Report of the Inquiry into the circumstances of the Death of Bernard ...

that it was made at all. However, in his interview with the police in 1998 Officer Bowcock
thought that 90% of the time officers would refuse such a request. That chimes with what
the inquiry has learned about an authoritarian culture at the time. SO Nuttall said that Mr
Gray would have been entitled to stay in the cell if he wanted to. Ten years on, Officer
Bowcock agreed.
The decision to search Mr Lodge’s cell
19.6 The inquiry undertook to examine conflicts in the explanations that were given at
various times for selecting Sonny Lodge’s cell for searching. The underlying question is
whether the decision to search was legitimate or vindictive.
Conflicts in the reasons given for the search
19.7 Officer Downs told the adjudicator on 28 August 1998 that the reason for the
search was entries in Sonny Lodge’s record. He said the same to the police on 23
September 1998. At the disciplinary investigation in September 1999, Officer Downs did
not have a copy of his previous statement. He said Officer Bowcock approached him and
said that entries in the observation book made Sonny Lodge a target.
19.8 Officer Bowcock told the adjudicator there were comments in the observation
book. He told the police on 23 September 1998 that the main reason was that Sonny
Lodge had had a visit. When told there were no adverse entries in the observation book
he conceded that he must have been mistaken and that he had been in conversation
with Officer Downs. At the disciplinary investigation in September 1999, Officer Bowcock
again said he had referred to the observation book. At that point in the interview Officer
Bowcock had not been provided with a copy of his previous statement.
19.9 The observation book was important. The entries about Sonny Lodge in the G
wing observation book were those from 25 August about Ms A’s concern for his safety.
19.10 Officer Bowcock also told the police that he could see from the records that cell
G3-24 had not been searched before in the searching cycle. That was not true. Officer
Bowcock told the police that when he came to complete the search records the next day
the papers had gone. Officer Bowcock confirmed to the inquiry that entries about five
searches on the excess search sheet on the day in question were in his handwriting.
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