CONFIDENTIAL medical
records relating to Cleveland’s suspended chief constable and his deputy could
have been leaked from within their force’s own authority, it is claimed.
Deputy Chief Constable
Derek Bonnard also criticised the Independent Police Complaints Commission
(IPCC) and the Operation Sacristy team over statements they made about the leak
inquiry’s result.
Earlier this year, a
national newspaper published details from the medical records of Mr Bonnard and
Chief Constable Sean Price.
Both officers are currently
on bail and suspended from their posts as part of the ongoing Sacristy probe
into alleged criminal and misconduct investigation involving people linked to
Cleveland Police Authority (CPA).
An IPCC probe into the leak
- prompted by a complaint from the officers - found that the information was
not passed to the newspaper by Operation Sacristy.
And a Sacristy spokesman
this week issued a statement saying the allegation had been independently
investigated by the IPCC and dismissed.
But Mr Bonnard today
described the IPCC and Sacristy statements as “extremely misleading”, adding:
“In fact, the IPCC concluded the information was likely to have been leaked to
the Daily Mirror by ‘someone within the CPA’.
“I am very concerned by the
way in which Operation Sacristy and the IPCC have sought to spin this story in
their statements - and I am disappointed the IPCC did not investigate how
information passed to Operation Sacristy in confidence came to be in the
possession of the police authority.
“I no longer have any faith
in the ability of Operation Sacristy and the IPCC to investigate the
allegations against me fairly,” said Mr Bonnard.
The officer said CPA’s
impartiality had also been called into question.
He had reported the leak to
Cleveland Police and had asked officers to investigate “this serious matter”.
He also intended to submit further information to the Leveson Inquiry.
A Cleveland police
spokesman said the force continues to investigate where the leak originated
from and would take into account the contents of the IPCC report.
A Sacristy spokesman
reiterated that: “The IPCC investigation concluded there was no evidence to
suggest the leak came from any member of the Sacristy team.”
CPA chairman, Stuart
Drummond, said the authority takes such allegations “very seriously” and would
be making its own internal enquiries - as well as awaiting the outcome of the
force investigation.
“I would be extremely
surprised and disappointed if the leak was found to be from the authority, as
clearly we would not want to undermine any part of this investigation,” he
added.
An IPCC spokesman said the
watchdog had carried out a “proportionate investigation” based on a specific
complaint.
“On completion of the
investigation, we shared the report promptly with all interested parties,
including solicitors acting for Mr Bonnard and Mr Price, CPA, Cleveland Police
and Warwickshire Police.
“The IPCC has no remit over
police authorities, and any further action would be a matter for the interested
parties as appropriate.”