Handler played down assault on female officer

A DETECTIVE “neglected his duty” by failing to arrest career criminal and supergrass Karl Chapman when he assaulted a female police officer he was having a relationship with.

Chapman assaulted Shirley Faulkner after he was released from prison but the supergrass’s handler, Dc John Daniels, did not make an arrest when called to deal with the incident. Investigators found the officer also minimised the severity of the attack which meant Chapman wasn’t recalled to prison.

Ms Faulkner, who had retired as a Pc in December 1998, spent time in a bed and breakfast with Chapman in August 1999 in Yarmouth after he had been released from prison on licence and he subsequently stayed at her home for around a fortnight.

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The officer, who had begun a relationship with Chapman three years earlier when he was in police custody, told the Operation Douglas inquiry that Chapman subsequently started behaving aggressively and was asked to leave.

In November,Chapman phoned to say he had crashed his car and threatened to call at Ms Faulkner’s house if she didn’t help him.

But after Ms Faulkner had driven Chapman to Wakefield Westgate station he refused to get out of the car and said he was coming back to her home.

When Ms Faulkner tried to get out and flee to a nearby pub, Chapman assaulted her, punching her in the face and kicking her body repeatedly.

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She told investigators she was “afraid” to call the police when Chapman ran off so she instead called Dc John Daniels, who had been the supergrass’s primary handler.

Ms Faulkner managed to get home but when Dc Daniels arrived Chapman was also there. The detective persuaded Chapman to leave and made perfunctory notes in his pocketbook.

The incident was reported to the Witness Support Unit which was providing a new home for Chapman as part of his agreement with West Yorkshire Police for giving evidence.

But Operation Douglas concluded: “All the evidence suggests the officer (Dc Daniels) minimised the seriousness of the assault when reporting the matter to the Witness Support Unit.

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“He failed to take positive action and arrest Chapman in accordance with force policy. The officer knew Chapman was subject to a prison licence for violent offences and must have been aware this assault could potentially lead to its revocation.

“Detective Constable Daniels neglected his duty by protecting Chapman and showing him favour by not taking positive and appropriate action.”

The Criminal Cases Review Commission report said that DC Daniels’ description of the incident as “a minor domestic quarrel in drink was inaccurate”.

It added that the incident was “symptomatic of Mr Chapman’s treatment by his police handler” and was “illustrative of a continued course of favourable treatment”.