Ex-Pc lifts lid on drug test that cost him his career

A FORMER football player turned police officer who was dismissed by a Yorkshire force after testing positive for cocaine has blamed it on anti-stress medication he bought on the internet.

Julian Broddle, part of the Raith Rovers side that famously beat Celtic in the Scottish League Cup final in 1994. was hauled before a South Yorkshire Police disciplinary hearing after the Class A substance came up in a urine sample as part of a random drug test.

The 52-year-old was dismissed by police chiefs in December last year for causing an ‘embarrassment to the force and himself ’.

Broddle, from Dinnington, South Yorkshire, insists he has never knowingly taken drugs in all the years he was a footballer or a Pc.

He blames the failed drugs test in March 2016 on an anti-stress ‘medication’ he bought online that contained cocaine or cocaine-like traces.

The misconduct panel heard that the former officer abused cocaine ‘regularly’ over a three to four-month period.

Father-of-three Broddle did not attend the hearing and recalls being told ‘Merry Christmas, you are fired’ over the phone afterwards.

Prior to the offence, Broddle had led an ‘exemplary career’ over 18 years and had received a Chief Constable’s commendation.

He has now decided to publish his memoirs so people can make up their own mind about him and his life, with a section about the drugs test titled Down the Line.

The former Sheffield United and Barnsley player admits South Yorkshire Police chiefs had no option but to dismiss him with the information they had.

The police case against Broddle suggested he was a regular abuser of cocaine.

Chief Constable Stephen Watson said: “While he has let himself and the force down, most importantly he has let the public down in failing to adhere to the standards expected of a police officer.”