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Topic: Jagger 'framed' over drugs? Return to archive
02-23-04 11:17 PM
VoodooChileInWOnderl Jagger 'framed' over drugs?
By Richard Edwards, Evening Standard
23 February 2004

Mick Jagger was at the height of his fame and king of the sex, drugs and rock'n' roll lifestyle. But when cannabis was found in a famous raid on his Chelsea flat in 1969, he was anything but blas�.

Files released today reveal that the Rolling Stones frontman believed he had been framed by a police officer who then demanded a �1,000 bribe to get him off the charges.

The papers from the Director of Public Prosecutions show a full internal inquiry was launched at Scotland Yard - but only after Jagger's partner, actress Marianne Faithfull, declared that she "hated coppers" because the couple had been set up.

The DPP file, released this month at the National Archives, recalls the controversy around the raid led by the head of the Chelsea drug squad, Detective Sergeant Robin Constable.

It shows that Jagger's allegations were taken more seriously than most because they came with the backing of a future Conservative attorney-general, Michael Havers, and the Labour MP Tom Driberg.

Mr Constable told the Met inquiry he decided to raid the home at 68 Cheyne Walk after he was phoned by " an informant" who told him there was cannabis at the house.

Jagger was outside when the detective showed the warrant to search the property. Mr Constable said Jagger immediately shouted at Faithfull: "Marianne, Marianne, don't open the door. It's the police. They're after the weed."

Officers went into the house and claimed to find some cannabis in a white Cartier box on a table in the sitting room and a large lump of hashish in a desk drawer in a first-floor room.

Jagger strongly denied the sequence of events.

He said: "I didn't say anything like 'Marianne, it's the law, they're after the weed.' I couldn't have done because someone had their hand over my mouth. I simply wouldn't have shouted that or used the word weed. It is the most archaic expression, which is never used."

Jagger alleged Mr Constable had gone straight to the Cartier box, opened it and said: "Ah, we won't have to look much further." The singer retorted: "You bastard, you ' ve planted me."

A few minutes later, Jagger claimed, the detective whispered that for �1,000 he could go free. But he ignored the offer and went to the police station, where he was charged.

That night he also phoned Mr Havers to ask his advice.

The final court case was delayed while Jagger and Faithfull were filming in Australia - where Faithfull took a drug overdose. When they got back Jagger was fined �200 for possessing cannabis. The charges against Faithfull were dismissed.

Meanwhile, the DPP studied the Scotland Yard report but concluded there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the policeman for corruption.
02-23-04 11:20 PM
VoodooChileInWOnderl On the same...


No satisfaction: Jagger's account of being framed in drug raid revealed in DPP files

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Monday February 23, 2004
The Guardian

I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled,
[You Can't Always Get What You Want, Rolling Stones, 1969]

Sir Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones may now be a group of ageing establishment rou�s whose �55m sales made them the UK's highest earning music stars last year. But newly released files from the director of public prosecutions show that Jagger once firmly believed that he had been framed by a police officer during a drug raid who then demanded a �1,000 bribe to get him off the charges.

The controversy around the May 1969 police raid, led by the head of the Chelsea drug squad, the curiously named Detective Sergeant Robin Constable, on Jagger's Cheyne Walk home was to prove typical of its time. Only a few years later senior detectives of Scotland Yard's drug squad under Detective Sergeant "Nobby" Pilcher found themselves on trial at the Old Bailey for just such corrupt practices.

The DPP file released this month at the National Archives shows that Jagger's allegations were taken more seriously than most because his came with the backing of a future Conservative attorney general, Michael Havers, and the Labour MP, Tom Driberg. But a full internal Scotland Yard inquiry was only launched after the Australian police reported that Jagger's partner, the actress Marianne Faithfull, had told them she "hated coppers" because the couple had been framed on trumped-up charges by the London police. Faithfull had been admitted to a Sydney hospital for a drug overdose while she had been in Australia with Jagger where she was supposed to co-star with him in Tony Richardson's film, Ned Kelly.

