London - A powerful British parliamentary committee is to investigate a secret out-of-court settlement, believed to be a record £1 million, paid by the police to a ruined Manchester businessman who was the victim of a malicious crown prosecution.
Mr Kevin Taylor claimed in a High Court action that he was charged with fraud purely as a means of discrediting his friend, the former deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester, Mr John Stalker, who was conducting the official inquiry into the RUC's alleged "shoot to kill" policy at the time. The collapse of the case against Mr Taylor proved a severe embarrassment to the government at the time.
Senior police sources have confirmed that the settlement in the Taylor case was around the £1 million mark but the amount has never officially been made public. MPs will question the Manchester police chiefs at Westminster on June 30th in an attempt to end the secrecy that surrounds such out-of-court settlements.