Police misconduct appeals
Police misconduct hearings
Disciplinary matters involving police officers and special constables are currently governed by Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020.
Details of upcoming hearings will be published with at least five days’ notice on the Metropolitan Police website. The regulations state that police gross (serious) misconduct hearings are held in public. The Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 require that when a case is referred to a misconduct hearing, that hearing must be conducted by a panel of three people including:
- a Chair appointed by the local policing body (in London this is MOPAC)
- a member of a police force of the rank of Superintendent or above
- an independent member appointed by the local policing body.
MOPAC is responsible for the recruitment and training of the legally qualified chairs (LQCs) and the independent panel members (IPMs) who serve on police misconduct panels. These people adjudicate police misconduct hearings for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Police, British Transport Police (BTP) and the City of London Police. LQCs and IPMs are people who have no relationship with the MPS. LQCs are required to chair misconduct panels and IPMs assist the Chair in determining a fair and evidence-based judgment about a particular police officer's conduct and agreeing an appropriate sanction.
MOPAC is responsible for appointing LQCs and IPMs to misconduct hearings for MPS officers. The appointment of the LQC and IPM to a specific misconduct hearing is required to be fair and transparent.
MOPAC - Process to select and appoint panel to hearing
Police Appeal Tribunals (PATs)
Police Appeals Tribunals (PATs) hear appeals against the findings of gross (serious) misconduct brought by police officers or special constables. PATs are governed by Police Appeals Tribunal Rules 2020. The 2020 rules set out what may be published in respect of appeal hearings.
Members of the public can attend appeal hearings as observers but are not allowed to participate in proceedings. MOPAC is responsible for appointing the chair and a layperson to conduct the proceedings.
The make up of PATs is set out in Schedule 6 to the Police Act 1996 (including amendments).
Where the appellant is not a senior officer, the tribunal consists of:
- a legally qualified chair taken from a list maintained by the Home Office
- a serving senior officer
- a layperson.
Where the appellant is a senior officer, the tribunal consists of:
- a legally qualified chair taken from a list maintained by the Home Office
- HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary or an Inspector of Constabulary nominated by the Chief Inspector
- the Permanent Secretary to the Home Office or a Home Office Director nominated by the Permanent Secretary.
The Chair is appointed by MOPAC from a list maintained by the Home Office.
Independent members may be drawn from the MOPAC list of IPMs to serve as laypeople on PATs. No independent member will be appointed to a tribunal if they have already heard the same case at a misconduct hearing. Under the 2020 PAT rules, a layperson member replaces the retired officer position on the tribunal.
Booking to attend
To attend an appeal hearing, please email us. Places are limited and will need to be booked in advance, preferably at least 48 hours before the hearing. To comply with the rules of attendance, observers are required to provide the following information when booking:
- Name
- Email address
- Contact telephone number.
Legally Qualified Chairs
Find information about MOPAC's Legally Qualified Chairs as of 13 March 2023.
Appointments
- Legally Qualified Chair for the Metropolitan Police, Ministry of Defence Police, British Transport Police, the Eastern Region (Bedfordshire Essex, Cambridge, Suffolk, Hertfordshire and Kent), Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Thames Valley.
- Barrister – Called to Bar in 1993 (Middle Temple).
Practice
- LLB (Hons) and LLM In Employment Law and Relations.
- Qualified Mediator.
- Experienced advocacy trainer (including vulnerable witnesses).
Akbar Khan is a Barrister-at-law and Attorney-at-Law (New York State) and a graduate of the University of Cambridge and University of Reading. He is a qualified workplace investigator and practised at the English Bar for many years. This included working for the United Nations in the fields of international law and human rights before joining the UK Diplomatic Service where he was Head of International Law at the British Embassy, The Hague representing British legal interests before the International Court.
A former Legal Director of the Commonwealth Secretariat and Secretary General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, in 2012 he led the high-level international fact-finding mission to the Maldives to establish the circumstances behind an alleged political coup.
