Mackaill & Ors, R (on the application of) v West Midlands Police & Ors
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
- LORD JUSTICE DAVIS
- MR JUSTICE WILKIE
Areas of Law
- Administrative Law
- Civil Procedure
2014
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
UK
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
On 19 September 2012, Andrew Mitchell MP was involved in an incident at Downing Street that led to investigations by the IPCC. Three police officers were investigated for their conduct. Procedural irregularities invalidated initial determinations of no case to answer. The IPCC's attempt to re-determine the investigation was tainted by apparent bias from Deputy Chair Deborah Glass. The court quashed the re-determination decision and remitted the matter to the IPCC for fresh consideration with entirely new personnel.
Judgment
Lord Justice Davis:
Introduction
An incident occurring at the gates of Downing Street on the evening of 19 September 2012 and involving the Rt. Hon. Andrew Mitchell MP has gained notoriety. It has commonly been styled “Plebgate”. It has generated, directly and indirectly, a considerable amount of litigation. The present claim for judicial review is part of such litigation aftermath.
The claim form was issued on 10 January 2014. The three claimants (Inspector Mackaill, Detective Sergeant Hinton and Sergeant Jones) are serving police officers. They were made the subject of investigation as to their conduct after they had made statements to the media about what had allegedly been said by Mr Mitchell to them at a meeting at Mr Mitchell’s Sutton Coldfield constituency office on 12 October 2012. The matter had been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (“IPCC”). The IPCC elected not to conduct its own investigation; instead it directed in the early part of 2013 that there be an investigation by the relevant police forces which the IPCC would supervise. The referrals with regard to each of the claimants were for that purpose combined. In the case of Inspector Mackaill the referring force had been the West Mercia Police. In the case of Detective Sergeant Hinton, the referring force had been the Warwickshire Police. In the case of Sergeant Jones the referring force had been the West Midlands Police. In due course determinations that there was no case to answer were issued by each of the three appropriate authorities.
On 30 October 2013, and after those determinations had been issued, Deborah Glass, then Deputy Chair of the IPCC, purported to redetermine the mode of investigation into the conduct of the three claimants by turning it into an independent investigation undertaken by the IPCC. She did so acting, or purporting to act, in exercise of the powers conferred on the IPCC under the Police Reform Act 2002 (“ the 2002 Act ”).
A quashing order of that decision is now sought on behalf of the claimants. It is said that the IPCC had no power to re-determine, or justification in re-determining, as it did. As part of its answer to the claim, the IPCC has in turn challenged the validity of the purported prior determinations of the appropriate authorities to the effect that each claimant had no case to answer, whether for gross misconduct or misconduct.
The issues arising are to a considerable extent focused on the impact of the relevan