Pubdate: Tue, 02 Aug 2005
Source: Scotsman (UK)
Copyright: The Scotsman Publications Ltd 2005
Contact:  http://www.scotsman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/406
Author: Edward Black
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

DRUGS, DREGS AND THE JAGGER FILES

SIR Mick Jagger may now be a respected knight of the realm, but 35 years 
ago, when he claimed that detectives had tried to plant drugs on him, 
police were distinctly unimpressed.

Secret files released yesterday to the National Archives show that an 
internal inquiry by Scotland Yard dismissed the allegations, saying the 
Rolling Stones singer was caught up in "the world of users of dangerous drugs".

Jagger's main witnesses were described as "the dregs of society", while his 
girlfriend Marianne Faithfull - who was also caught up in the claims - was 
said to be "most unreliable".

The allegations followed a police raid on Jagger's home in London's 
fashionable Cheyne Walk in Chelsea on 28 May 1969, led by the head of the 
local drugs squad, Detective Sergeant Robin Constable.

A quantity of cannabis resin was seized by the police.

However, the allegation that Sgt Constable had tried to plant some "white 
powder" on Jagger and then demanded a AUKP1,000 bribe to drop the charges 
surfaced some weeks later when Jagger and Faithfull were filming in Australia.

In the midst of shooting the movie, Faithfull was rushed to hospital in 
Sydney with a drugs overdose after suffering hallucinations that she was 
the dead Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones. She told the Australian 
detectives who came to interview her that she "hated coppers" because of 
her recent experience at the hands of the police in Britain.

The Australian police report stated: "She elaborated on this, alleging that 
her recent arrest in England for 'possession of cannabis' was a result of a 
trumped-up charge when the chief of the Chelsea drug squad called at the 
flat she and Jagger occupied and produced some cannabis, stating that he 
would arrest them if they didn't pay him money."

The claim that Sgt Constable had tried to plant drugs and then attempted to 
solicit a bribe was to form the basis of the singer's defence when he was 
charged with cannabis possession at Marlborough Street Magistrates' Court, 
London. Jagger also went on to allege that the cannabis seized in Cheyne 
Walk had "shrunk" while in police possession from a half-pound block to 
just a third of an ounce - the inference being that it was being sold by 
corrupt officers.

Although he was found guilty and fined AUKP200 and ordered to pay 50 
guineas in costs, Scotland Yard had little option but to investigate the 
singer's claims.

Jagger enjoyed some high-profile backing from the lawyer, Michael Havers, 
who went on to become a Conservative Attorney-General, and the Labour MP 
Tom Driberg.

Nevertheless, the police distaste for the case - particularly some minor 
drug dealers Jagger and Faithfull called as witnesses - was plain from the 
outset.

"The private persons interviewed during the course of this investigation 
represent extreme ends of the scale. At one end are public figures, whilst 
at the other are the dregs of society," noted Commander Robert Huntley, who 
oversaw the inquiry.

In a statement to the police, Jagger described how Sgt Constable had 
allegedly tried to plant the "white powder" - apparently heroin - in a 
piece of folded-up paper produced from a box in the house.

"I think he put the box down and opened the folded paper. He said: 'Ah, ah, 
we won't have to look much further'," Jagger said in his statement.

"As I got to him he showed me the paper and I saw it contained some white 
powder.

"I said, 'You bastard, you planted me with heroin'."

Jagger then went on to claim that the officer had tried to solicit a bribe 
in order to drop the case.

"He said, 'Don't worry about it, Mick, we can sort it all out'. I said, 
'No, we can't'. He said, 'Come on, how much is it worth to you?'

"He seemed to want me to name a figure but I did not want to," Jagger added.

"He twice asked me how much it was worth. He then said 'a thousand', but I 
never replied. After this he said to me, 'You can have your money back if 
it doesn't work'."

However, after interviewing all those involved, the Yard's investigating 
officer, Detective Chief Inspector William Wilson, said that the claims 
came down to Jagger's word against Sgt Constable's.

The Director of Public Prosecutions then ruled no action should be taken 
against Sgt Constable to end the matter.
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