In addition to being an LQC, he serves as Head of Judiciary for the International Rugby League (IRL) and is also a non-executive member of the Financial Reporting Council.
In 1996 Leslie Cuthbert was a partner in a firm of solicitors specialising in criminal litigation before embarking on a portfolio of roles. These include judicial work sitting as a Recorder in the Crown Court and as a Tribunal Judge of the Mental Health Tribunal, the Special Education Needs and Disability Tribunal and the Social Security and Child Support Appeals Tribunal.
As well as being a Legally Qualified Chair of the Police Misconduct Panel, Leslie also adjudicates Road User Charging appeals, is one of the Independent Adjudicators for Companies House, and is an international trainer of investigators, lawyers and judicial office holders.
He is the author of two books 'Effective Interviewing for Disciplinary, Grievance and Complaints Investigations' and '365 Daily Advocacy Tips' published by Bloomsbury Professional Publishing.
Amanda-Jane Field was called to the bar by Middle Temple in 1994. She is currently employed as a Registrar of the Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber). She was an elected member of the Bar Council from 2008 to 2015 and was sitting on the Bar Council’s Ethics Committee between 2013 and 2016. She is an Ethics trainer for employed barristers on the Middle Temple’s New Practitioners' Programme.
Chiew Yin Jones is a barrister with over 25 years' experience in criminal justice and a Legally Qualified Chair for the Police Misconduct Panel for London and the South East Region.
She is Co Vice President of the National Association of Legally Qualified Chairs (NALQC) and a member of the Lay Committee, Royal College of Anaesthetists.
Evis Samupfonda is a non-practising Barrister. She has extensive knowledge in adjudicating professional misconduct hearings. She has chaired fitness to practise panels at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, Nursing and Midwifery Council, General Teaching Council, NHS England and Ministry of Defence.
Evis is a fee paid Tribunal judge. She sits in the First-tier Tribunal of the Social Security Entitlement Chamber and Residential Property Tribunal. Evis also works as a Case Examiner for the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
Appointments
- Legal Assessor to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (1994).
- Deputy District Judge (Civil) (1996).
- Legal Adviser to the General Dental Council (2010).
- Legally Qualified Chair of Metropolitan Police Misconduct Hearings (2015).
- Legally Qualified Chair for Police Misconduct Hearings in Wales (2020).
Practice
After working as a barrister in general common law practice for the first 20 years, Chris specialised in civil and family law for the next 20 years. His work is now exclusively as a Judge in the County Courts of Wales and a legal adviser and legal chair in professional misconduct proceedings.
No biography available.
Cameron Brown QC is a practising barrister at Red Lion Chambers, London. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2020. He specialises in complex fraud and international corruption work. Prior to becoming a QC he was appointed as Standing Counsel to the Insolvency Service and A Panel Counsel for the Serious Fraud Office. He also sits as a legal assessor for the HCPC (medical disciplinary hearings) and Legally Qualified Chair for the Lawn Tennis Association and England Golf.
Darren Snow LLB(Hons) LL.M(City) MCIArb is a practising barrister. He was first appointed as an LQC in the Autumn of 2018 and now sits with MOPAC and the Eastern Region Panel. At the Bar he specialises in crime and regulatory, professional discipline and inquests work. Darren also sits on the Bar’s disciplinary panel and as a Chair on England Boxing’s Safeguarding Panel. He is an accredited mediator and also a qualified solicitor. Darren is a visiting lecturer at the University of Law.
Tapan Debnath qualified as a solicitor in 2003. He is currently a senior compliance and internal investigation counsel for a large multi-national telecommunications company. Tapan previously investigated and prosecuted top-tier economic crime cases for the UK Serious Fraud Office. Before that, he served as a legal adviser in Magistrates’ Court in the West Midlands circuit.
No biography available.
No biography available.
Hilary Norris has been a solicitor since 1999, a fee paid Employment Judge since 2009 and First-Tier Judge (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) since 2017.
She was first appointed to MOPAC as an LQC in 2016.
