Wanted man: I'm clean
Publication: Daily Nation
Date: Tue, May 6, 1997
Page: 5
Byline: Terry Ally
THE Barbadian businessman whose extradition is being sought by British police has denied involvement in any mortgage swindle.
Stephen Medford, a former Coventry mortgage broker, said the West Midlands police were engaging in a face-saving exercise by targeting him following the unsuccessful prosecution of some of his former business associates in connection with an alleged £770 000 (BDS$2.5 million) mortgage swindle.
In a release to the DAILY Nation, Medford said that the whole affair was bizarre because he was never once questioned by the British police.
"I am not guilty of any crime or wrongdoing," he said.
"Some former business associates of mine were charged and fully acquitted of any wrongdoing.
"This is a totally 'face-saving' exercise by the Crown Prosecution Service and the West Midlands police as they lost their case and are now venting their anger and vengeance against myself."
He charged that the police were targeting him because he was a successful black businessman.
"This is a totally racially motivated related case," he stated.
"Is it not time for black people to stop being persecuted?"
Medford said the whole affair caused him and his family immense hurt and distress.
Head of news in the West Midlands Police Press Office John Williamson dismissed the racism charge as just "another card" in the defence pack, used increasingly in Britain in recent years.
"We would argue that British West Midlands Police is not a racist organisation and given that it is a court that would decide Mr. Medford's guilt or otherwise, were he to face charges, I fail to see how West Midlands police could influence whether or not he gets a fair trial," Williamson said.
In a few weeks, a Birmingham Court will decide whether extradition proceedings can start, and if it gives the green light the matter will be heard in Barbados where Medford operates a plastics and paper recycling company on the outskirts of Bridgetown.
Medford, who operated a mortgage brokerage firm from 1983, returned home in 1992 with his wife Tina and brother-in-law Lee Mitchell Ð the same year a police probe started.
The case alleged that building societies were approached for mortgages on properties whose values were exaggerated and where references were forged. The properties were later sold for profit but some of the building societies were not paid.