Camilla Parker Bowles' Ray Mill House, Lacock, Wiltshire

[TonyGosling]

The scene of the 'suicide' of Camilla's head of security Richard Fuller

Outside of Todd's killing, there was little substance to support Campbell's dire conclusion. There was the Chief Constable of Warwickshire Andrew Timpson who retired in 2000 because of a severe depressive disorder, and Maria Wallis gave up being Chief Constable for Devon and Cornwall in 2006 because of the pressure of the position. A predecessor of Todd's at the GMP was Sir John Anderton aka 'God's copper' who served until 1991 despite his strong religious views, and his belief that Aids was caused by people inhabiting a cesspoll. "Anderton survived," Campbell explained, "in what was perhaps a gentler climate."
http://www.911forum.org.uk/board/viewtopic.php?p=114351#114351

Then Campbell acted as if Hugh Orde's bas-tarding a child while previously off-duty as the chief of Police Service of Northern Ireland had somehow been caused by, and had hurt his professional career. The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Sir Ian Blair had had to deal with all the blowback after his forces killed that unarmed Brazilian John Charles de Menezes in the wake of the July bombs in July 2005. Campbell threw in the blowback that gay Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat running to replace Red Ken Livingstone as London's Mayor, had received while he was a former top police officer.

All this seemed to be expected, given the character of modern life, and would only become worrying if Campbell had added what had happened to two police officers just when Todd was killed. The day before, the Duchess of Cornwall's chief of security at her country estate Ray Mill near Lacock in Wiltshire, Sergeant Richard Fuller, apparently committed suicide. Two years ago, Camilla had built a new guard house for her team protecting the 27-acre property worth well over £1,000,000 in value, and Fuller had recently added an extention to his cottage near Calne. Could Fuller have been Clifford's top copper about to be brought down?

Then the day after Todd died, police inspector Neil Munro just down the road in Dorset on the South Coast disappeared after he took the ferry from Poole to Cherbourg, his body being discovered a few days after it washed up on the Sandbanks near Portmouth Football Club manager Harry Redknapp's mansion. Almost everyone assumed that Munro too had committed suicide but his death could just as easily been caused from a mishap, or murder.

As if these assumptions by Campbell about the three deaths weren't unjustified enough, he then went on to discuss Todd's career as a police officer in a most predictable, prosaic way - leaving out all its most controversial aspects, what could easily have created disgruntled officers seeking revenge against him, or others seeking to change Todd's agenda. Despite all the public accolades after he was killed, there are plenty of people, most happy to see him dead.

The most obvious ones are those eleven police officers who were forced to resign when Todd started cleaning up the corruption and racism plaguing the GMP after he took over as Chief Constable.

Then there are the officers - especially Bernard Postles, its former detective chief superintendant - who so mishandled a raid for an asylum seeker on the run in the Crumpsall area of North Manchester on January 14, 2003, resulting in the murder of Manchester Special Branch officer Stephen Oake, and wounding of three others. The Manchester SB people were working with SO19 anti-terrorist people from Scotland Yard, and MI5 agents, all hoping to find more evidence of a ricin plot threatening the whole kingdom - what had started with an earlier, successful raid of a flat above a chemist's shop in North London's Wood Green. About the only thing that the raiding party had relevant to the operation was an arrest warrant for the suspect.

When he was not apparently found, though three others of also North African origin were, the scene became one of utter confusion, resulting 30 minutes later in the frenzied knife attack by psychopath Kamel Bourgass. The SB detective chief inspector in charge of the utter fiasco (Operation Salt), "Simon", pled guilty to all the failures before a disciplinary panel the Chief Constable had ordered

Todd, having relied upon what the security forces had told Postles about the low risks of the operation, and what little, consequently, he had planned for it, dumbfounded the press when he so explained, and forced Postles's retirement and the sanctioning of others when he learned otherwise. In sending Postles to the sidelines, though, Todd gained a most bitter opponent because he too had been a high-flying officer up until then. Postles had been the leading officer in the capture of serial killer Dr. Harold Shipman. Todd had gotten the Queen's Police Medal in June 2001 for his "media grabbing" police work, according to some of his fellow Chief Constables, while Postles had gotten his for finally stopping the growing national menace.

