Scotland Yard, one of the world's premier police forces, has been rocked by a major corruption scandal over claims that some of its most sensitive units had officers in the pay of Britain's gangsters.
Three Metropolitan police whistleblowers say David Hunt, a London businessman named by a judge last week as the head of an organised crime network, used "sleepers" inside the Yard to help him evade justice for three decades.
According to an expose by 'The Sunday Times', Hunt used a network of corrupt serving and former officers and details of the claims can be revealed for the first time after the newspaper won a libel victory against Hunt last week.
"I am satisfied that it was reasonable for him ('Sunday Times' journalist Michael Gillard) to describe the claimant (Hunt) as a violent and dangerous criminal and the head of an organised crime group implicated in murder, drug trafficking and fraud," said Justice Simon in his ruling in the libel case at London's High Court earlier this week.
The allegations against corrupt police officers are contained in a 54-page legal letter sent to Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe by three of his own officers.
The officers, all seasoned detectives in east London, tried to take on Hunt in the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games but claim to have been stymied by their corrupt colleagues.
Their document - which the Met says is now being "assessed" - names four of the five police officers alleged to be working for Hunt's organised crime group.
They include a senior detective who held several sensitive roles.
A junior Scotland Yard detective in a sensitive intelligence role dealing with informants is alleged to have taken a 35,000 pounds bribe from Hunt in 2007.
He is one of three identified as working in east London police stations allegedly on behalf of Hunt.
An unnamed detective is also said to have accessed a sensitive police computer to find out information about an operation concerning Hunt.
The three whistleblowers, retired Detective Chief Inspector David McKelvey and detective constables Darren Guntrip and Paul Clark, are suing the Met for failing to act on intelligence that Hunt had taken out a contract to have them killed.
