If they offered the police the tapes and they didn’t even bother to look at them that would be even worse.
That, it seems, is what happened in the Bellfield case. CCTV footage collected during a previous investigation hadn't been viewed. If it had, Bellfield could have been caught before he killed Amelie Delagrange and Milly Dowler.
Sutton went to France to apologise in person to Amelie's parents, although the mistake wasn't made by his team. He came across as the kind of police officer we need.
This drama demonstrated just how difficult it can be to get the right evidence to prosecute people. Even though I knew how it ended, I felt the tension as Sutton and his team waited for the CPS to decide whether they had enough to charge Bellfield. Clunes was able to convey Sutton's feeling of satisfaction during his completely unemotional reading out of the charge to Bellfield.
What did I learn? All police forces make mistakes, but like others who provide front line services, their mistakes can be a matter of life and death. Leading a murder squad is a very difficult job and it's made harder by superiors, team members, other forces and the press. It was mostly evidence found by Sutton's team which resulted in Bellfield being convicted of Milly Dowler's murder, but Surrey police were reluctant to accept it at first. HOLMES is slow and unwieldy. On the advice of his wife Sutton's team used a stand alone database for speed when searching for information.