Lincolnshire Police Chief Constable Neil Rhodes’ suspension from the force has been quashed in court on Thursday.
Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Hardwick’s decision to suspend Mr Rhodes has been described as “irrational” and “perverse” by the judge after a hearing at the Administrative Court in Manchester.
Neil Rhodes returned as Lincolnshire Police Chief Constable on Thursday evening, but the contract for his temporary role expires on March 31.
Deputy Chief Constable Alec Wood, was named Acting Chief Constable during the suspension, is set to continue in the role from Tuesday.
Neil Rhodes is contracted for another year as Deputy Chief Constable. He took on this role under Chief Constable Richard Crompton, who retired in March 2012 and appointed Neil Rhodes as Temporary Chief Constable.
As previously reported, Mr Rhodes and the first elected Lincolnshire PCC Alan Hardwick were in court this week over Chief Constable’s suspension.
The PCC suspended Mr Rhodes on February 25 over matters relating to his involvement in allegations of racial discrimination.
Alan Hardwick claimed Mr Rhodes assisted West Yorkshire Police lawyer Afzal Hussain, who was suing his former employer after he was dismissed from the force after 17 years.
The PCC claimed Neil Rhodes helped the senior Muslim lawyer to use his ethnicity to pursue damages from the force, despite knowing the claim was a “contrivance”.
Mr Rhodes denied any wrongdoing and his lawyers argued that the PCC’s decision was “near nuclear”, done either through inexperience or without the appropriate advice.
Mr Hardwick’s lawyers argued that he was “justified” in suspending the Chief Constable.
The court ordered the costs of the case, estimated to be £50,000, to be met by the PCC, which has subsequently confirmed Lincolnshire taxpayers will foot the bill.
After the suspension in February, the PCC referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and put Acting Chief Constable Alec Wood in charge of the force meanwhile.
The IPCC referred the matter back to the PCC and said it will not look further into the matter because it did “not amount to serious corruption or misconduct.”
Sir Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, has also been appointed by the PCC to carry out an independent investigation into the matter.
Different interpretation
Alan Hardwick, the first elected Lincolnshire PCC. Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Alan Hardwick said in a statement after the hearing: “Whilst I accept today’s decision, I must emphasise that the court’s interpretation of the information I received is very different to mine.
“My concern is that in future, any decision made by a Police and Crime Commissioner which could be considered contentious, is likely to be open to challenge in the courts. The investigation into the serious allegations is still ongoing under the direction of Sir Peter Fahy.”
Chief Constable resumes control
Lincolnshire Police Chief Constable Neil Rhodes. Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Chief Constable Neil Rhodes returned to Lincolnshire Police HQ on Thursday evening and issued his first statement since getting back in control of the force.
He said: “Having been reinstated as a Constable and Chief Constable, I have travelled back from the judicial review hearing at Manchester and have met with my chief officer team and have resumed control of the force.
“Over the Easter period I will be taking a long-planned period of leave and I look forward to serving the community of Lincolnshire as best I am able upon my return.
“I would very much like to thank the huge number of people in the Lincolnshire Police and ordinary members of the public for their messages of support which number several hundred. I am really grateful to them and I want to get back to work to repay their faith in me.
“The most important thing now is that all of our attention turns to policing the County of Lincolnshire,” Chief Constable Rhodes added.
‘Common sense prevailed’
Neil Rhodes also read a statement outside the court in Manchester, saying the proceedings were “entirely unnecessary” and took a toll on him and his family.
He said: “I’m very pleased with the decision of the judge today who has declared my suspension irrational and perverse and therefore unlawful.
“I will return to work now and continue to serve Lincolnshire Police with the personal and professional integrity that I believe I have displayed over the past 27 years.
“The judgement today has demonstrated this was entirely unnecessary, as the PCC’s concerns should have been resolved professionally and with proper investigation.
“I endeavour to resolve this and had hoped common sense would prevail. I maintained a dignified silence in the media throughout. Court was absolutely my final recourse.
“I now look forward to a mature and constructive discussion with the commissioner about my future working relationship.”
Reality check for PCCs
Lincoln MP Karl McCartney, who has previously written to Home Secretary Theresa May over the issue, commented: “After the decision by the IPCC not to investigate this matter, this verdict by the High Court in Manchester should be seen as a reality check for PCCs up and down our country.
“Commissioners need to think long and hard before taking the decision to suspend a chief constable, and as my initial reservations have borne out, this case just goes to show there are always two sides to every story.”
Calls for PCC resignation
Giles McNeill, Conservative Councillor for the Nettleham Ward, has called on PCC Alan Harwick to resign following the ruling.
Councillor McNeill said: “It is clear that Alan Hardwick is not up to the job of being Police and Crime Commissioner. He has bungled this suspension of the Chief Constable, Neil Rhodes.
“It was clear that something was amiss when, having referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, they decided that the matter was not sufficient for their investigation.
“The time has come for Commissioner Hardwick to do the honourable thing and resign,” Giles McNeill added.
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Christmas decorations outside a house in Market Rasen, put up by a 12-year-old boy, have been vandalised and stolen by “senseless” thieves.
Lou Rutherford told The Lincolnite that her son Ashten, 12, wanted to put up some Christmas decorations outside his house in Market Rasen on Sunday, December 5, but his joy was only short-lived as later that evening they were damaged by vandals.
