A senior Metropolitan police commander who wrote the force’s drugs strategy allegedly smoked cannabis outside his hostel every day, a serious misconduct hearing has been told.
Commander Julian Bennett later threatened to resign when asked to take a drug test on July 21, 2020, according to a disciplinary tribunal.
At a hearing in south-west London on Friday, Mark Ley-Morgan QC, representing the police, said Bennett’s explanation for refusing to provide a sample for testing – that he had taken CBD (cannabidiol ) for a medical condition that caused facial embarrassment. symptoms – was implausible.
“He tried to resign on the spot, he asked someone to go and talk to the commissioner and ask if he would let him resign,” Ley-Morgan said. “He then gave an explanation of why he thought his sample might be positive. Why would you give that explanation but then refuse to give a sample? It doesn’t make sense.”
He said the refusal “makes sense if you believe your sample will reveal that you are a regular cannabis user” or that it would be inconsistent with simply using CBD oil.
The panel heard that Sheila Gomes, a nurse, who Bennett took on as an innkeeper for eight to 10 weeks in late 2019, contacted police seven months later alleging drug use.
John Beggs QC, representing Bennett, argued on Friday that the case should be thrown out because of disclosure failures by police and the fact that they were now seeking to rely on written, rather than oral, evidence from Gomes, who they would deny defense counsel. the opportunity to cross-examine the “unique and decisive witness”.
Beggs asked rhetorically, “Are you seriously saying that he took out his weed every day and smoked it in front of you and no one else? [at his work] did you smell it?”
She also said that Gomes was contemplating writing a book about the matter, which could lead her to add “a little spice” to the story.
“If people write books, they say things to fuel book sales,” Beggs said.
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The request for Gomes’ written evidence to be accepted was made by Ley-Morgan after she failed to appear at this week’s hearing, initially saying she was ill and then “resting”. Beggs said the appropriate approach by police should be to seek an adjournment to allow him to recover, but Ley-Morgan said he was “not confident” he would be available to give evidence in the future.
The police lawyer also said Gomes had made a “silly, throwaway comment” about writing a book and suggested it was a far-fetched idea. “If his motivation is money, he’s done it in a fun way,” Ley-Morgan said. “Instead of going straight to the papers, he has reported it to the Metropolitan Police Service.”
Bennett, who has been suspended on full pay for two years, is also accused of taking magic mushrooms and LSD. He was nicknamed the “Sacker” for firing dozens of officers, including two for drug abuse, while presiding over disciplinary hearings during his 45-year career. He wrote the Met’s drug strategy for 2017 to 2021.
The court will decide whether the case should continue and the admissibility of Gomes’ written evidence on September 30.
