Dismissal of police commander for failure to provide drugs test overturned

The sacking of a senior police officer, who failed to provide a sample for a drugs test when he was accused of smoking cannabis, has been overturned.

Former Metropolitan Police commander Julian Bennett, who served in the force from 1976, was found to have committed gross misconduct by failing to provide a urine sample for a drugs test on July 21 2020.

Mr Bennett appealed against his dismissal before the Police Appeal Tribunal on Friday, and it was quashed, with a new hearing ordered, the Met said.

Scotland Yard is considering a legal challenge after the decision, saying senior officers are expected to “lead by example” and that Mr Bennett will not return to duty while it weighs up its options.

Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said: “I am very concerned by this decision and I have no doubt that the public and hardworking colleagues across the Met will be appalled that this case remains unresolved after such a long time.

“It very clearly illustrates why reform of the misconduct process is so needed and why the Met has been calling for urgent change.

“We await the written decision before determining our next steps, but we are actively considering a challenge by way of judicial review.”

But it found that he had breached professional standards when he refused to provide a sample for a drugs test after being called in to do so in the presence of an assistant commissioner.

He offered to resign on the spot instead, and asked for a meeting with then-commissioner Dame Cressida Dick.

Mr Bennett said he had been taking CBD (cannabidiol) to treat facial palsy and was worried the sample would come up positive for an innocent reason.

By failing to provide the sample, Mr Bennett was found to have breached force standards for honesty and integrity, orders and instructions and discreditable conduct.

His lawyers argued that while he had always admitted refusing to provide a sample, the panel found him guilty of a lack of integrity that he had not been charged with.

This meant that the misconduct finding was not permissible, they claimed.

Mr Bennett wrote the force’s drugs strategy for 2017-21 as a commander for territorial policing.

The document, called Dealing With The Impact Of Drugs On Communities, set up plans to raise “awareness of the impact of drug misuse”.

He chaired misconduct panels over several years and Freedom of Information requests showed he presided over 74 police misconduct hearings involving 90 officers between June 2010 and February 2012.

Out of the hearings involving Mr Bennett, 56 officers were dismissed, more than three-quarters.

He chaired 69 hearings during that time and two officers were dismissed for drug misuse, the figures showed.