Court

Essex Police Covers Up Golf Course Body Misconduct Report on 'Health and Safety' Grounds
Thur 9th Oct 2014, Yellow Advertiser

ESSEX Police has refused to release two reports about failures in a missing person investigation on ‘health and safety grounds’, claiming their publication could cause ‘mental illness’.

The Yellow Advertiser has referred the case to the Information Commissioner after the force rejected a legal action under the Freedom of Information Act.

The YA requested two reports, whose contents had already been partially revealed in open court.

They related to the death of Michael Redmond, 47, of The Vale, whose body was discovered on Basildon Golf Course in August 2013.

Four officers were disciplined over the reports’ findings but no information has ever been released about who they were or what they did wrong.

Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray discussed the reports in two inquest hearings earlier this year.

She said one had been compiled to aid her investigation into Mr Redmond’s death while the other was produced by the force’s Professional Standards Department, at the request of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

The final inquest hearing in August was told that six complaints had been upheld. One was that senior officers failed to properly supervise the searches for Mr Redmond’s body.

Additionally, accurate records were not kept of which areas had been searched and the number of officers involved in the searches was ‘insufficient’. Some officers were not properly trained.

The YA requested copies of the reports from the Essex Police press office in August but was told it would have to take legal action under the Freedom of Information Act if it wishes to obtain the documents.

But the force then rejected the legal action. It claimed one of the reports was ‘exempt’ because it was created for a court – the report ordered by the coroner – and the other was being withheld on ‘health and safety’ grounds.

The force said it was withholding the taxpayer-funded report from the public in order to protect a private interest.

It said it had asked permission from Mr Redmond’s family to release the report, but the family had said they did not want any further publicity.

Essex Police therefore decided not to release it because it ‘could endanger the physical or mental health’ of Mr Redmond’s relatives.

The YA challenged the decision, saying Essex Police had a duty to operate in the public interest, rather than in the interests of specific parties.

The YA said the public interest in being transparent about organisational failures and misconduct by police officers was overwhelming.

But Essex Police responded this week by claiming that as the report ordered by the taxpayer-funded IPCC had been prompted by a complaint from Mr Redmond’s family, the family should have the right to decide whether the taxpayers could read its conclusions about police failings and officers’ misconduct.

The YA has referred the case to the Information Commissioner for adjudication. The commissioner’s office said it could take up to a year for the case to be dealt with.

NB. As of February 2017, the YA was still awaiting a ruling from the Information Commissioner.  

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