Hilary is also involved with a number of charities and has recently been appointed as a Vaccine Care Volunteer with St John Ambulance to assist in the administration of the COVID vaccine.
Julian Weinberg qualified as a solicitor in 1985 and has practised in the field of criminal law since then. He previously sat as a Chair for the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the General Teaching Council, an Adjudicator for the Solicitors Regulation Authority and as a Case Examiner for the General Optical Council. Julian has also been an Ombudsman for the Financial Ombudsman Service and is a Funding Adjudicator for the Legal Aid Agency.
Julian currently sits as an LQC for the General Medical Council, the General Pharmaceutical Council, the Architects Registration Board and for the Phonepaid Services Agency. He was formerly a Chair at the Healthcare Professions Council but has since been appointed as a Legal Assessor.
Catherine Elliott was a solicitor in private practice for 20 years, first in the City and then in a large Bristol practice where she was an Equity Partner. Since leaving that, she has held a variety of non-executive roles in different sectors. She has served as Chair of Fitness to Practise hearings for both the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the General Dental Council. She also spent eight years on the board of her regional Probation Trust, where she conducted disciplinary and grievance hearings and chaired the Equality Group. Catherine was a voluntary advocate for the elderly for 10 years and a qualified advocate for people who lack mental capacity.
Catherine currently holds the following posts:
- Chair, General Dental Council Professional Conduct Committee
- Chair, NHS Continuing Healthcare Independent Review Panel
- Independent Member, Armed Services Complaints Appeals Panel.
Maurice Cohen is a solicitor who qualified in 1988. He previously ran an independent practice in North London.
He has held appointments as a Tribunal Judge in various jurisdictions since 2003.
He has been sitting as a Chair and Legally Qualified Chair of various regulatory organisations since 2008.
Eileen Herlihy has worked part-time as a Tribunal Judge in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber hearing asylum, immigration, EU and human rights appeals since 2000 and since 2019 as a Tribunal Judge in the Social Entitlement Chamber. She holds a number of appointments as a Legally Qualified Chair for various Police Authorities.
Eileen qualified as a Solicitor and spent 20 years in private practice as a commercial property lawyer specialising in office and retail investment and development projects, primarily working in the City. She was also involved in a number of infrastructure projects for the railway industry.
Clare Harrington was called to the bar and practised primarily in employment law for 18 years before being appointed as a District Tribunal Judge in the First Tier Tribunal in 2018. Since 2011 she has also been sitting as a fee paid Employment Judge. She sits as a Legally Qualified Chair on Police Misconduct Panels for forces including the Met, Kent, Surrey and Sussex.
No biography available.
Independent Panel Members
Find information about MOPAC's Independent Panel Members as of 13 March 2023.
Margie Leong works as a dietitian in an NHS neuro-rehabilitation unit.
Pradeep Agrawal is a Chartered Scientist (CSci) registered with UK Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a Biomedical Scientist. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science (London) and has a Masters in Business Administration (London). He has significant experience in operational management of healthcare services and offers scientific/management skills in strategic development. He has substantial experience in regulatory governance.
Pradeep is a partner/associate/assessor with UK healthcare regulatory agencies (Health and Care Professions Council, General Medical Council, and United Kingdom Accreditation Service) and with professional bodies (Institute of Biomedical Science). He is an Independent Member on misconduct panels for the Mayor of London Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and with Greater London Assembly (GLA) on Mayoral Board appointments. He chairs the Investigation Committee at General Medical Council (GMC).
Martin Pike was appointed by MOPAC as an IPM in 2015. He has over 25 years' experience of complaint investigations in the public sector. This includes working for a London local authority, the Local Government Ombudsman and the Parliamentary Ombudsman. When he retired he was Director of Investigations for the Health Service Ombudsman.
Formerly a school governor and Employment Tribunal Member, Martin has also been an independent member of the General Dental Council Investigating Committee.
