DRUGS DETECTIVE CLEARED

The first officer to stand trial at the Old Bailey since the Commissioner
of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Paul Condon, launched an anti-corruption
investigation in his force was cleared yesterday of breaking into a flat
and taking part in a plot to supply cannabis resin.

But two of his former colleagues are awaiting sentence after admitting
earlier that they burgled the flat in Silvertown, east London, and stole
80kg of cannabis resin last December.

Outside the court, retired Flying Squad detective constable Keith Green,
41, of Ilford, Essex, said he still believed in the Metropolitan Police and
did not want to criticise the force. He had denied aggravated burglary and
conspiracy to supply a class B drug.

Mr Green had served in Walthamstow, east London, between 1988 and 1993, as
had the two former colleagues, the prosecution had told the court. He had
retired on grounds of ill health in July 1996. One of the other accused -
Kevin Garner - had also retired. The third man, Terence McGuinness, had
left the Flying Squad but was stationed in the CID at Limehouse, east
London, at the time.

Garner, 38, of Brentwood and McGuinness, 40, of Hornchurch, both in Essex,
have both admitted burglary and conspiracy as well as other offences and
await sentence. They had walked into a trap set by the Complaints
Investigation Bureau when they broke into the flat.

t Four police officers, a retired detective and a solicitor appeared in
court yesterday to face charges relating to the theft of the proceeds of an
armed robbery. The five officers were serving in the Metropolitan Police's
Flying Squad in 1995 when UKP47,000 taken from a Security Express van by
robbers is said to have gone missing. All six were remanded on bail at Bow
Street magistrates' court in London.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski