Police chief attacked over pictures

The scathing attack by Bill Brereton on North Wales Police Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom's behaviour adds to the mounting pressure on him to quit.

Mr Brunstrom showed images of 40-year-old Mark Gibney, who died in 2003, to journalists on Thursday, without the family's knowledge. One showed Mr Gibney's head, still in its helmet, on a grass verge. The other showed his headless torso.

"I have very serious concerns about the use of this material," Mr Brereton told the North Wales Daily Post. "I think using such photographs without the consent or even, as I understand it, informing the families, shows a lack of judgment, a lack of respect for the dead, and a lack of common decency."

Mr Brereton, who had an acrimonious working relationship with Mr Brunstrom before he left in 2004, lost his 20-year-old daughter Jenny in a motorbike accident in 2001.

He said the parading of Mr Gibney's dead body must have been "horrible" for his family.

"If you have lost a loved-one in a horrible, hugely traumatic circumstance, you wouldn't want other people to look at that," he said. "However they are coming to terms with their grief, this can't have helped them."

Mr Gibney, of Liverpool, was not named when the photos were shown but details of his distinctive T-shirt, which bore an anti-police message, were given. The T-shirt received widespread publicity during Mr Gibney's inquest, and effectively identified him to the audience.

The force did not release the pictures for publication, and banned filming and photography when they were shown during the meeting.

Mr Brunstrom said they were shown to give journalists the context of his campaign against speeding motorists. "The images are there to make a visual impact," he said.