The DPP file says that Mr Constable decided to raid Jagger's Chelsea home at 48, Cheyne Walk in May 1969 after he was phoned by "an informant" who told him there was cannabis in the house. The informant also suggested they turn up at 8pm when Jagger would be leaving to go to a recording session.

Mr Constable told the Scotland Yard inquiry carried out by Detective Sergeant "Jock" Wilson, a future assistant commissioner, that he waited until Jagger got into his car before showing the warrant. He claimed the Stones lead singer shouted through an open [basement] kitchen window: "Marianne, Marianne, don't open the door. It's the police. They're after the weed."

Faithfull says she saw five or six people in plain clothes surround Jagger: "I never saw anyone shout but saw someone's hand over Mick's mouth. I assumed that he was being attacked by thugs and ran from the kitchen upstairs to the front door which I opened. At this Mick said: 'Shut the door, you silly twit, it's the police."

The officers went into the house and claimed to find some cannabis in a white Cartier box on a table in the sitting room and a large lump of hashish in a desk drawer in a room on the first floor. Mr Constable claimed that Faithfull later asked Jagger: "Have they found it?" and he replied: "Yes, don't worry. It's going to be all right." But Jagger strongly denied this version of events: "I didn't say anything like 'Marianne, it's the law, they're after the weed'. I couldn't have done that because someone had their hand over my mouth. I simply wouldn't have shouted that or used the word 'weed'. It is an almost archaic expression which is never used. I had no knowledge there was any cannabis in the house."

He said that when Mr Constable had asked where the acid was, he had picked up the Cartier box and had pulled out a folded piece of white paper, opened it and said: "Ah, we won't have to look much further." Jagger said he saw the white paper contained some white powder and said: "You bastard, you've planted me with heroin."

A few minutes later he claimed Mr Constable had told him not to worry, something could be sorted out: 'Well, you plead not guilty and she pleads guilty.' I was taken aback. He said: 'How much is it worth to you?' I didn't reply but merely shrugged my shoulders. 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.

"The conversation was being held in an undertone but not a whisper. He twice asked me how much it was worth. He then said: 'A thousand.' but I never replied. 'You can have the money back if it doesn't work. Don't tell anybody, your brief, or even Marianne, all right?' I said: 'OK'. No other person heard the conversation."

He claimed when they had all arrived at Chelsea police station the officer had also warned him that if he got a conviction he would find it difficult to go the United States again. On the way home from the police station, Jagger said to Faithfull: "You saw that big piece of hash, didn't you? Are you sure it wasn't yours?" She said she was sure. "We've been planted, haven't we?" said Mick. That night he phoned Michael Havers, who had been his counsel in his first big drug case in 1967, at 2.30am to ask his advice.

Jagger also claimed the "big piece" had mysteriously shrunk in size between the night of the raid and the subsequent appearance at Marlborough Street magistrates' court. He claimed that Mr Constable came up to him at the court and asked him if he had noticed it was no longer a quarter-pound piece. Jagger asked him who had put it there and the policeman had responded: 'To know that will cost you a big drink.'

When the Yard inquiry interviewed Mr Constable he strenously denied the allegations, saying he had been warned "that a firm calling itself 'Release' was perturbed at the number of arrests for drug offences that I was responsible for in the Chelsea area and that they were going to 'set me up' in some way to curtail my activities."

In fact Release, the drug advice charity that is still going strong, later that year published a report documenting two years worth of drug cases in which the police had planted drugs or demanded bribes. Scotland Yard threatened to raid any bookshop that stocked it.

The final court case was delayed while Jagger and Faithfull were in Australia to film Ned Kelly, but when they got back Jagger was fined �200 for possessing cannabis and made to pay 50 guineas [�52.50] costs. The charges against Faithfull were dismissed.

The DPP studied the Scotland Yard report, noted that Michael Havers had given a statement in support of Jagger but decided it came down to his word against Mr Constable's and decided there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the policeman for corruption.


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