Campbell also did not mention the fallout from Todd's unsuccessful inquiry into British assistance of the CIA's rendition program, and what its possible blowback might be. Todd had been the hatchet-man in the resignation of Postles - what was caused by the incompetence of SO19 and MI5 - and he was most apt to behave similarly in light of the security services' failures to learn anything about the risks involved in allowing Washington to use Britain airspace and airports for illegal purposes.

The new director of MI5, Jonathan 'Bob' Evans aka William Perkins, and the Mets' SO19, led by Assistant Deputy Commissioner Peter Clarke - the same people really responsible for the Manchester c***-up - could have at least limited the fallout from the exposure of the Agency's use of UK airports by discovering a few fellows being rendered by inspecting a few parked airliners on the tarmac in the name of counterterrorism, but they did nothing.

As did Sir John Scarlett's MI6 whose agents, especially Robert Andrew Fulton, had done so much to help cover up CIA fiascoes, particularly the Olof Palme assassination, and the Lockerbie tragedy. Instead of getting the Agency's disclosure of its use of Diego Garcia in rendering two suspected terrorists, and passing it on to Todd for his admission of the minor, unsuspected infraction so as to limit his embarrassment, Scarlett let DCI General Michael Hayden do the damage by informing the FO of the matter - what Foreign Secretary David Miliband made a meal of at the Chief Constable's expense...

[TonyGosling]

Welcome to Camillashire
By Amy Watkins, The Mail On Sunday
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/holidaytypeshub/article-597315/Welc ome-Camillashire.html

Last updated at 19:06 20 August 2007

Camilla Parker Bowles
Never mind Cornwall, Camilla has lived in Wiltshire for over 30 years

Prince Charles on horseback
Polo stint: Prince Charles is a regular at the Beaufort Polo club

Ray Mill House
Home on the range: Camilla's current home, Ray Mill house

For more than 30 years Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, has lived and loved in Wiltshire. Her relationship with the West Country started in 1973, shortly after the former Camilla Shand married Andrew Parker Bowles.

The young couple moved to Bolehyde Manor, near Chippenham. Thirty years ago Chippenham seemed an unlikely spot to be touched by great events of the nation. Its one previous brush with celebrity had come in 1960 when American singer Eddie Cochran was killed there in a car crash.

On the fringes of the Cotswolds and a 30-minute drive from Bath, the town seemed doomed to a life of relative obscurity. While Camilla's arrival seemed unexceptional, the coming of the Parker Bowleses was to lead to extraordinary events that have now helped to catapult this Wiltshire town to the stellar place on the tourist map it currently enjoys.

With Camilla based near Chippenham, it was inevitable that Prince Charles would wish to find a home nearby. In 1980 he bought Highgrove, near Tetbury, less than half-an-hour's drive from Chippenham. Camilla's home became his centre of gravity.

It is believed that Charles proposed to Lady Diana Spencer in the vegetable garden of Bolehyde Manor in 1981.

While Chippenham itself is pleasant enough, the real attractions lie nearby. When the Parker Bowleses moved on to the village of Pickwick, Camilla regularly visited the small town of Corsham, an ideal place to begin our Camilla tour.

Start with a picnic in nearby Elizabethan Corsham Court (www. corsham-court.co.uk).

In the nearby village of Lacock is Camilla's current home, Ray Mill, where her daughter Laura held her wedding reception last year. The 380 guests included Princes Charles, William and Harry, and 2,000 well-wishers lined the streets after the ceremony at St Cyriac's parish church.

Lacock is characterised by beamed houses and a range of artisan shops such as Lacock Woollen Centre and Quintessentially, which sells handmade beauty products. There are plenty of cosy pubs in the village, including The George, Laura's local.

Lacock has the Fox Talbot museum, celebrating the work of photographic pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot, and Lacock Abbey (www. national trust.org.uk), which Harry Potter fans will recognise as the interior of Hogwarts in the first two films. The cast is due back soon to film scenes from Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince.

