Fishing expedition

A fishing expedition is an informal, pejorative term for a non-specific search for information, especially incriminating information. It is most frequently organized by policing authorities.

In the UK, Abu Hamza and Yaser al-Sirri,[1] Sir Cliff Richard,[2] Jim Davidson,[3] and the late Edward Heath[4] were each subjected to this tactic.

In Sir Cliff Richard's case, the police 'tipped off' the BBC that a search was imminent. A BBC helicopter filmed as five police cars arrived at the singer's home and eight officers searched the premises, 'all of it broadcast in dramatic pictures instantly sent around the world'. Sir Cliff was unaware of this, being away on holiday.[5]

Former friends of the late prime minister Edward Heath complained that Mike Veale, Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police, had mounted a 'fishing expedition' in an 'unsatisfactory and prejudicial' investigation costing £1.5 million which had turned up 'no convincing evidence' that Heath had ever sexually assaulted anyone, according to Lord Hunt of Wirral.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Richard Norton-Taylor and Ian Black "Police hold Islam cleric in 'fishing expedition'", The Guardian, 16 March 1999
  2. ↑ Geoffrey Levi and Richard Kay, "He hid himself away for two years", Daily Mail, 17 June 2016
  3. ↑ Caroline Jowett, "No further action by Jim Davidson Review", Daily Express, 18 July 2014
  4. ↑ Patrick Sawer, "Prejudicial Heath Inquiry to be referred to Police Watchdog", The Daily Telegraph, 7 October 2017
  5. ↑ Geoffrey Levi and Richard Kay, "He hid himself away for two years", Daily Mail, 17 June 2016
  6. ↑ Patrick Sawer, "Prejudicial Heath Inquiry to be referred to Police Watchdog", The Daily Telegraph, 7 October 2017
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