The three claimants were police officers. They met a senior MP at Sutton Coldfield. They emerged from the meeting and were said to have made misleading statements as to the content of the meeting. The IPCC referred the matters back to local forces for investigation. The forces determined that there was no case to answer, but the IPCC then purported to redetermine the mode of investigation under powers asserted under the 2002 Act. The claimants denied that such a power existed. The first version of the report submitted by the investigator to the Chief Constables carried an appendix suggesting misconduct. A later version omitted the criticism despite the investigator persisting in his view.
Held: There was no allegation of bad faith, but there had been lamentable failures by those involved. There had been significant and material procedural errors. There was no report compliant with the statutory scheme produced, and the granting of relief in favour of the IPCC should not be withheld. Since no valid final report ever had been completed or supplied it followed that the investigation itself had not been concluded. Accordingly, the power under paragraph 15(5) was in principle available to be exercised by the IPCC.
Davis LJ, Wilkie
[2014] EWHC 3170 (Admin)
Bailii
Police Reform Act 2002
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Smith (Kathleen Rose) v East Elloe Rural District Council HL 26-Mar-1956
The plaintiff challenged a compulsory purchase order as unlawful and made in bad faith and sought damages for trespass. Paragraph 16 provided that an order could not be challenged by legal proceedings, save in the circumstances identified in . .
Cited – Ridge v Baldwin (No 1) HL 14-Mar-1963
No Condemnation Without Opportunity For Defence
Ridge, a Chief Constable, had been wrongfully dismissed because he was not given the opportunity of presenting his defence. He had been acquitted of the charges brought against him, but the judge at trial had made adverse comments about his . .
Cited – London and Clydeside Estates v Aberdeen District Council HL 8-Nov-1979
The appellants had sought a Certificate of Alternative Development. The certificate provided was defective in that it did not notify the appellants, as required, of their right to appeal. Their appeal out of time was refused.
Held: The House . .
Cited – Lovelock v Minister of Transport 1980
Lord Denning said: ‘Assuming that he did fail to take into account a relevant consideration, the result is that, in point of legal theory, his consent was ‘void’. It was made without jurisdiction. It was a nullity. Just as if he had failed to . .
Cited – Boddington v British Transport Police HL 2-Apr-1998
The defendant had been convicted, under regulations made under the Act, of smoking in a railway carriage. He sought to challenge the validity of the regulations themselves. He wanted to argue that the power to ban smoking on carriages did not . .
Cited – Bolt, Regina (on the Application of) v Merseyside Police and Another Admn 16-Nov-2007
A disciplinary panel had found the claimant police officer in breach of the relevant code of conduct. It decided that he should be dismissed. On a review, an independent Chief Constable upheld the finding of misconduct; but he purported to set aside . .
Cited – Regina v Warwickshire County Council Ex Parte Powergen Plc QBD 9-Jan-1997
The power to incorporate highway works in planning agreements is limited to subject land. Forbes J said: ‘It is common ground that the new Section 278 was intended to fit into and play its part in the overall legislative system for the controlled . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for Home Department ex parte Danaei CA 12-Nov-1997
An immigration adjudicator, after a hearing, had rejected the applicant’s asylum appeal, but accepted that he had left Iran because he had had an adulterous relationship;
Held: The Home Secretary was wrong to depart from the special . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 08 October 2021; Ref: scu.537351