Smoking spliffs in police car on way to prison

North Yorkshire Police found a letter written by Detective Constable Derek Dunham to Chapman which included reference to the drug being used in the car.

The letter said: “It’s exactly a week since we last parted company and I’m still chuckling about the way we parted company. Poor old..., he slept all the way home but kept giggling in his sleep as though he’d discovered a new secret late on in his life (which of course he had).

“Me, on the other hand, I just seemed to see more oncoming headlights than there actually was and they were such pretty colours!”

The circumstances of the drug usage were referred to in the formal statement of reasons prepared by the Criminal Case Review Commission when detailing how Chapman’s evidence at a murder trial had been irredeemably tainted by his favourable treatment by police officers.

It said: “North Yorkshire Police also found evidence that Mr Chapman had been permitted to use cannabis by a police officer. The source of this cannabis has not been ascertained.”

After quoting the contents of the letter, the CCRC report said Chapman confirmed the letter referred to his use of cannabis which he said had been shared with the escorting officers.

He was being returned to prison on November 25, 1996 after being held at Millgarth police station in Leeds for over six weeks as he gave evidence in the trial of his former criminal accomplice Gary Ford.

In 2006, Mr Dunham, who retired to live in Spain, met North Yorkshire Police officers investigating Chapman’s treatment.

He admitted he allowed Chapman to smoke cannabis but denied either officer had used the drug.

Mr Dunham went on to explain that the other officer in the car had been affected by the cannabis smoke in the air and had been very upset about the incident which he could not believe was happening in a vehicle in his presence.