A Merseyside Police chief inspector owed thousands to an allegedly crooked property developer at the centre of a major criminal investigation, a misconduct panel heard.
Chief Inspector Stephen Rice, a 24 year veteran of the force, had a significant side business as a landlord and boasted a portfolio of properties across Merseyside worth in excess of £2.5m.
Although he is not accused of any involvement in criminal offences, and denies wrongdoing, the senior officer is alleged to have lied about regularly contacting the prime suspect in an Economic Crime Team probe called Operation Benadir, investigating allegations of large-scale property fraud.
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That developer, who can only be referred to as "Mr A" due to legal reasons, was described in a force intelligence database as a “long-standing associate” of Desmond ‘Dessie’ Bayliss, a local actor turned drug dealer who starred in the cult Liverpool gangland film Shooters, a fact the officer became aware of.
Chief Insp. Rice bought rental properties worth a total of more than £2m from Mr A between 2012 and 2016 after a sit-down between the pair in a Costa Coffee café on Old Hall Street in the city centre. Those transactions involved Mr A handing him "significant" interest free loans to cover the deposits, and Chief Insp. Rice obtaining commercial mortgages to cover the rest of the purchase price.
A public misconduct hearing before an independent panel, presided over by Legally Qualified Chair (LQC) Callum Cowx, began at Merseyside Police HQ in Cazenau Street on Tuesday to determine if the officer breached professional standards of behaviour on multiple occasions. If the panel rules that Chief Insp. Rice is guilty of gross misconduct, he could face immediate dismissal, and be barred from holding any policing job in future.
Barrister James Berry, representing Merseyside Police, outlined an extraordinary set of allegations against Chief Insp. Rice, mostly relating to his years-long business relationship with Mr A and two other men; a financial advisor referred to as "Mr B" and a solicitor referred to as "Mr C" who also worked on the property deals.
The panel heard:
Chief Insp. Rice allegedly continued regular contact with Mr A almost three years after learning he was a suspect in Operation Benadir, even asking him for a £10,000 loan to cover legal costs in that time.
Chief Insp. Rice allegedly used the force intelligence database to snoop on Desmond Bayliss and a man called Jordan O'Rourke, the then boyfriend of Mr Bayliss's daughter, without any "proper policing purpose".
Chief Insp. Rice was told by a woman, referred to as "Ms D", that the solicitor used in some of the property deals, Mr C, "was running with the Ungis now", a reference to a "prominent organised crime group", but allegedly lied to investigators about who she was referring to.
After a leak from one of Chief Insp. Rice's rental flats caused damage to a shop below, he discussed the issue with a man connected to the shop called Craig Wright, despite allegedly knowing Mr Wright was in prison and speaking on an illicit mobile phone.
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In an unrelated accusation, in 2015 Chief Insp. Rice allegedly paid £3,300 to a company called UK Essays to write a dissertation in his name so he could pass a Masters degree in Police Leadership at Liverpool Hope University.
Chief Inspector Stephen Rice of Merseyside Police, who faces a raft of misconduct allegations (Liverpool Echo)
Chief Insp. Rice was first introduced to Mr A by his own cousin, and a meeting was arranged between the officer, Mr A and Mr B in Costa Coffee in 2012. Mr Berry told the panel that off the back of that meeting, Chief Insp. Rice agreed to buy the Roklis Building, a large commercial property comprising of flats and retail units in Liscard Road, Wallasey, for £570,000.
Chief Insp. Rice agreed to buy two further properties soon after, both on Alpass Road in Aigburth. Mr Berry said: "On each occasion the agreement was Chief Insp. Rice would obtain mortgages from Lloyds Bank. At the time the maximum for commercial mortgages was 70% of the value of the property.
"The 30% deposit would be loaned to Chief Insp. Rice by Mr A, as he did not have the funds to cover the deposit. Mr A would himself pay the stamp duty and the legal fees.
"These were very significant loans from Mr A to Chief Insp. Rice. They were interest free, with no repayment schedule or terms, and they were unsecured. In fact they were not supported by any documentation, there is no signed loan agreement for instance."
On February 16, 2016, the officer completed the purchase of an annexe on Portland House in Linnet Lane, Aigburth from Mr A, using the same arrangement. Mr Berry told the panel that on the very same day the purchase was completed, Chief Insp. Rice used the NICHE intelligence database to do a search on Mr Bayliss, who had been released from prison on licence two years earlier after serving half of an eight year term for drugs supply offences.
Mr Berry said: "His purpose was, we say, to see who he was getting himself involved with."
Chief Insp. Rice himself became concerned that all was not right with the Linnet Lane deal in March 2017, when a woman contacted him claiming she represented a Saudi Arabian investor who had purchased all of that property, and he was involved in fraud. However he reported none of that to Merseyside Police and continued to do business with Mr A.
In December 2017, the officer was contacted by the Economic Crime Team. A meeting was arranged in which he was informed he may have been the victim of a fraud. Mr Berry said the force's case is that during this meeting he was told that Mr A, Mr B and Mr C were all suspects in the fraud enquiry, but the panel heard Chief Insp. Rice denies he found out during that meeting.
The fraud investigation continued for two more years, during which time Chief Insp. Rice had allegedly continued to maintain regular contact with Mr A.
The heat was turned up in March, 2019, when Chief Insp. Rice was served with a notice of investigation. He was interviewed under criminal caution on March 28 that year, when he told detectives he was aware Mr A was under criminal investigation and said he was no longer in contact with him.
However according to Merseyside Police, the senior officer had been in "regular telephone contact" with Mr A from December 2017, including several times in March 2019 - even on the same day as he was being interviewed.
Chief Inspector Rice then filed a notifiable persons report in December 2019, in which he claimed he had purchased "a property" from Mr A in 2016, using Mr B for financial advise and Mr C for legal services during the transaction.
In the report he claimed he had became aware "in the past 18 months" that the men were under investigation and had ceased all contact with them, while claiming he was "not indebted to any of the males".
The report also referenced an attack on Mr A in August, 2019, in which he was stabbed. In the report, Chief Insp. Rice claimed he had noticed a memo about the attack on a 'Threat, Harm, Risk' document and immediately closed it, before informing Professional Standards Department officers.
Merseyside Police, however, alleged that the officer was in fact in contact with Mr A throughout 2019, and even into February 2020. According to the force, Chief Insp. Rice later "accepted he had lied" under caution.
Mr Berry told the panel that by December 2019, Chief Insp. Rice had been told he was no longer a criminal suspect, but was given a performance improvement plan which ordered him to fully disclose all the properties he owned and any money owed on them.
The officer submitted a spreadsheet containing eight properties worth a total of £2.5m. However the force later discovered he had failed to declare two other properties, one on Goodacre Road and the second on Butterwick Drive, and had misstated the true purchase price of the Linnet Lane property.
According to misconduct charges, Chief Insp. Rice also: "failed to disclose that you owed significant sums of money to Mr A, not secured by way of mortgage, which he had loaned to you in connection with the purchase of properties."
The misconduct hearing is due to continue for four days, and Chief Insp. Rice is expected to give evidence today (Wed).
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