If Tony Lloyd, Greater Manchester's newly installed Police and Crime Commissioner, thought Tuesday's Talk To Tony session at Swinton Civic Centre would be an easy ride he was mistaken.
As the lively and well attended meeting was coming to a close, Tony found himself bypassed as a lively exchange developed between Deputy Chief Constable Ian Hopkins and Justice4Grainger campaigner Wesley Ahmed.
Ahmed introduced himself to the 120 audience as the cousin of Anthony Grainger, who was shot dead by a member of a Greater Manchester Police Armed Response Unit last year in the Cheshire village of Culcheth (for full details click here).
A subsequent search revealed no weapons were found in the vehicle and Grainger was posthumously cleared at Manchester Crown Court of charges of conspiracy to rob. So far, no officer has been charged with the killing.
Ahmed, addressing DCC Hopkins directly, accused the police of launching a smear campaign against his dead cousin by colluding with the press in portraying Grainger as a major drug dealer and armed robber…"His criminal record shows that he has none of these offences on his record" said Ahmed.
Hopkins replied: "We are a transparent organization and the incident is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission."
Ahmed then asked why he had been banned from the GMP facebook site, to which Hopkins replied that he "personally did not agree with that decision".
The Deputy Chief Constable added that "the IPCC findings would be due in March, and the Crown Prosecution Service will decide whether charges are to be laid". He wished it would come to a swift end as "I understand the family needs closure."
Ahmed then implied that "The police shot Anthony because of the theft of a memory stick belonging to the police…That memory stick contains the names of 1100 police informers."
Much to the annoyance of the panel, in particular Chief Executive Russell Bernstein who repeatedly asked that "We move on", Wesley Ahmed continued to pursue his agenda, and demanded to know why South Yorkshire Police had executed a warrant on the Barnsley house where his five year old daughter lives, "looking for a memory stick".
"The house was raided but there was no name on the warrant" he explained "They said they were looking for shotguns, so why were the police taking the back off photograph frames if they were looking for a shotgun and cartridges?"
Russell Bernstein again intervened, asking for no more questions on the subject. However Hopkins added that he was limited in what he could say due to the IPPC investigation "but I hope the matter will conclude swiftly".
This left a fired up Ahmed saying "I will go viral with this information..."
The Justice4Grainger campaign continues its quest for answers into the death of Anthony Grainger with a rally at Piccadilly Gardens on Sunday…
Rally For Justice
Sunday 3rd March 1-3pm
Piccadilly Gardens
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