A senior Scotland Yard officer sacked for refusing to take a drugs test will keep his £80,000-a-year pension.
Commander Julian Bennett, 64, who drew up the force’s anti-drugs strategy, lost his job on Tuesday night after a disciplinary panel found he had committed gross misconduct.
Because he has already turned 60, Bennett will still be entitled to a £400,000 pension lump sum plus index-linked monthly payments of half his final £159,000 salary.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “We can apply to the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime to consider pension forfeiture in only the most serious of criminal matters.
“This case does not meet that criteria.”
Former Detective Superintendent Shabnam Chaudhri said: “More junior officers would have been sacked on the spot if they refused a drugs test.”
The case had been dragging on since July 2021 and is estimated to have cost taxpayers around £1.5million.
Bennett had been suspended on full pay and is planning to appeal against the panel’s decision.
Ken Marsh, chair of the Met Police Federation representing rank-and-file officers, agreed nothing could be done about Bennett’s pension, but added: “How was this situation allowed?
“Any other officer up to the rank of chief inspector would have faced a random drug test followed by an accelerated disciplinary hearing. Yet Bennett’s been allowed to wallow in three years of full pay.
“Why are we all not treated the same? It tells my colleagues there are different measures for senior officers, and there shouldn’t be.”
