Archive News

A solicitor has been jailed for seven years having pleaded guilty to stealing £700,000 from a dead woman.

Met Police arrested Timonthy Miles, a local Hillingdon solicitor who specialised in probate and conveyance matters. Miles was charged with a total of 20 offences.

Detective Superintendent Geoff Ervine, Met Police, said:

"The custodial sentence reflects the seriousness in which such breaches of trust are considered and dealt with by the criminal justice system. Police are utilising the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover stolen assets."

The Home Office 'Stop and Search - Know Your Rights Pass It On ' campaign is launched regionally on Thursday 11 May. It aims to inform young people in black and ethnic minority communities about stop and search as a police tactic, what their rights are when they are stopped and how they can complain if they feel they have been mistreated.

John Roberts, Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) lead member on stop and search, said:

"It is in everyone's interests - police and public alike - to be clear about what happens when a police officer stops a person in the street.

"Stop and search can be a very valuable police tool to help detect and prevent crime and to keep everybody safe. But it is important to ensure that it is carried out in a professional and respectful manner, in order for it to have positive impact on all our communities.

"Police stops are one of the most contentious policing issues for many of London's black and minority ethnic communities and can damage trust and confidence in the police. Since we launched Recommendation 61 (recording all police stops) and the MPA Know Your Rights campaign in November 2004, we have worked hard with the MPS to make stops more accountable and to deal with such issues as fairness and disproportionality, thereby helping to improve police-community relations."

Work undertaken by the MPA includes

* MPA scrutiny of MPS stop and search practice, which made 55 recommendations on how practice could be improved. A progress report 'One year on' ensured that all recommendations are being progressed;

* supporting the development of local stop and search monitoring groups in each of the 32 boroughs through a Community Network and helping communities work with police to understand the importance of stop and search as an effective policing tool; and

* incorporating into police training an understanding of the impact stop and search can have on communities