Jury Acquits Suspended Top Cop Accused of Framing BigLaw Litigation Chief for Car Arson
A jury has acquitted a suspended top cop accused of torching his own car to get the insurance money and framing his lover’s husband—who happens to head the litigation department of a major London-based law firm—for the crime.
Chief Superintendent Jim Trotman of the Thames Valley Police was accused due in part to alleged discrepancies between the account he gave authorities of his whereabouts on the night of the arson and his cell phone records, according to the BBC News.
His computer records also reportedly showed that he was surfing the Internet shopping for another vehicle not long before the arson.
But the 45-year-old Trotman told a Swindon Crown Court jury that he had nothing against attorney Ian Gray, the litigation chief at Eversheds and the husband of a woman with whom Trotman was then admittedly having an affair, the article recounts:
“I have no reason to set him up. Their marriage was over. It was not in my interest to harm Mr. Gray,” he told the jury.
The jury also heard that a deeply flawed investigation, headed by an investigator who wanted to “claim the scalp” of Trotman, had been blind to the possibility that someone else committed the crime, the Daily Mail reports.
It acquitted Trotman on charges of arson, fraud and perverting the course of justice.
Meanwhile, as detailed in earlier ABAJournal.com posts, Gray testified that he arrived home after a business trip in October 2009, was told by his wife, Karin, that she was having an affair and within hours was arrested concerning an arson that he had never heard of that had occurred while he was away. Police seized his computers and BlackBerry, although he was soon cleared of the crime.
Trotman remains suspended while awaiting a police disciplinary hearing on unrelated matters. Karin Gray, who is also a lawyer, was at his side as he left the court after the verdict.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Wife’s Alleged Affair with Top Cop Puts BigLaw Partner on Witness Seat in High-Profile Arson Case”
ABAJournal.com: “Top Cop Denies Making BigLaw Partner the ‘Fall Guy’ in Auto Arson”
