Boss thought whistleblower was ‘trouble’

THE former police watchdog boss failed to respond to a whistleblower because he did not want to engage with a ‘troublemaker’, a tribunal heard yesterday.

A lawyer representing bookkeeper Amy McDonald said his client had sent an email to Scottish Police Authority (SPA) chief executive John Foley highlighting a financial scandal among senior officials.

Giving evidence at the tribunal in Glasgow last week, Mr Foley said he had not responded to the email in May 2017 as he was distracted by other ‘paper work’.

But in his closing statement yesterday, advocate David Hay claimed the failure to act had been deliberate.

Mr Foley left the SPA in November last year after being given a £57,000 ‘golden handshake’ payment on top of an early retirement sum of £43,470.

One of the claims made by Mrs McDonald, 44, was that former Deputy Chief Constable Rose Fitzpatrick was paid £67,000 by bank transfer to help her move house.

Mr Hay told the panel delays in the investigation into the allegations had left his client ‘increasingly isolated’, eventually leading her to move to a different department when her post as director of financial accountability was made redundant.

Rounding off the claimant’s case, Mr Hay said the SPA ‘must be seen to command a high public confidence’ and urged the judge to grant his client compensation.

He told the tribunal: ‘It seems from my understanding of the evidence, so far as the delay on the part of Mr Foley goes, that by this stage he was viewing Mrs McDonald as a troublemaker and he decided not to engage with her.

‘In general terms, I invite you to note the length of time in which the claim was not engaged with, leaving her increasingly isolated.’

Mrs McDonald is seeking compensation for ‘injury to hurt feelings’ due to her treatment after alleging ‘financial wrongdoing’.

But SPA solicitor Stephen Miller argued that Mrs McDonald only aired the grievances in a bid to raise her own redundancy package above the £50,000 she had already been promised.

He also accused her of ‘manipulating’ evidence and ‘casually lying’ to the tribunal.

A judgment is expected to be made by employment judge Susan Walker in the next month.