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It’s the dark, unseen side of policing that is today under the spotlight.

Police have been paying criminals for information for as long as policing has existed.

But the practise of using informants, which rarely comes to the public’s attention, is under intense scrutiny after it was revealed that Northumbria Police paid a rapist to infiltrate the Operation Shelter grooming network.

The force’s Chief Constable defended the deployment saying the man, known only as XY, helped detectives disrupt the gang’s sex parties and protected potential victims from abuse.

But others argued having a rapist on the payroll was amoral, undermined victims’ confidence and could have put vulnerable people at risk.

Today as the debate continues, a former Northumbria detective has lifted the lid on the murky world of the Covert Human Intelligence Source, or ‘CHIS’.

Nigel Wilkinson, who worked as both an informant handler and informant controller, told ChronicleLive turning to the criminal underworld, however risky, is sometimes the only way to find the information.

He said: “As a detective I have dealt with informant led operations concerning paedophiles, terrorist and other criminals,

“There is not an area of crime where informants are not used. That is the police’s job, no one else will do it. As most informants are criminals they are often dishonest so their motivation for any piece of information is evaluated, risk assessed and analysed against other intelligence.

“That being said, policing could not be done without the use of and cooperation of informants. Often placing themselves at risk by the nature of the role.

“The use of informants in all levels of crime is an often used option when considering what can be termed ‘non-conventional’ options, for example; informants, surveillance, covert audio and video recording and interception of communications. It is daily policing.”

Newcastle Crown Court heard XY was paid almost £10,000 by Northumbria Police detectives working on the force’s Operation Shelter.

The investigation, which forms part of the wider exploitation initiative Operation Sanctuary, saw 18 people convicted for sexually exploiting vulnerable girls and women in Newcastle’s West End.

(Image: PA)

The conspiracy saw victims lured to house parties before being plied with drugs and booze then sexually abused.

Northumbria’s Chief Constable, Steve Ashman, said XY was tasked with providing intelligence about when and where the parties were taking place, so that officers could disrupt them.

And Mr Wilkinson says that he believes the controversial decision was the right thing to do.

“The police had no choice, other than to take this unpalatable choice,” he said. “The welfare, safety and security of hundreds of past and future victims was ensured. Tens of serious sex offenders were convicted.

“Generally, intelligence work is full of contentious decisions. I understand some people’s natural dislike of the police using XY, however paedophile rings tend not to advertise, so who else is going to tell the police about the identity of offenders and crime scenes; past, present and future, other than someone like him?

“The overriding principle is that the ‘welfare of the child is paramount’ which became a legal principle under the 1989 Children Act.

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“It means that the considerations which might apply to other situations should not be allowed to over-ride the right of children to be protected from harm.

“The police must do all that they can legally do to protect children. XY was an option to effectively bring this about and the terms and conditions of his use as an informant has been deemed to be legal.”

However Mr Wilkinson, a former DCI, admitted the CHIS method was fraught with risks due to the type of characters detectives are dealing with.

He said: “Some informants are volunteers often for the purposes of revenge. Others are identified by investigating officers in cases, or handlers who go through intelligence records.

“It is called ‘talent spotting’. A way of safely approaching that person is then worked out and approved by the controller. ‘Safe’ to the officers and the individual.

(Image: pixabay)

“Some informants live a ‘chaotic’ lifestyle, for example they are drug users, so they present problems to ‘do business with’. Some of course end up being arrested and going to prison.”

XY proved the relationship between informant and handler is often a difficult one.

The CHIS, who in 2002 was convicted of raping a child, fell out with his handler during the course of Operation Shelter and he now claims he was let down by Northumbria Police.

In and exclusive interview with the Mirror, XY said: “When I started I was a low class criminal. I now know everybody. They made me what I am. I am going to tell everybody. They created the perfect criminal.

“I now know when a police officer is watching me. I know what to do and how to implicate a gang. I have been programmed for six years. I’m surprised they haven’t had me shot.

“I was told I was above the law.”

Mr Wilkinson, who worked in public protection and as part of the then ‘Special Branch’ at Northumbria, explained the use of informants is now so tightly regulated the risks to police, public and the CHISs themselves are carefully managed.

“Since the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) it is only carried out by a limited number of specialists in each police force,” he said.

“The biggest change in covert policing was the law produced by RIPA which amongst other things, along with its Code of Practices, prescribes the management of risk in covert law enforcement.

“This superseded previous Home Office circulars on the subject. It stipulates that the each informer must be lawful, legitimate, proportionate and necessary, for the purpose for which this informer is used. If there is a less intrusive means of gaining the same information then that must be used.

“RIPA prescribes that the handlers will be controlled by a senior officer known as a ‘controller’, and their individual use must be authorised by an even more senior ‘authorising officer’.”

Mr Wilkinson added the risk assessments and regulation are now so stringent that large numbers of informants were no longer used by police.

“All use is subject to inspection by the Office of Surveillance Commissioners. Informants always present a risk; to themselves, to the officers, to the organisation and to the public.

“Part of the rules is that a dynamic risk assessment is carried out which is also formerly reviewed at regular intervals.

“The bureaucracy is so big it mitigates against the use of large number of informants in each dedicated informant unit. This is one of the drawbacks of the system. It is however, almost fail-safe.

“Some potential informants are viewed as too high risk to use, so are not authorised.

“Every informant has their own motivations to be an informant. It can be money, ideological, commercial, ego or the want of future leniency by a court if they are convicted of offences in the future.

“This forms part of the risk assessment and authorisation decision. Informants have been paid since the beginning of policing.”