Top Met officer sacked for a 2d time over medication take a look at refusal

The Metropolitan Police says Londoners “will be as outraged as we are at the utter waste of public funds” after a disciplinary procedure for one among its senior officials took virtually 5 years.

Cdr Julian Bennett has been brushed aside from the power for a 2d time following a misconduct listening to. He were suspended from accountability since July 2020 after he refused to offer a pattern for a medication take a look at.

He used to be to begin with brushed aside in October 2023 however he appealed to the Police Appeals Tribunal (PAT) which ordered a brand new listening to at the foundation the panel had dominated on allegations they weren’t requested to.

Mr Bennett used to be suspended on complete pay all the way through the entire procedure.

On Tuesday the second one panel discovered the allegation confirmed towards Mr Bennett on the stage of gross misconduct.

Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist stated the previous senior officer “knew full well what was required of him, yet he made a choice not to cooperate”.

“I am enormously concerned that almost five years since this incident happened we have only now been able to dismiss Cdr Bennett,” added Assistant Commissioner Twist.

“This should have been a simple matter. Cdr Bennett has never disputed he refused a lawful order to take a drugs test.”

He stated higher use by way of the Met of speeded up misconduct hearings to fast-track circumstances the place the proof is “irrefutable” would permit the power to push aside officials “far more quickly”.

“I am confident a situation like Cdr Bennett’s prolonged case would not happen again,” he added.

The unique disciplinary panel rejected a declare by way of Mr Bennett’s former flatmate Sheila Gomes that he had used hashish day-to-day ahead of breakfast.

But it discovered that he had breached skilled requirements when he refused to do a medicine take a look at.

Two additional allegations on the first panel – that between 2019 and 2020, whilst off accountability, he had smoked hashish, and that he gave an unfaithful cause of why he refused to take the medication take a look at – weren’t confirmed.

He instructed the primary panel he were taking CBD (cannabidiol) to regard facial palsy and used to be frightened the pattern would arise sure for an blameless explanation why.

Mr Bennett – who wrote a Met medication technique in 2017 – used to be present in 2023 to have breached power requirements for honesty and integrity, orders and directions and discreditable habits and used to be sacked.

His legal professionals effectively argued that whilst he had all the time admitted refusing to offer a pattern, the panel discovered him to blame of a loss of integrity that he had no longer been charged with.

Following the PAT’s choice to revoke the dismissal, the Met thought to be a felony problem by means of a judicial evaluate however determined that Mr Bennett must face a recent misconduct listening to.

Following the misconduct panel’s choice and his next dismissal, Mr Bennett will likely be added to the College of Policing’s barred listing.

Those showing at the listing can’t be hired by way of police and a variety of police-related our bodies.