Ignore reports of earlier trial, Dizaei jury told

A POLICE commander accused of corruption has already been tried for the same offence, jurors were told yesterday.

A panel of four women and eight men were urged to ignore anything they might hear outside court about Ali Dizaei, 49, as the trial opened. He denies charges of misconduct in a public office and perverting the course of justice.

Mr Justice Saunders urged jurors to ignore any reports they may see about Dizaei having previously been on trial.

The prosecution against Dizaei, a Metropolitan Police officer from Acton, London, follows an investigation by officials from the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

The two accusations are linked to an incident outside the Persian Yas restaurant in Kensington, west London, in July 2008.

The first charge alleges Dizaei was responsible for misconduct in a public office by threatening Waad Al-Baghdadi and by “purporting to arrest and detain” him, knowing he did not have reasonable grounds.

The second charge alleges father-of-three Dizaei “did a series of acts which had a tendency to pervert the course of public justice” by falsely alleging in oral and written statements that he had been the victim of an unprovoked physical assault.

The £90,000-a-year officer is a former president of the National Black Police Association. Born in Tehran, his family was steeped in policing, with a father who headed the traffic police and an assistant commissioner grandfather. He has said police work was his destiny.