Victoria von Wachter represents the Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire Constabulary in a Judicial Review of a Misconduct Panel’s decision

The Chief Constable applied for a judicial review of  the decision of a disciplinary panel that had found that there was no misconduct or gross misconduct where an officer had failed to carry out forensic duties with respect to a young woman who had reported a sexual assault.

Both the officer and his supervisor claimed to have no recollection of the incident and so were unable to provide much in the way of evidence to explain the failure apart from a snippet of Body Worn footage that did not record the total interaction.

Despite this the panel found the officer’s evidence credible. The panel found that the officer (not a probationer) was inexperienced and that this justified his failure to carry out duties for which he had received training in the past.  The panel also took into account favourable reports relating to the officer.

The decision of the panel was held to be unreasonable and irrational and so the decision of no further action against the officer was quashed.

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Related barristers

Victoria von Wachter

Call 1997

Related areas

Police Law

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Professional Discipline & Regulatory

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