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Top UK cop found dead
12/03/2008 16:23 - (SA)
Peter Griffiths
Manchester - A post mortem examination is due to be held on police chief Michael Todd on Wednesday after he was found dead at the foot of a cliff in north Wales, police said.
Rescue teams found the body of the Greater Manchester Police chief constable near a remote mountain path in Snowdonia on Tuesday.
Todd, 50, married with three children, had spoken to colleagues about problems in his personal life in the days before his death, according to media reports.
Police are investigating whether he took his own life, newspapers said.
"He had spoken to a number of people about his state of mind," an unnamed police source was quoted as saying in several papers. "Personal items were found by his body - various notes written to members of his family."
"Coppers' copper"
A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson declined to comment on the reports. North Wales Police said his death was not suspicious.
Officers launched a search for Todd after he failed to return from a walk in the Welsh mountains on his day off on Monday.
Manchester's Deputy Chief Constable Dave Whatton said news of Todd's death came as "a tragic shock".
"As you can imagine all of his friends and colleagues are extremely upset. Our hearts and thoughts are with his family," he said in a statement.
Colleagues and friends remembered Todd as a popular "coppers' copper" who liked to leave his office and go on patrol with junior officers.
One of Britain's most senior officers
A former assistant commissioner with the Metropolitan Police, he was one of Britain's most senior officers. He had been tipped as a possible successor to the current head of the Met, Sir Ian Blair.
Todd led an investigation into claims by human rights groups that British airports were used by the US Central Intelligence Agency to move terrorism suspects to secret prisons. His inquiry found no evidence to support the allegations.
He helped police the Queen's Jubilee celebrations, the Notting Hill Carnival and the large May Day demonstrations in London.
He made headlines in 2005 after volunteering to be shot with a 50 000-volt stun gun to show they were safe.
Paul Murphy, chairperson of the Greater Manchester Police Authority, said: "He was an outstanding man and his death is a terrible loss."
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