Stream of new cases for major crime detectives

THE boss of a newly-expanded major crime unit in Yorkshire investigating the most serious offences says the demand on his staff in three months “shows clearly why this team has been needed for many, many years”.

Detective Superintendent Dai Malyn says North Yorkshire Police’s team of 31 officers and staff, including 12 detective constables, have been kept busy with a “stream of investigations” ranging from murders to blackmail and industrial accidents since going live in October.

Its previous major crime unit relied heavily on resources from other parts of the force, meaning officers from local safer neighbourhood and CID teams would be brought in to help when murders and other serious crimes occurred.

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Now a dedicated team set up to deal with the most serious and complex investigations, which includes trained exhibits and disclosure staff, means fewer officers are needed from elsewhere and those in the unit can develop their skills.

Within days of going live the team was called upon to investigate the murder of York estate agent Nicole Waterhouse and the attempted murder of her colleague Karen Browne, leading to a man being arrested and charged.

They have also probed a suspected malicious contamination at a leading ice cream firm, a blackmail allegation in Scarborough and the murder in August of 41-year-old Jonathan Binns.

Mr Malyn said: “I can honestly say, since we went live on October 7, it has been extremely demanding and challenging in terms of the amount of work we have taken on.

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“I am not saying that from a critical point of view at all, it just proves the demand within North Yorkshire, when you concentrate it in one area you can clearly see why this team has been needed for many, many years.”

The formation of the team, expanded for a one-off outlay of just over £100,000 and costing an extra £200,000 a year, means detectives and staff can now be sent to crime scenes much quicker to take advantage of the ‘golden hours’ after an offence when information-gathering is most important.

Mr Malyn said: “It is a far better system that allows me to control the staff, allocate them according to where the demands are and be assured we couldn’t have got them there any quicker.

“One of our aims is to convince the chief constable and the police and crime commissioner this was a worthy investment, I’m sure in the first three months they can see that.”

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He said he was left disappointed by the recent high-profile appeal for information on the case of Marsha Wray, the 38-year-old Harrogate nurse and “devoted” mother, who disappeared after waving goodbye to her young children outside school in 1997.

Despite launching a review of the case and appealing through the media in October when the new unit was launched, there has been no significant breakthrough.

He said: “I was hoping from the previous press releases and the launch that we would get more information from the public as a result of that, we haven’t to be fair.”

Anyone with information that could help a major crime unit investigation should call North Yorkshire Police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.