Cop facing sack after prisoner fell out of van
A POLICE officer is facing the sack if found guilty of misconduct over the arrest of a ‘UKIP secretary’ who allegedly threatened to burn down a club that wouldn’t let him in, a tribunal has heard.
Pc Daniel Gaffney is accused of gross misconduct over the incident, which dates back to April 2018. He has been suspended ever since.
A hearing at Greater Manchester Police headquarters was told the incident relates to the arrest of Kaide Saeger for alleged breach of the peace.
Mr Saeger was placed in a police van but fell out of the door as it was being driven away, the tribunal heard.
The incident left Mr Saeger with ‘blood pouring from his head’ and he required hospital treatment.
The misconduct hearing centres on how Mr Saeger came to suffer his injuries and Pc Gaffney’s actions afterwards, the tribunal was told.
The police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigated the incident at the time and a file of evidence was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
The CPS decided there was ‘insufficient evidence’ for criminal charges against Pc Gaffney in November 2019. It wasn’t until January this year when Pc Gaffney was served with papers by GMP’s Professional Standards Branch indicating he would face gross misconduct charges, the tribunal heard.
After several delays, a fiveday hearing was fixed to begin on Monday. But the witness, Mr
Saeger, failed to attend. He has since said this was because of a recent bereavement and that he no longer wishes to play any part in proceedings, the tribunal heard.
Det Insp Mark Radford made a number of efforts to call and text Mr Saeger last week, the tribunal heard.
Mr Saeger only replied on one occasion saying that he would ‘call back tomorrow,’ but never did.
In dramatic scenes, barrister Richard Littler QC, acting for Pc Gaffney, angrily accused GMP and the force’s counsel Simon Walsh QC, of having tried to ‘hide’ their alleged problems getting hold of Mr Saeger.
Making an application to have the proceedings thrown out entirely, he said: “It is clear that DI Radford, [instructing solicitor] Nicholas Cook and counsel [Mr Walsh] knew Mr Saeger was not cooperating.
“They failed to disclose this.” Mr Walsh described the accusation as ‘baseless’ and ‘outrageous.’
Mr Littler told the tribunal Mr Saeger has been ‘unpredictable and has been from the outset.’
Mr Walsh, counsel for GMP, argued that he would have been happy for proceedings to continue on Monday without Mr Saeger, had Mr Littler not made his application to stay the case. He said the case isn’t just about whether the tribunal should believe Mr Saeger. Mr Walsh said ir was about ‘having seen Mr Saeger fall flat on his face, what should this officer have done?’
A panel led by chair Paul Forster will make a ruling on Mr Littler’s application
today.