I threw book at bad cops
Author says he took ideas from real-life scandals
Sir Ian Rankin said his new novel in the legendary John Rebus series was inspired by the scandals that have swamped the Met Police.
A Hea r t Fu l l Of Headstones centres on a corrupt police station in the west of Edinburgh and sees his former detective in the dock facing charges.
Rankin said he ini t ia l ly came up with the idea of Rebus in court and then built the rest of the story around police scandals like t ho s e happening in real life.
London’s Metropolitan Police have faced criticism af ter Wayne Couzens abducted and killed Sarah Everard, 33, in London in March last year while he was a serving police officer, using his warrant card and handcuffs to get her into his car.
In December former officers Deniz Jaffer and Jamie Lewis were jailed for taking pictures of two black murder victims “for their own amusement” and sharing them in a WhatsApp group.
Rankin, 62, said: “This book is predicated on some of the uglier stuff we’ve seen in recent times, most notably the Met. We’ve seen some very dodgy police officers in the Met, taking selfies at murder scenes or committing murder ththemselves in ttheh case of SaSarah Everard.
“In the old dadays there was no CCTV in ththe interview r o oms or momobile phones bubut it is harder to get away with bad behaviour ththese days. It still goes on, we know it, we see it in the media all the time. I’m reflecting on that.”
Spea k ing on BBC Scotland’s The Afternoon Show, he added: “We’ve never had such huge problems in Scotland but it’s not that long ago in Fife that a black man, Sheku Bayoh, died on the streets having been arrested by police officers.
“If it can happen in Kirkcaldy, it can happen anywhere.”