Hero officer arrested for 'turning gun on himself'

A hero policeman who claimed he was shot in the street by gangsters has been arrested on suspicion of turning the gun on himself.

Pc William Morrison, 50, was apparently shot in the stomach in Highbury after flagging down a driver for speeding.

The officer told colleagues a man jumped out of the car and ran off, shooting him as he gave chase. Two other men escaped when the car sped off.

Scotland Yard treated this as attempted murder and launched a massive hunt for the gunman at an estimated cost of £500,000.

The case was highlighted by police officials as showing the dangers of frontline policing in London.

But today the Met admitted the father of two, since promoted to sergeant, had been arrested on firearms offences and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The officer was held at his home in Tottenham yesterday. Police searched his house while he was taken to an east London police station for questioning.

Suspicions about the policeman's story first came to light several months ago and officers launched a covert inquiry.

Morrison, a former physiotherapist, joined the police as a mature recruit four years ago.

When apparently shot in the chest, he had only just returned to work after being stabbed saving a colleague's life.

Then a Pc, he was on patrol in Highbury when he flagged down a black Saab. A 6ft heavily built black gunman was said to have leapt from the car, hit him on the head then pushed his gun beneath the officer's bulletproof vest before shooting him.

Detective Chief Inspector Jon Shatford said of the shooting at the time: "This was a callous attack on an unarmed officer, and we are devoting a great deal of resources into investigating this very serious incident."

Glen Smyth, chairman of the Police Federation's Met branch, also speaking at the time, said: "It is a unique set of circumstances to be seriously injured twice in the line of duty in such a short space of time."

Pc Morrison was commended for bravery after schizophrenic Ronald McKoy went on the rampage, threatening a 14-year old girl with a knife outside Finsbury Park Tube station and stabbing a British Transport Police inspector in the chest.

The Pc was himself stabbed him in the leg after he rugby-tackled McKoy to the ground.