Chief Magistrate Archie Warner has slammed the Police as an armchair force eager to get confessions rather than investigate crimes properly.

The former defence lawyer, who represented Justis Smith who was accused of the 1996 murder of Rebecca Middleton, says Police routinely deny suspects access to solicitors and he said this backfired on prosecutors. He said Police would deny defendants the use of a phone to call a solicitor.

Then they would deny a counsel, hired by a relative, access to a client on the grounds that the suspect couldn't have possibly have engaged the solicitor because he hadn't used the phone.

He said the practice continued despite a Supreme Court ruling that access should not be denied.

Mr. Warner told the Serious Crimes Inquiry: "In my view this is causing very, very serious repercussions, very often leading to the reason why the prosecution loses the case.

"I am satisfied from my own experience this practice is condoned by senior ranks, sometimes senior ranks participate in this practice.

"I represented Justis Smith virtually from his arrest. There was some difficulty in putting the trial in the Supreme Court. This practice was in fact the practice in the Middleton Case.

Warner attacks `armchair Police Force' He said: "Yet still in the Middleton case when I attempted to speak to Justis Smith, a 17-year-old in Police custody without formal representation, senior officers, including Chief Inspector Adams and Vic Richmond, refused to allow me to speak to Justis Smith with the excuse that he had not instructed me.'' He said: "It's in their interests to deny access to a lawyer arbitrarily because they wanted to get a statement before the suspect had access to a lawyer. It's a clear breach of the process.'' He also pointed out that there was no duty solicitor system and he said legal aid needed to be expanded to make sure arrested suspects got representation.

He said: "In most jurisdictions there is one available at short notice or one at the Police station.'' He cited an example of a mother employing him to represent an 18-year-old suspect only for Superintendent Richmond to deny him access on the grounds that the suspect didn't want to see him.

Meanwhile, Mr. Warner said Police had offered inducements to two co-accused who only ended up in Magistrates' Court for a drug offence.

He said: "There is example after example of this practice.'' Asked by Commission Chairman Stanley Moore why he didn't complain, Mr. Warner said there was no point as the root of the problem went to the top of the Police.

"What I am seeing is that there is a culture in the Police Force based on its historical development whereby investigation tactics are based largely on statements. "This Police Force is historically an armchair Police.'' He said the large foreign element in Bermuda's Police Service meant it had difficulty in carrying out investigations because of the lack of local links.

He said: "They have never had the ability to go out and investigate at grass roots so they depend very heavily on arresting people and getting confessions one way or another.'' He said it violated the basic rights of the individual. "People don't take their liberties very seriously. We can see this reflected in the routine way in how people are arrested and held and of course nothing is done about it.'' He said clear guidelines needed to be put in place to make sure suspects weren't held for long periods of time.

Mr. Warner, who was in the Bermuda Police Service between 1968 and 1973, attacked the way the Service had arrested a dozen suspects in the aftermath of the Middleton simply because they were young black men and had been in the vicinity. The Senior Magistrate also said Police were slow to disclose evidence which would help the defence and sometimes withheld it totally.

Those on remand faced tough conditions, said Mr. Warner.

He explained: "A lot of inmates will prefer a year in prison rather than a month on remand.

"`From what I am told you are severely restricted for 20 to 22 hours a day -- other categories get greater privileges.'' He said planned video conferencing whereby remand prisoners could appear before the court without making the fortnightly trip from prison was "minor compared to the things we need to be focussing on.'' The problem of Police and Police witnesses not turning up to Magistrates' Court had improved during his time on the Bench, said Mr. Warner.

But he said cases still had to be dismissed when they couldn't go ahead as scheduled to avoid a backlog.

He said: "We still do that if we are not satisfied there is a justifiable application for adjournment.'' But he added that during his time in the Service if Police officers didn't turn up for scheduled court appearances it was a disciplinary matter but now he wondered if senior officers ever heard about no-show officers.

MURDER MUR CRIME CRM