2 years at home on full pay for Yard chief in drug row

A SCOTLAND Yard chief suspended on full pay for nearly two years refused to take a drugs test out of fear it would ‘embarrass’ his force if he failed it, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Commander Julian Bennett, who wrote the Met’s drugs strategy, has pocketed around £250,000 after being taken off duty over hotly disputed allegations he used cannabis, LSD and magic mushrooms.

He had been due to face gross misconduct charges in February this year, but at the 11th hour the tribunal was postponed to May at the request of Mr Bennett’s lawyers.

Now the hearing has been delayed again until later in the summer when it will have been more than two years since he was suspended.

This newspaper can also reveal that even if the veteran commander is found guilty of gross misconduct and fired, he will not lose any of his pension. This is because of his age – he is in his 60s – and his 45 years of service. Legal sources said his pension was ‘bomb proof’.

He is thought to earn more than £128,000 a year, and could be entitled to a pension payout of around £400,000 when he leaves the Met, in addition to an index-linked pension income of half his leaving salary. Mr Bennett, pictured, is nicknamed ‘Sacker’ for the high number of dismissals when he presided over disciplinary hearings.

Last night the Met’s handling of the drawn-out case came under fire. Retired Met chief superintendent Phil Flower, who worked in the force’s professional standards department, said: ‘The police disciplinary process has become far too bureaucratic... This could have been dealt with in six months. Instead, he has sat at home doing nothing for two years on full pay. It is absolutely wrong.’

In February, a misconduct hearing heard Mr Bennett allegedly took banned substances while on holiday and that he is accused of refusing to take a drugs test and lying about why. Mr Bennett, who was suspended on full pay in July 2020, is said to have claimed he had taken CBD (cannabidiol), a legal derivative of cannabis, for the medical condition facial palsy as an explanation for his refusal, an excuse he ‘knew to be untrue’.

Last night, details emerged of a letter sent by Mr Bennett’s lawyers to his colleagues, asking them to consider being character witnesses.

It says: ‘Given his rank, he knew that had he taken the test and failed it, this would have caused embarrassment to the MPS. He now accepts that... he should have realised the CBD products he used almost certainly would not have caused him to fail the test.’

Regarding the latest delay in proceedings, the Met said: ‘The decision was taken by an independent legally qualified chair.’