A wire on the lights had been cut and they made off with “half a set of lights” according to Lou, who said her son was “so proud of his work”.
The vandals seemingly failed in their mission, as the lights they stole were useless without the remaining lights and plug socket they came with when undamaged.
Lou says she has CCTV footage of those involved and has passed that on to Lincolnshire Police for them to investigate.
“Sadly it would seem we were not the only people targeted by what would appear to be random acts of vandalism,” says Lou, after other reports of decorations being stolen in the local area were also filed.
A light-up Santa Claus was also stolen from the front garden of one of Lou’s neighbours, which has since been found and returned, prompting suspicions that it was the same culprits that damaged Ashten’s lights.
Market Rasen Police said that the force has noticed “a number of social media posts” on Market Rasen community pages in relation to stolen or damaged Christmas lights in the area.
They did, however, say that just one incident was reported to them in relation to this, and that was regarding the stolen Santa and not the Christmas lights, and are urging people to report their incidents on 101 so the force can properly investigate.
Cllr Stephen Bunney, Liberal Democrat member of Lincolnshire County Council, West Lindsey District Council and Market Rasen Town Council, said: “I was sad to learn that some members of our community have been vandalising Christmas decorations around the town. It is such a pity that the efforts of those who want to bring seasonal cheer to the area are ruined by antisocial behaviour of the few.”
Health secretary Sajid Javid has told MPs the government is leaving “nothing to chance,” as COVID cases in Greater Lincolnshire on Monday increased by nearly three quarters week-on-week.
Mr Javid told the House of Commons: “TheOmicronvariantiscontinuingtospreadhereandaroundtheworld.” There were 90 new cases of Omicron confirmed across the UK Monday, including 64 in England.
It means there have so far been 336 confirmed cases ‚ though experts predict there are many more undetected, with Omicron set to take over from Delta in the coming weeks.
“Thisincludescaseswithnolinkstointernationaltravel.SowecanconcludethatthereisnowcommunitytransmissionacrossmultipleregionsofEngland,” said Mr Javid.
The latest COVID stats for Greater Lincolnshire on Monday are:
974 new cases of coronavirus with 584 in Lincolnshire, 208 in North East Lincolnshire and 182 in North Lincolnshire.
No further deaths were recorded in the government figures for Lincolnshire
Four hospital deaths were recorded in the latest figures
The daily figure is 74.87% higher than last Monday’s 557 cases.
Nationally, 51,459 new COVID cases were confirmed while 41 deaths were also reported.
The government confirmed that from Monday, December 6, anyone above the age of 12 wishing to travel to the UK will need to show a negative pre-departure test within 48 hours of departure.
Under the latest measures, airlines will be required to check for pre-departure tests alongside completed Passenger Locator Forms, and passengers will not be allowed to board a flight without providing evidence of a negative test result.
It comes as Nigeria is added to the travel red list due to 21 cases of the new Omicron variant being linked to the country.
“We are leaving nothing to chance. Our strategy is to buy ourselves time and to strengthen our defences while our world leading scientists assessed this new variant, and what it means for our fight against COVID-19.”
Greater Lincolnshire’s latest vaccinations up to December 6. | Data: gov.uk
Mr Javid told MPs the government was trying to bring more hotels on board to provide capacity for those self-isolating and hoped to double the number in the next week.
He said tougher action now was hoped to prevent more cases later on. He also promised: “Wewon’tkeepthesemeasuresinplaceforadaylongerthanwehaveto.”
The weekly total at 5,088 cases was up 5.64% from the previous week’s 4,816.
There were 21 deaths in Lincolnshire compared to 18 last week and 20 hospital deaths were recorded, up from 13.
Mr Javid confirmed the government had now hit a milestone of 20 million booster doses and added there would be further expansion of the programme.
This included 10,000 more vaccinators and 1,500 pharmacy sites across England.
Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Monday, December 6
162,522 (up 974)
108,850 in Lincolnshire (up 584)
26,066 in North Lincolnshire (up 182)
27,606 in North East Lincolnshire (up 208)
2,517 deaths (no change)
1,842 from Lincolnshire (no change)
341 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
335 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)
of which 1,509 hospital deaths (up four)
932 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up three)
45 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
531 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one)
DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF THE LATEST UPDATE. POSTCODE DATA INCLUDES DEATHS NOT IN HEALTHCARE FACILITIES OR IN HOSPITALS OUTSIDE AUTHORITY BOUNDARIES.
An accelerated misconduct hearing is to be held on 13 December 2021 for former Constable Grant Duller, who was based at Lincoln Police Station.
It is alleged that former Constable Duller breached the following standards of professional behaviour:
Honesty and integrity
Discreditable conduct
It is alleged that between 19 June 2018 and 11 February 2020 his conduct breached the standards of professional behaviour in respect of his completion and/or submission of job applications and/or vetting forms to the Police Service.
The particulars of misconduct are:
1. He failed to be open and honest in his completion and/or submission of the vetting form in that he failed to declare that:
a. He had been involved in disciplinary proceedings within HM Prison Service, and/or
b. He had been the subject of adverse findings and/or
c. He had received a final written warning / warning as a result of those findings.
2. He failed to be open and honest in his completion and/or submission of the application form in that he failed to declare his previous employment as nightclub door security.
The conduct, if proved, amounts to gross misconduct.
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