How a dead police officer’s phone exposed misogyny, corruption and racism
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 28 November 2022
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 2020, retired Gwent police officer Ricky Jones took his own life. Jones’s family - who he’d subjected to years of abuse - looked through his old iPhone to try to understand more about their husband and father. But it revealed things even they were not prepared for.
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Articles:
- How a dead officer’s iPhone exposes misogyny, corruption and racism in a police force
- Gwent police officers joked about Jimmy Savile and ‘sex pests’ in the force
- My life as a female firearms officer in the misogynistic police boys’ club
Guests:
- David Collins, Northern Editor, The Sunday Times.
- Hannah Al-Othman, News Reporter, The Sunday Times.
Host: David Aaronovitch.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, it's David. |
| 0:03.9 | A warning before we begin today's episode, it contains offensive language, discussion |
| 0:08.8 | of domestic and sexual abuse, racism and misogyny. |
| 0:13.3 | Also there are mentions of suicide from the beginning. |
| 0:16.2 | In short, it's an upsetting story, but an important one. |
| 0:20.2 | Oh, and some names of people in the podcast have been changed to protect their identity. |
| 0:31.0 | One day, in January 2020, shortly before midnight, a retired police officer took his own life. |
| 0:40.0 | 52-year-old Ricky Jones was a decorated copper who'd served for 26 years, most of them with |
| 0:49.0 | Gwent Police, a small force in southeast Wales. |
| 0:52.0 | He left behind a wife and three daughters, outwardly he was a highly respected member of the |
| 0:59.0 | community, but behind closed doors, he subjected his family to decades of abuse. |
| 1:06.0 | After his death, needing to understand her father's cruelty, one of his daughters unlocked |
| 1:12.2 | his old iPhone and revealed things that even the family were not prepared for. |
| 1:18.8 | Some of the times journalists, David Collins and Hannah Alothman, have been investigating |
| 1:23.1 | this story. |
| 1:25.0 | Police officers discussing amongst themselves how fellow male police officers have been |
| 1:31.0 | grooming and groping and abusing female colleagues. |
| 1:36.1 | You sort of reach a point where you think you can fail to be shocked, but then I continue |
| 1:40.5 | to be. |
| 1:45.0 | You're listening to stories of our times at the time and the Sunday times. |
| 1:47.8 | I'm David Aronovich. |
| 1:49.6 | Today, how a dead police officer's phone exposed misogyny, corruption and racism. |
... |
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