Kevin Nunes: Police in clear over botched probe of Wolverhampton footballer's gangland murder

Nine officers have been told they will not face criminal prosecution, on top of five who were given the same decision in January this year.

It means none of the 14 former and service Staffordshire Police officers investigated over the handling of the 2002 killing will face prosecution.

We considered whether there is sufficient evidence to prove that any action or inaction was a deliberate attempt to pervert the course of justice or could amount to the criminal offence of misconduct in public office.

The CPS has determined there is insufficient evidence to prosecute any of the nine police officers, four remain in service while five are now retired, investigated either for attempting or conspiring to pervert the course of public justice or for criminal misconduct in a public office.

The CPS has taken the decision that whatever criticisms may be made about the conduct of the various officers, there is insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction against any of them for conspiring or attempting to pervert the course of public justice.

The officers who were investigated include Staffordshire's temporary Chief Constable Jane Sawyers and Marcus Beale, Assistant Chief Constable at West Midlands Police, as well as Northamptonshire Chief Constable Adrian Lee and Suzette Davenport, who is Gloucestershire's Chief Constable.

IPCC Commissioner Cindy Butts said: "I have noted today's CPS decision that there is insufficient evidence to prosecute any of the nine police officers investigated. The IPCC will soon be providing the appropriate police and crime commissioners and relevant forces with a report detailing our findings as to whether or not a number of serving officers have a case to answer for either misconduct or gross misconduct and should face disciplinary proceedings."

Amateur footballer Mr Nunes was found dead in a country lane in Pattingham after being shot five times in a gangland killing in 2002.

But the alleged gangsters jailed for a total of 135 years for the shooting were cleared by three senior judges at London's Court of Appeal following the revelation of a damning report into the murder probe.

A series of failings led to questions being asked about the reliability of the cases's star witness, Simeon Taylor, who claimed to have seen the killing, having driven the car which carried Mr Nunes to his death.

The Express & Star has previously revealed how:

• A detective handling Taylor was involved in an “intimate” affair with a disclosure officer

• Complaints made by Taylor concerning his treatment while in witness protection were “put on ice”

• A senior detective believed there was an “At Any Cost” culture within the force to ensure Taylor gave evidence in the case.

Michael Osbourne and Owen Crooks, both from Wolverhampton, Adam Joof, from Willenhall, Antonio Christie, from Great Bridge and Levi Walker, from Birmingham, were found guilty of murdering the 20-year-old following a trial at Leicester Crown Court in 2008.

But the men launched a collective appeal, and questions about the safety of the convictions were raised when police from Derbyshire and Leicestershire carried out an investigation into the murder inquiry.

Today, the CPS said it had carefully considered two allegations in connection with the handling of the case.

The first, was that in November 2006 Staffordshire police received a complaint from the main witness relating to a senior officer of the Sensitive Policing Unit.

But the complaint was not deemed to be relevant and even after the complaint was investigated after the trial, nothing came to light which should have been discolosed to the defence.

The CPS said today: "The Court of Appeal stated in its judgement that it was very concerned about the decision not to investigate the complaints prior to the trial and that it was quite wrong. We agreed with the Court of Appeal at the hearing and for the avoidance of doubt we still agree.

"However, having carefully considered the evidence we have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to show that any decision to delay this investigation was a deliberate attempt to pervert the course of justice."

The second matter was the failure to disclose the results of internal review of the sensitive policing unit and its handling of the main witness.

The CPS said today: "It was suggested that all or some of the nine officers may have conspired to pervert the course of justice by taking a deliberate decision not to disclose the review as it could undermine the prosecution case.

"The Court of Appeal referred to the failure as 'a very bad case of non-disclosure'.

"We agree. It is clear that from the submissions made to it, that the Court of Appeal concluded that there appeared to have been a 'decision' made not to disclose the Report of the Management Review. "However, after considering the evidence resulting from the investigation, the CPS has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to prove that a decision was taken deliberately to conceal the Review. "Rather than a conspiracy to conceal, the evidence suggested that there was an overall failure to disclose the report.

"None of the officers who could be shown to be aware of the content of the report had a clear and direct responsibility for disclosure in the murder case.

"In order for an individual to be prosecuted for perverting the course of justice there must be evidence that the individual undertook an act tending to pervert the course of justice and evidence of an intention to do so.

"We would like to make it clear that our reference to an overall failure does not imply guilt or culpable failure on the part of any individual officer and our role is strictly limited to considering criminal charges."

DCC Nick Baker from Staffordshire Police said "We welcome the decision and clarity of the legal position from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). This confirms that none of the officers affected by this investigation face any criminal proceedings. The officers affected have been informed of the outcome.

"The Independent Police Complaints Commission has confirmed their investigation is now complete and that they will be sending the final investigators report to the force and the Police and Crime Commissioner shortly. We hope to receive this as soon as possible so that we can decide in the appropriate steps to bring this matter to a final conclusion."

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: ""We acknowledge the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirming that our officer affected by this investigation will not face any criminal proceedings.

"The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has confirmed their investigation is now complete and that they will be sending the final investigator's report to the force and the Police and Crime Commissioner. Until we have the investigator's report the force is unable to make further comment."