Gaffe-prone police boss still won’t speak
On HiS website, Cumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner Richard Rhodes boldly states: ‘i am responsible for holding the Chief Constable and the police force to account on the public’s behalf.’
Yet no police officer has been formally disciplined or sacked for their part in the bungled investigation into Poppi Worthington’s death. nor have they been made to explain why they tried to cover-up and suppress knowledge of how the 13-month-old died.
Despite a growing clamour in Parliament for an official Baby P-style inquiry into the case and a new investigation by a separate police force, Mr Rhodes has remained silent. in a short statement issued on tuesday, he maintained it would not be appropriate for him to comment until the outcome of a second inquest and an iPCC investigation.
Yesterday he again refused to answer questions from the Daily Mail.
He was said to be at a conference in london and questions passed to his office went unanswered.
last night, local MP John Woodcock urged Mr Rhodes to join calls to reopen the investigation into Poppi’s death and hand it to another force.
Mr Rhodes, a former independent school headmaster and magistrate, was elected to the £65,000-a-year police commissioner’s post in September 2012 – three months before Poppi’s death. Within seven months of his appointment, the 73-year- old was criticised over his expenses after he billed taxpayers £698 to hire a chauffeur-driven Mercedes to ferry him and his wife, Stephanie, 72, to two private events.
After details were leaked to the local press, Mr Rhodes paid it back, but insisted he had hired a driver for ‘personal safety reasons’.
it then emerged that Mr Rhodes mentioned the leak to police colleagues, who launched an investigation and arrested three whistleblowers. no one was ever charged and Mr Rhodes apologised.
Soon afterwards, he hired a £30,633-ayear spin doctor to manage any ‘reputational risks’.