilmot, and we think he should be the one to make a statement about it.

It is not good enough for a spokesman for GMP to say it is not force policy to comment on court cases. An explanation is needed as to how a secret police inquiry dismissed a complaint that a jury later upheld.

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