Police officer wins disciplinary appeal

A POLICE sergeant filmed dragging a suspect with a broken arm across a station floor has been cleared of gross misconduct.

Richard Miller (45) has also had a final written warning removed from his record following an appeal against a disciplinary hearing which had found against him.

He successfully argued that Assistant Chief Constable Rebekah Sutcliffe should not have chaired the disciplinary hearing as she was in a relationship with another officer, Chief Supt Paul Rumney, who was in charge of the professional standards department which had investigated him.

An independent review panel concluded the relationship “gave the perception of bias” and overturned the previous finding of gross misconduct.

It ordered the removal from his record of his punishment.

The panel did not consider the conduct which landed the officer in trouble in the first place.

It is understood GMP’s top brass are concerned at the length of time the case has taken and that it has been mired in red-tape. They believe the officer has taken full advantage of a technical matter.

Despite the finding of the appeal panel, ACC Sutcliffe is also in the clear.

Declared

It is understood that the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which had launched its own investigation, has decided to take no further action.

Although ACC Sutcliffe had not declared the relationship at the original disciplinary hearing, friends say it was not a secret and if there was any breach at all it was only a technical one.

It follows an incident at Chadderton police station three years ago when Sgt Miller pulled 6ft 5in student Jonathan Rushambara out of a van and across the floor.

Mr Rushambara had earlier been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer outside a kebab shop. He is now suing the force, alleging his arm was broken during the arrest at the kebab shop.

The father has previously said. he was ‘“shocked” the officer had been allowed to keep his job.

A spokesman for GMP said: “An appeal against the findings of a misconduct hearing relating to a Greater Manchester Police officer has quashed the original decisions.”

He added: “The tribunal stated that it allowed the appeal on the grounds that the composition of this panel gave ‘the perception of bias’.”