Relatives of a man who suffered a violent death 26 years ago have backed proposed laws to stop police officers avoiding disciplinary proceedings by resigning.
Kevin McLeod was 24 when he was found dead in the water at Wick Harbour in February 1997, having suffered massive internal injuries consistent with a severe beating.
Twice since then his family have had complaints pending about very senior police officers – the second being Police Scotland’s second chief constable, Phil Gormley – but both walked away from proceedings by quitting.
Now, Jo Farrell, who in August will become the national force’s fourth chief, will be asked to prepare a code of ethics for policing in Scotland should the Bill, moved by Justice Secretary Angela Constance, pass into law.
In an exclusive article for the Record today, the minister sets out why she believes change is needed despite resistance from the Scottish Police Federation, which represents the vast majority of Scotland’s 16,600 officers.
She says the Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill would establish new powers to prevent officers guilty of gross misconduct from being re-employed in policing.
It will also ensure officers were no longer able to avoid disciplinary proceedings by resigning.
These arrangements would be underpinned by placing in statute the code of ethics, prepared by the chief, which sets out expectations of police behaviour.
Constance added: “This is an important piece of legislation. It delivers the majority of the remaining recommendations made by the independent review of policing led by the former Lord Advocate, Dame Elish Angiolini, to ensure our safeguards are robust.”
In 2020, Dame Elish called for increased transparency and accountability in the complaints process and recommended that disciplinary proceedings should continue regardless of resignation or retirement.
Figures published earlier this year revealed 47 officers in Scotland had resigned or retired during misconduct proceedings against them since 2019.
In that time there had been 332 allegations of gross misconduct and 1182 misconduct complaints. Kevin’s uncle, Allan McLeod, says his family are not only still seeking justice after 26 years, they are still looking for answers to fairly simple questions.
He believes they would have had most of the answers in 2003 had Northern Constabulary’s deputy chief constable Keith Cullen not quit ahead of disciplinary proceedings.
He was facing an inquiry into the way his force dealt with complaints about their handling of Kevin’s death. But he retired prior to facing disciplinary action and walked away with a six-figure lump sum and a substantial annual pension.
The force’s view was that Kevin’s death had been an accident, despite horrendous injuries that his family insisted showed he had been attacked and dumped in the harbour.
An inquiry by an outside force found that Cullen had a case to answer over the way his officers handled the family’s complaints.
He refused to take part in a Police Board hearing and retired days before it was due to happen.
Allan said: “In 2019 we met in Inverness with former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini who was then conducting the independent review of complaint handling, misconduct and investigations.
“We informed her of our experience and of how we had been treated by the police, and that the issue of police officers retiring while under investigation was totally unjust, unfair and had to change.
“When she published her report, it seemed to us that at last someone in authority had listened to us and sympathised.
“Another four years have passed but hopefully this proposed legislation will be passed without further delay.
“Officers should still be held accountable for their actions even if they resign from the force as the current procedure makes a complete mockery of the system and clearly makes the police in Scotland a law unto themselves.
“This legislation would also bring us into line with police rules in England and Wales, where proceedings continue even if the officer leaves their post.
“I believe the public have no trust or faith in the current police complaints system. We need to see police justice done so no other family suffers like we have. To see this legislation implemented would be a victory for my family.”
Gormley resigned in February 2018, bringing to an end a probe into allegations of misconduct, including bullying.
The McLeods’ complaint said he had broken a promise made to Kevin’s mum, June, during a live radio phone-in the previous year to examine why police had failed to act on an instruction to investigate the death as a murder.
Northern Police officers said Kevin’s injuries – including a burst liver, pancreas and spleen, and a torn aorta – could have been caused by a collision with a bollard. More recently, a police review found he could have got the injuries by falling on a lobster creel.
The family maintain he was murdered and that they would know more about his death had officers facing disciplinary proceedings not been allowed to walk away.
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