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WalesOnline – Terrified musician targeted in armed anti-terror raid — This is a pathetic indictment of modern police work. A guy is there for 35 years. He’s 63. Someone gives the police a false tip, they go with it. Perhaps if they were out in the neighborhoods and did actual “policing” this sort of thing wouldn’t happen. Oh, wait, they have cameras for that, right?
Victor Frederick, 63, was arrested and strip-searched just yards from his home, just moments after his partner Andrea Heath and their daughter had infra-red sights trained at them and were told they would be shot if they moved.
No charges were ever brought against Mr Frederick.
Yesterday, in a press conference at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay, Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood said South Wales Police had serious questions to answer about what she believes could easily have become a Welsh version of the Jean Charles de Menezes tragedy. The innocent Brazilian was shot dead on a London tube train in 2005 by police who wrongly thought he was a terrorist.
South Wales Police last night insisted its officers had acted “in good faith based on genuine concerns”.
But Mr Frederick, who has lived in Cardiff for 35 years and is originally from St Kitts in the West Indies, told how: police confiscated apparently suspicious items, which included a video of boxer Muhammad Ali and a ceramic urn containing a traditional West Indian drink; police interpreted soundproofing equipment and wiring from his musical studio as a potential sign of illicit activity; he was followed by a police helicopter flying just above him more than two weeks after last month’s raid on his house in Holmesdale Road, Grangetown.
Speaking at yesterday’s press conference, Mr Frederick, who has previously performed with his band at the local police ball, said: “This was a really terrifying experience. I can only think that the police received a malicious call suggesting there was some kind of a bomb factory in the recording studio I use with my band, the Cougars.
“Then there was a strange incident where on the Sunday one of the other guys who uses the studio thought there had been a break-in, but found a note from the police saying they had been in the building.
Found by Robert Tinsley.
Two things obviously wrong about this article: 63 isn’t old; the Welsh don’t have guns, they have long bows.
This happens in the States when it’s a drug “bust.”
The first innocent death will be chalked up as an unfortunate accident that we should be OK with happening now and then in order to keep us safe.
Ms. Woods??
And what was in the letter?
And does Ms. woods live ANYWHERE NEAR this person?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leanne_Wood
I FOUND her..
As I have said before and I will say again, England would do Orwell proud.
Good link, ECA. Leanne Wood sounds like the UK version of Gloria Allred. (Media Whore).
I don’t think a false tip was necessary for this to happen. It was probably just a training exercise for the helicopter crew, the surveillance team, the break-in team, etc., etc., etc. As they get more helicopters and train more teams, more and more people will become training subjects.
The the cops don’t have enough work to do chasing the bad guys they start beating up on everybody.
What does this have to do with ‘gestapo’ and people wearing swastikas?