As millions of us tune into tonight’s Line of Duty finale, here’s a real Ted Hastings.
John McKeon has spent over a decade tackling dodgy detectives – just like the AC-12 chief played by Adrian Dunbar in the BBC drama.
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday People, John, who heads the anti-corruption unit at the National Crime Agency, said: “Line of Duty is like a distilled version of 13 years looking at anti-corruption.
“Someone jokingly called me the real-life Ted Hastings, which I don’t mind.
“But if I find myself saying ‘Mother of God’ more than once in a day I’ll be worried.”
John joined Merseyside Police 32 years ago and rose to the rank of Detective Inspector.
He watched as the force was mired in corruption when the deputy head of the drugs squad, Elmore “Elly” Davies, was jailed for five years in 1998 over a plot to undermine the trial of Philip Glennon Jnr, who was accused of firearms offences. Davies was convicted along with Mike Ahearne, aka Warrior from TV’s Gladiators.
And Glennon Jnr, an associate of drugs baron Curtis Warren, was convicted of having ammunition with the intent to endanger life.
John said: “As a result of that Merseyside Police became a pioneer in anti-corruption work. It always held an interest for me, because my background had always been serious and organised crime.”
In 2008 he became the deputy head of the force’s anti-corruption unit, taking the top job in 2011.
His first operation led to the conviction of PC Sayful Islam for helping to transport cannabis.
It is believed Islam was planted in Merseyside Police by an organised crime group – like Line of Duty baddie Ryan Pilkington, who was killed in a shoot-out after it emerged he was corrupt.
John, 56, also worked on the case of PC Paul Fletcher, a distinguished officer jailed for seven-and-a-half years for feeding info to criminals.
“There were significant cases where criminal groups infiltrated law enforcement,” John said.
In 2016, he took up a role as head of the NCA’s anti-corruption unit. Two years later, his team snared UK border official Simon Pellett – who was arrested by French police with ten handguns, ammunition, heroin and cocaine in October 2017.
An NCA report last year identified organised criminals as “the most significant external corruption threat to UK law enforcement”. John’s team tries to spot officers at risk of corruption, such as those with money woes – like Ted Hastings.
He said: “It’s a tiny percentage who end up corrupt. There’s a quote from a former Flying Squad detective locked up for corruption. He said, ‘I knew everything had gone wrong when a criminal described me as the jewel in his crown’.”
