24 Hours In Police Custody series a 'time for reflection'

A senior detective has told how featuring in the 24 Hours In Police Custody television series offered a "time for reflection" on major crimes.

Det Insp Dani Bailey said she was "proud" to be part of the show that follows the work of Bedfordshire Police and neighbouring forces.

It has run since 2014 and follows the progress of criminal investigations.

Ms Bailey said watching the series gave her the chance to consider if anything could have been done "differently".

"You do worry about how you will come across and how your voice sounds and how you are going to look," she said.

"After watching it, it's a time for reflection: 'Could I have done things slightly differently, or could I have been clearer to the team?'"

Ms Bailey said she had got used to being followed by cameras.

"When you are in the thick of an incident, you soon forget they are there," she said.

"The human element and the pressures we have to deal with comes across. I'm proud to be part of it."

A woman who tried to persuade three men to murder her ex-husband will feature in the latest episode of the show on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Victoria Breeden, 39, sought "revenge" on Rob Parkes and, in a secret recording, was heard asking about the cost of making someone "disappear".

Breeden, of Black Horse Drove near Littleport, Cambridgeshire, was found guilty of three counts of soliciting murder and cleared of another after a trial in July. She was sentenced to nine years and six months.

Filming for the latest Channel 4 series started in the summer of 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

"Although it says 24 hours in police custody, it is much bigger than that," said Simon Ford, executive producer,

Following investigations can take years and make the series a "much richer experience", he said.

Former Bedfordshire Police Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, who left the force in July 2019, said: "What started as a bit of experiment has turned into a television programme that shows everybody just how normal police officers and police staff are.

"It shows it warts and all."

The force was rated "inadequate" in 2017 but Mr Boutcher said the show had " helped put the force on the map and back on its feet".

Prof John Pitts, director of a crime study centre at the University of Bedfordshire, said the show was an "eye-opener both for members of the public who have a traditional view of policing and those critics who believe that policing today has gone 'soft' on crime".

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