Also near Chippenham is Bowood House - home to Camilla's friends the Marquess and Marchioness of Lansdowne - which hit the headlines-when it was mentioned in the infamous Camilla and Charles phone tapes recorded during their affair.

Camilla has attended events here, including last month's Bowood dog show and country fair.

Bowood's 18th Century architecture, including an orangery, chapel and library, is surrounded by stunning grounds and magnificent formal gardens laid out by Capability Brown. Children will love the adventure playground featuring a pirate ship, scramble net, death slide and soft play area.

Golfers flock to Bowood's 18-hole course, voted among the Top 10 new courses in Britain by Golf World magazine. If you want to make a luxury weekend of it, rooms are available at Queenwood Lodge,a Georgian manor house tucked away between the seventh and eighth fairways.

Work starts this month on a fourstar hotel and leisure spa at Bowood, which will have 43 bedrooms and an 80-seat restaurant. When completed next autumn, the spa will include a pool, gym, rock saunas, aromatherapy showers and beauty treatments.

Bowood will also host a range of concerts next month by acts including UB40 and Van Morrison (see www. bowood.org for information).

North of Chippenham, and just a few miles from the glorious National Arboretum at Westonbirt, is Highgrove, where William and Harry spent their early years. They were often spotted in nearby Tetbury and Cirencester and were regulars at the Beaufort Polo Club.

Charitable groups are given invitations to Highgrove, but for the public there is a three-year waiting list for admission. You can still enjoy a taste of it, though, as organic Highgrove beef and mutton from Charles's estate is sold in Jesse Smith Butchers in Tetbury and supplied to local restaurants such as Camilla's favourite at the Snooty Fox pub.

Tetbury is moving away from its stuffy image with a host of new boutiques and stores, including Quayle's deli, the Hobbs House Bakery and the award-winning House of Cheese, which counts Charles as a customer.

2007/08/lacockabbey1MOS_186x250.jpg
The cloisters of Lacock Abbey
have doubled as Hogwarts

On the fashion front, it has plenty of country-lifestyle and clothes shops, such as Overider for equestrian garb, Iris for womenswear and Anna Lizzio for designer clothes and accessories.

Prince Charles is planning to open a shop in Tetbury next spring-selling products inspired by the gardens at Highgrove, with all profits going to his charities. The location is still to be confirmed.

Even if you don't spot any Royals, you can experience being treated like them at Calcot Manor hotel and spa, near Tetbury. Only 15 miles from the M4, Calcot Manor feels like a secluded country retreat from the moment you enter its tree-lined driveway.

Fresh plums and a tin of shortbread in your room are touches that make you feel as if you're visiting friends in their elegant country home.

Gloucestershire designer Annie Constantine has sourced local pieces to give the rooms a modern rural touch. Molton Brown toiletries and natural materials such as granite, slate and wood are used to give the rooms a classic yet individual style.

The former farmhouse is set around a pretty courtyard of lime trees and 14th Century barns built by Cistercian monks. There are 12 bedrooms in the Cotswold stone buildings and a further 22 rooms in converted cottages, including family suites and rooms.

Little princes and princesses are exceptionally well catered for at the hotel's Playzone with a supervised creche and an area for older kids, complete with games consoles, internet and mini-cinema. Unsurprisingly, this area is popular with dads as well.

There are two choices for diners: the hotel's Conservatory restaurant or its gastro-pub, The Gumstool. Guests can use the pool to work off their meal or, if that sounds a little energetic, relax in the spa's outdoor hot tub or indoor steam room. If even that sounds too active, try a beauty treatment from the wide range available.

Zara Phillips is a Royal visitor to the spa, which is close to Gatcombe Park, home of her mother the Princess Royal, and Badminton House, where the annual horse trials are held.

There is a hushed, relaxed elegance throughout the hotel, spa and restaurants, making it perfect for a romantic weekend away or a trip for families to recharge their batteries (www.calcotmanor.co.uk).

Home to more than just the greenwellies brigade, the area near the Bath/Chippenham section of the M4 is the stomping ground of Royals and celebrities alike. With plenty of stately homes and luxury country hotels, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire have moved off the road atlas - and firmly on to the tourist map.