He told the hearing: “H [witness’s] The book will sell better with some spice bits added to it. “He has a distinct and sometimes sarcastic and nasty dislike for my client. “Not a soul ever smelled the slightest hint of cannabis during that period. He denies ever taking cannabis or any controlled drug. “If he had taken a drug test on July 21, 2020, he could very well have tested positive for a completely innocent reason. He acknowledges that he should have taken the drug test. “He was getting hemp tinctures and oils from Holland and Barrett and the like. “He was taking them because he had a very unpleasant medical condition. “Oils relieve deeply unpleasant and bothersome symptoms on the face and can give false positive results. “He joined the Metropolitan Police in 1976 when Harold Wilson handed over to James Callahan. He deserves absolute justice from this panel.”
More than a year of Whatsapp messages are missing
The top lawyer said more than a year’s worth of WhatsApp messages from December 2019 to February 2021, which the force is said to be relying on as evidence, are missing. The messages are also said to involve someone called “Mario”, the court heard. He said it was unfair that she was the one being relied upon to disclose the messages, calling for “the whistleblower to become the whistleblower”. He added that it would be unfair to rely on her evidence as evidence, which would not require her to attend the hearing because she could not then cross-examine it. It’s also curious that the force didn’t want to ‘fast track’ the case – meaning there was little or no dispute about the facts – but was now effectively trying to proceed with the case without the key witness, who would put the court in a similar position as if it had been speeded, according to the lawyer. He even compared the Met’s handling of the case to that of Liam Allan, a criminology graduate who was charged with rape before his case was dropped three days before the trial. The Met had to apologize to him for its handling of the case after a review. The lawyer requested that a similar check be made for this case as well. Commander Bennett has written the beleaguered force’s drug strategy for 2017 to 2021 entitled ‘Tackling the impact of drugs on communities’. He cited the force’s plans to “raise awareness” of the dangers of drug use, but it is unclear whether a new strategy is now in place. He was suspended in July 2020 with full pay when the allegations came to light.
The officer fired 56 officers between 2010 and 2012
Freedom of Information requests show that, between 2010 and 2012, he presided over 74 misconduct hearings involving 90 officers and fired 56 officers – more than 75 per cent. He presided over 69 of those hearings and fired two officers from the force for drug abuse during that time. When he was suspended, he was head of the criminal justice force, which includes managing prosecutions. He served in a number of high-profile roles, including operations to tackle motorcycle gangs in London and planning for the 2012 Olympics. He chaired the panel which sacked PC Simon Harwood, the Met police officer who punched and pushed Ian Tomlinson as he ran away from riot officers on the sidelines of the G20 protests in London. He also led a misconduct panel that dismissed misconduct charges in 2019 against five officers involved in an incident that led to the death of black musician Sean Rigg. His sister attended the public gallery today. The court, presided over by Akbar Khan, continues. If the three-member panel finds him guilty of gross misconduct, he will be banned from serving on the force for the rest of his life and his pension could be cut.
