John Jones trial: Ex-detective denies corruption
Nov 13 2008 The Journal
A FORMER detective accused of corruption told a court he believed gangster Allan Foster had turned his back on crime after being recruited as a police informant.
John Jones said he had made a “mistake” in associating with the drug baron – who is alleged to have later gunned down David “Noddy” Rice in a South Shields car park.
But he told the jury at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday he thought 32-year-old Foster was a reformed character who had “turned over a new leaf”. The married father-of-two was attached to the Northumbria Police Crime Operations Department when he recruited Foster as a Covert Human Intelligence Source (CHIS) before passing him on to the National Crime Squad.
Prosecutors allege he was paid £2,000 a week by Foster to feed him confidential information from the police computer and keep him one step ahead of the law and that the gifts he received from him included an Armani suit presented with £2,000 stuffed into a pair of shoes.
But Jones claims he never received any cash or gifts from the career criminal to “mark his card” and steer him away from trouble.
He also denies taking cocaine and having a sexual encounter with a call-girl when he and Foster visited London’s West End in April 2006 – although he said he accepted the trip showed poor judgment on his part.
Asked under cross-examination how he thought Foster funded his lifestyle which included top-of-the-range cars despite having no visible means of support, Jones said Foster told him he was manager of an industrial cleaning company and had shares in two guesthouses in South Shields.
He said based on the information he had, he thought Foster, having been recruited as an informant in 2003, was no longer committing crime. “It was my belief he was turning over a new leaf,” he said. Jones, 48, told the jury: “I made a mistake. I thought he was finished with criminality. There was never a corrupt relationship between myself and Allan Foster.”
Jones denies misconduct in public office. Gym owner Bruce McCall, 42, of Cornelia Terrace, Seaham, County Durham, denies aiding and abetting Jones’ alleged misconduct and Class C drug offences. The trial continues today.
