Senior officer faces sack over lost secret files

A SENIOR counter-terrorism police officer should be sacked after top-secret documents were stolen from his car, a disciplinary hearing has said.

Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale, of West Midlands Police, was yesterday found guilty of gross misconduct for leaving the files unattended.

Mr Beale, 54, left the documents in a briefcase in his car boot for five days, during which time he went to the pub, went for a weekend away with his wife – leaving the car parked at a train station – and went supermarket shopping.

He discovered the case was missing when he stopped at Warwick services on May 15 2017 while on the way to Oxford. The impact of the loss could have been “catastrophic”, a hearing at the force’s headquarters was told.

Corinna Ferguson, the chairman of the panel, said: “We have decided to recommend dismissal is the appropriate outcome. It is the necessary sanction for what we regard as a serious breach of protocol in relation to top secret and secret material. It is necessary to maintain public confidence and reputation of the police service.”

Mr Beale, who headed the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, was prosecuted last year, and admitted a breach of the Official Secrets Act at Westminster magistrates’ court in December, for which he was fined £3,500.

He is weeks from retirement but will lose a £215,000 tax-free pension lump sum if police chiefs agree with the panel recommendation.

The final decision now rests with Chief Constable David Thompson. A meeting is scheduled to take place in the next few weeks.