In 1957, she famously talked to a British homosexual, whose identity was not revealed, and two years later she met the humorist James Thurber in Paris. She focused on those in the arts for her own CBC series Elaine Grand (1976).She also presented programmes for Associated-Rediffusion, Granada, TWW, Southern Television and the BBC, including the music and interview show Lucky Dip and the women's magazine Sharp at Four. She joined Thames Television in 1973 and became a host of its ITV series Afternoon Plus and the sequel A+.As an occasional producer, for Granada and ATV, one of Grand's most notable programmes was Unmarried Mothers (1963), an early film made by the celebrated documentary-maker Michael Grigsby.Anthony Hayward. The original story was bad enough: a naked unarmed man is killed when police burst into his bedroom at 4am and shoot him dead in front of his 19-year-old girlfriend A horror; a grotesque error The original story was bad enough. A naked unarmed man is killed when police burst into his bedroom at 4am and shoot him dead in front of his 19-year-old girlfriend. A horror; a grotesque error.Worse, however much worse has been the dismal failure of those involved to acknowledge responsibility. James Ashley was killed in his Hastings flat in January 1998.
The official version was that he was armed and dangerous; he was alleged to be a major drugs dealer, who was ready to kill. What was found in the flat? A small amount of cannabis and no weapons. Ashley was officially said to be wanted for attempted murder; in reality, he had intervened in a pub brawl to save a man's life.However generously you interpret this episode, it was an appalling failure of police intelligence, made worse by poor judgement. One reason why British police are not usually armed is so that such tragedies do not take place. Weapons can be used only in accordance with strict guidelines. On this occasion, the system failed spectacularly.Above all, the police should have acknowledged this basic and self-evident point The tragedy could not be undone. But the honesty of the police would at least have enabled them to convey an underlying sense of decency Sussex police, through their lies, destroyed all that.
Within hours of the shooting, the Chief Constable, Paul Whitehouse, put out a statement that sought to exonerate his force of any responsibility for Ashley's death, insisting that the operation was "properly and professionally planned". In the words of a damning report by Sir John Hoddinott, the Chief Constable of Hampshire, Mr Whitehouse "wilfully failed to tell the truth as he knew it". It is hard to imagine a more damaging condemnation of a chief constable's behaviour. Christopher Sherwood, the police officer who fired the lethal shot (and who had previously been taken off firearms duties after a row with his girlfriend) was last month cleared at the Old Bailey of murder. Three senior officers were charged with misfeasance legalese for criminal neglect of duty but were acquitted yesterday. In short, nobody has had to carry the can.The refusal to admit the possibility of wrongdoing makes a bad situation worse. It is behaviour like this even more than the original shooting that destroys trust in the police.
