Met commander accused of drug use asks panel hearing case to stand down

A senior Metropolitan police commander who is facing misconduct proceedings over his alleged drug use has called for the members of the hearing panel to remove themselves from the case due to alleged bias.

Julian Bennett – who has previously chaired misconduct hearings, wrote a drug testing strategy for the Met and oversaw the dismissal of two officers for drug misuse – is facing three allegations of discreditable conduct.

Last February it was revealed at an initial hearing that he was accused of taking cannabis, LSD and magic mushrooms while on holiday in France between February 2019 and July 2020.

Stuart Cundy, the force’s deputy assistant commissioner, was present at the hearing on Tuesday, which was held remotely. He remained silent except to confirm he was present as a “police friend” – a term used to describe a supportive police representative for someone facing misconduct proceedings.

Bennett’s lawyer, John Beggs KC, told the hearing there had been a “disclosure debacle”, which he said had caused lengthy delays to a hearing first listed almost a year ago. He said ensuring WhatsApp messages were disclosed was like “drawing teeth”.

Bennett’s legal team made an application last year for the case to be dismissed but the panel rejected it in September.

The panel chair, Akbar Khan, opened Tuesday’s hearing in London by saying he would consider an application requesting the recusal of the entire panel on the basis of September’s decision and comments within it.

Khan is sitting on a three-person panel alongside a lay member, Prof Brian Gomes da Costa, and Roy Wilsher, of His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.

Beggs claimed there were “actual errors and omissions in law” in the panel’s ruling, “most particularly concerning disclosure”.

Khan asked why Bennett’s defence team had taken three months to bring its recusal application. Beggs said it should have been quicker but said other delays in the case were the Met’s fault.

Beggs said the prosecuting side had failed several times to ensure a year’s worth of WhatsApp messages were disclosed, describing the situation as “absurd”. He accused the Met of being “selective” with messages, disclosing WhatsApps from 2019 and 2021 but “none of the meat of the sandwich of 2020” until late last year.

The lawyer claimed the detective constable in charge of disclosure had in effect delegated the duty to the main witness and therefore made a “serious omission – a complete failure to understand the duty of disclosure”.

He added: “This was a mess of disclosure. A mess at best because at best it was incompetence. We respectfully suggest that actually it was studied refusal to give disclosure.”

Beggs said the current panel line-up failed to make “even the mildest criticism” of the police stance on disclosure, instead describing it as “principled”.

“That alone undermines the appearance of impartiality and conveys the appearance of bias,” he said.

Submissions for the Met were presented to the hearing in writing.

The first allegation against Bennett, 63, accuses him of using controlled drugs while off duty between February 2019 and 21 July 2020. The second alleges that he refused to provide a drug sample in 2020, and the third that he lied about why he could not give a sample.

The hearing was adjourned until a date to be set for the panel to give its ruling on the recusal application.