Bent Coppers: The inside story of Scotland Yard's battle against police corruption [Hardcover]

'Few journalists are better qualified to write on the subject of corruption inside the Metropolitan Police than Graeme McLagan.... Mr McLagan records thefacts of those cases with exemplary care ... it is a very engaging read.' Alasdair Palmer THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH (29/6/03) Graeme McLagan wrote a story on the collapse of the Flying Squad trial in THE GUARDIAN (front page news) which also plugged the book. (28/6/03) Serial ran in THE GUARDIAN on Saturday 7 June, a full page in the news section. A news story on the book, and the formation of the 'ghost squad', ran in THE EVENING STANDARD on Tuesday 8th June. PRIVATE EYE ran a story on BENT COPPERS in its 'Books & Bookmen' section (13 June, 03) Graeme McLagan appeared on THE TODAY PROGRAMME (BBC Radio 4) in discussion with Ian Blair, the Deputy Commissioner of the Met, on Tuesday 8thJune. LBC Radio interviewed Graeme McLagan on Friday 13th June and he is appeared on the ROBERT ELMS show (BBC London Live) on Monday 23rd June. Graham McLagan did a 30 min interview on TALKSPORT Radio on Thursday 3rd July. The SIMON MAYO show (BBC Radio 5 Live) are interested in fixing up a discussion on bent coppers which will also tie-in with the current Coronation Street plot line with Curly & Emma, The Bill and the new series of The Vice.

'Graeme McLagan is in the perfect position to write this expose of dirty, thieving, filthy police scum. An experienced undercover journalist and a decent writer, he confirms in massively comprehensive and thoroughly shocking detail what most of us knew already - that you should never, ever trust a copper. Cash and drug-gobbling, fit-ups, murder involvement - it's all here. Includes photos of the scum.' ZOO magazine --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

The inside story of a secret unit that has worked under cover to expose corruption within the Metropolitan Police since the early 1990s

Shocked by the extent of corruption within its ranks, Scotland Yard set up a new anti-corruption unit in the early 1990s. Its members had to operate in conditions of unprecedented secrecy. They became known as the 'Ghost Squad'. Corrupt officers had access to the whole police computer system and anyone working undercover against them had to have a 'cover' that withstood scrutiny. Only now can the story of the 'Ghost Squad' be revealed. Award-winning BBC home affairs correspondent Graeme McLagan has followed the investigations since the beginning. He has interviewed undercover officers and many of the bent coppers they have exposed. This is the inside story of the 'Ghost Squad' and how it broke into the secret world of police corruption. Bent coppers really did believe they were untouchable: they stole cash and property, fitted-up innocent people and sold secret information to cripple court cases. Many of the bent coppers are now in jail or awaiting trial but the battle against corruption is not over. Graeme McLagan's gripping account reveals the ugly underside of London's police force and why teams from America and Australia have now come to Britain to find out how the Met is winning the battle against bent coppers.

Graeme McLagan specialises in long-term investigations for BBC news and current affairs programmes. He has been the BBC's expert on police corruption for more than twenty years, presenting three Panorama programmes on the subject as well as several major stories for Newsnight. He won the Royal Television Society prize for his scoops while covering the 'Arms for Iraq' scandal and was commended in 1998 for Bent, the second of his Panorama programmes on police corruption. He is the co-author of Mr Evil, the story of David Copeland, the neo-Nazi bomber. Born in London and still living there, Graeme McLagan is married with two grown-up children. The Newcastle Journal was his first newspaper, followed by the Daily Mail in London. He joined the BBC in 1971, becoming Home Affairs reporter and then Special Correspondent.