A team of Lancashire police officers has returned from a luxury holiday island where police chiefs say they helped investigate a string of grisly gangland killings. The Lancashire officers – a detective inspector and three detective constables from the Force Major Investigation Team (FMIT) – flew out to the Cayman Islands for.
A six-week deployment following a string of murders there. The officers were part of a team of officers from across the North West sent to help local police investigate five murders in nine days. They returned earlier this month.
Police in Grand Cayman have refused to discuss the exact details of what the officers did, but a statement from Cayman police commissioner David Baines, who is from Preston, said: “The injection of experienced detectives to an overstretched investigation team, faced with five murders simultaneously, has enabled all lines of enquiry to be progressed expeditiously, some to be eliminated quickly and others to be the focus of our attentions.”
Media on the tropical paradise have also reported the spate of killings ceased when UK officers arrived. Community leaders in Lancashire criticised the delegation when it was announced on October, saying the county was facing the loss of 550 officer posts because of major budget cutbacks. Coun Ken Hudson, who represents Preston Rural North on the city council, said: “I would have thought that, with the current situation, policing at home was more important than policing in the Cayman Islands.”
There were also criticisms that an initial delegation of senior police officers, including Merseyside Chief Constable Jon Murphy, were spotted snorkelling and sunbathing during the day as well taking a trip on Cayman police commissioner Baines’ boat.
But Cayman Island authorities said the North West officers, also including some from Cheshire, Merseyside, Cumbria and Greater Manchester, were housed in low-cost accommodation throughout their stay and flew to the island in economy class. Grand Cayman governor Duncan Taylor said: “This is a challenging time for us all and we are very fortunate to be able to draw on the assistance of professional and dedicated officers from England at such short notice.
“Costs are deliberately being kept to a minimum. “All 20 officers are staying in low-cost accommodation and all, including Mr Murphy and his colleagues, travelled economy class.” Expenses incurred by officers on the island were met by the Grand Cayman authorities. Lancashire Police said the force and the officers who were involved in the trip did not wish to comment.