Former Met Commissioner embroiled in drugs chief's misconduct hearing
Now former Met Commissioner Cressida Dick becomes embroiled in drugs chief’s misconduct hearing as it is told he asked her to let him resign rather than take a substance test
- Commander Julian Bennett, 64, is said to have smoked cannabis daily
A senior Met Police officer requested the then Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick grant his immediate resignation instead of him taking a drug test, a misconduct hearing was told today.
Commander Julian Bennett, 64, was accused of trying to ‘compromise the integrity’ of the former commissioner by attempting to use his ‘hotline’ to her to evade a ‘with-cause’ drugs test.
Bennett, who drew up the Met’s anti-drug strategy, regularly smoked cannabis in front of his former lodger Sheila Gomes, the hearing has been told. He is said to have taken the drug before breakfast and work in late 2019.
When Ms Gomes submitted photos to the Met purporting to show a bag of cannabis and a grinder on his living room table, Bennett – who has served at the force since 1976 – was hauled into New Scotland Yard to take a drug test.
A ‘£1.5 million’ misconduct case lasting three years has ensued – the money has largely been stumped up by taxpayers, Bennett said today.
Commander Julian Bennett, 64, was accused of undermining former Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick’s authority by attempting to use his ‘hotline’ to her to evade a ‘with-cause’ drugs test
Former Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has become embroiled in drugs chief Julian Bennet’s misconduct hearing after he admitted to requesting she grant his immediate resignation instead of him taking a drug test
He has been accused of attempting to ‘sweep’ his alleged cannabis use ‘under the carpet’ by asking his line manager to find the Commissioner – who he calls ‘Cress’ – to request permission to step down in lieu of the urine test.
Bennet claims he was taking CBD oils to treat facial palsy, which could have caused the test to come up positive for an innocent reason.
Mark Ley-Morgan KC, representing the Met, suggested if the former commissioner had accepted his resignation, it would have smacked of ‘organised corruption at the highest level’.
At a misconduct hearing in Southwark, south London, he broke down as he told the panel ‘the Met needs me’ and said he would rather be at work than suspended on full pay.
Mr Ley-Morgan told the hearing that Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe said Bennett asked her to approach the Commissoner and told here: ‘I can’t take the test, I have done something foolish.’
Bennett accepted the recitation of the conversation, but reiterated that he said ‘silly’ not foolish.
He insisted that he spoke in fear that taking over-the-counter CBD oils would produce an innocent positive result. He said he may not have told AC Rolfe about the CBD products.
Bennett said AC Rolfe told him to take the test before disappearing to find the Commissioner.
After five minutes she returned to say she couldn’t find Commissioner Dick and he would have to follow the proper procedure, warning that if he did not take the test it would automatically be considered a positive result.
He declined the offer of meeting a force medical examiner (FME) – a police doctor – to whom he could confidentially disclose any medication he is taking that could produce an innocent positive result.
Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe (pictured) said Bennett asked her to approach the Commissoner and told here: ‘I can’t take the test, I have done something foolish’
At the hearing, Mr Ley-Morgan asked: ‘What do you think the commissioner would say to Pc Jones from Streatham police station being asked to give a sample and offering to resign instead?’
He replied: ‘I think she would not engage.’
Mr Ley-Morgan asked: ‘Why would she engage with you?’
He replied: ‘I am a senior officer. It would have stopped a lot of this. I would not be here.’
Mr Ley-Morgan said: ‘Absolutely right. It might have gone a different way.’
He added: ‘If the commissioner had allowed you to resign rather than give a sample, do you think she would have been doing the right thing?’
Mr Bennett replied: ‘Yes I do.’
Mr Ley-Morgan asked: ‘What do you think a fair-minded member of the public would think if they discovered the Met Police had intelligence that a commander was taking drugs and the commissioner had allowed him to resign?’
He replied: ‘I would have thought if they had released intelligence and followed it up, and the evidence is very limited in this case, there would not be any evidence of drug taking and they would be quite content with that, rather than having three years of this.’
Mr Ley-Morgan later asked: ‘You were so desperate to avoid providing a sample that you asked the commissioner to compromise her integrity.’
He replied: ‘That is absolutely not the case.’
Mr Ley-Morgan asked: ‘Your sole concern was the reputation of the Metropolitan Police service?
He replied: ‘I was trying to avoid discredit (to the force). That is actually what happened.’
Mr Ley-Morgan asked: ‘I suggest that is a bare-faced, cynical lie.’
The officer replied: ‘I am not lying on this issue or any of the other issues.’
Julien Bennett, who has served the force since 1976, is said to have taken cannabis before breakfast and work in late 2019
The hearing was told that Bennett said he knew he would test positive and did not want to embarrass the Met, adding: ‘I think I was seeing headlines, and headline would be ‘officer responsible for the Met’s drug strategy fails drug test’.’
During cross-examination, Mr Ley-Morgan asked Bennett to pick the more damaging headline from ‘Commissioner of Police allowed Met Commander to resign rather than take a with-cause drug test,’ or ‘Met commander tests positive for cannabis after taking legal CBD products bought on the high street.’
Bennett responded: ‘Oh my goodness, they’re both horrendous.’
Mr Ley-Morgan asked him: ‘Is [the second] not a positive headline for the Met Police service because it shows everyone even up to Commander level is going to be tested?
‘You’ve accidentally taken a product that’s perfectly legal without knowing it would produce a positive test.’
Bennett said: ‘I think it’s incredibly damaging.’
The specialist police law barrister asked whether all officers could ask the Commissioner to let them resign instead of taking a drug test.
Bennett said he didn’t think she would have spoken to a Constable.
Mr Ley-Morgan questioned whether he was setting a precedent in which any officer accused of smoking cannabis could present bottles of CBD oils and get off their with-cause drugs tests and potential charges.
He suggested: ‘It could become known as the ‘Bennett Defence’ couldn’t it? Haven’t you thought of that?’
Bennett replied: ‘I certainly hadn’t.’
Mr Ley-Morgan continued to question whether Bennett was trying to make the allegations disappear.
He asked the officer: ‘What made you think that the Commissioner would have been party to stop them, a serious allegation against a senior police officer, and sweep it under the carpet?’
Bennett responded: ‘It’s not about sweeping an allegation under the carpet.
‘Of course the Commissioner isn’t going to do that. I thought at the time it was the right thing to do.
‘It’s taken three years, its cost a million-and-a-half pounds now and a lot of that is public money.
‘I’m not asking for anything to swept under the carpet, and the fact is it wouldn’t have swept it under carpet because, as we said yesterday, the investigation would have continued.’
Commander Julian Bennett at a Police misconduct hearing over three allegations of discreditable conduct in Southwark, London
Bennett was first asked to take the drugs test on July 21, 2020, and waited over a month to provide his written response to the Met’s questions on August 28 that year.
There was no in-person interview, for which Bennett cited new Covid-19 norms that relied on remote investigations.
He claimed that during the month interim he researched CBD oils and learned they would not produce the same test result as cannabis.
Despite his discovery, he said he decided to not take a drug test because he felt it would not make a difference to his case.
Bennett denies three counts of gross misconduct. The hearing continues.
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