Sadhana Patel qualified as a Solicitor in 1995 and practiced in housing law for over 10 years before taking a career break. Currently alongside being an Independent Panel Member, she works as a Legal Consultant and provides management support for a charity. She also works as a lay representative for the Joint Advisory programme (Endoscopy) for the Royal College of Physicians and as a lay representative for Health Education England.
Lorna Beckford is an accomplished Non-Executive Director and Independent Board Member with substantial senior level service in the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and senior management and international leadership experience with British Telecom. She is used to operating in diverse business environments, having led cross-functional and international projects in matrix structures.
John Vaughan has over 13 years' experience as an Executive Director of a large, mental health and community foundation trust in London. Prior to his board level experience, John was the Head of Mental Health in a London Strategic Health Authority.
Originally John trained in both general and mental health nursing and gained experience in a number of specialist areas including Mental Health Services for Deaf people, Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Forensic Services and Substance Misuse.
Having retired from full-time NHS work in April 2019, John now has a portfolio of part-time roles including:
- Executive Reviewer with the Care Quality Commission (CQC)
- Education Associate with the General Dental Council (GDC)
- Lay Panel Member with the Bar Tribunal Adjudication Service (BTAS)
- Lay Committee Member with the General Optic al Council GOC).
Appointments
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Biomedical Scientist (retired).
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Education Quality Assurance Inspector, Social Work England.
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Independent Panel Member, Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime.
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Non-Legal Member, HMCTS Employment Tribunals.
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Panel Adjudicator and Panel Chair, Solicitor’s Regulation Authority.
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Tribunal Chair, Medical Practitioner’s Tribunal Service (General Medical Council).
Bernadette Leverton is a Company Secretary by qualification, and has worked in a number of organisations of varying sizes as Company Secretary and / or Finance Director. She served for five years as a Non Executive Director of an NHS Mental Health Trust and has been sitting for the past 27 years as a Non-Legal Member of the Employment Tribunals. She is currently in her second term of office as an IPM.
Bernard Nawrat had a long career in HR with Southwark Council, latterly as HR Director managing the whole range of HR activity as well as leading major change programmes. Since the summer of 2015, taking early retirement, Bernard has worked as an Executive HR Consultant primarily in the public sector, working on reorganisations, recruitment, pay and grading strategies etc. Bernard has been an IPM since 2018.
Henry Gordon is in his second decade of practice as a criminal barrister in London. He prosecutes and defends. He has been sitting on police misconduct hearings for numerous police authorities since January 2015.
Clive Manning was appointed as an Independent Panel Member in 2014. Clive has worked in a range of central government departments, including the Foreign Office, Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. He is a member of the Government Counter Fraud Profession and works as a criminal investigator in the area of serious or complex fraud, bribery and corruption. In his current role, he works closely with a wide range of law enforcement agencies, both overseas and in the United Kingdom.
Fiona Bennett has been an IPM for MOPAC since 2015 and has extensive experience working across the MET, British Transport Police, and MOD in police misconduct hearings. She has supported a broad range of cases relating to professional standards of behaviour and so has a good insight on the types of professional standards of police misconduct behaviours that present themselves at formal misconduct proceedings.
Fiona is a Senior HC chartered CIPD professional with over 25 years' experience in HC employee relations practice. She worked for Marks and Spencer in a range of senior HR business partnering roles before specialising in employee relations. She has now broadened her industry portfolio from retail into the professional services arena, and is currently working as a Senior Employee Relations Manager for Pricewaterhouse LLP, UK firm based in London.
Karen Townsend worked as a senior policy professional in the civil service specialising in EU and domestic criminal justice issues. She was appointed as an Independent Panel Member in May 2019 and also sits as a Lay Adjudicator for the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Rachel Ellis has been appointed as a Commissioner at the Criminal Cases Review Commission, where she is responsible for determining whether cases involving potential miscarriages of justice should be considered on appeal.
She has a background in criminal law, having previously worked as a criminal barrister acting on behalf of both the prosecution and defence in a comprehensive range of criminal proceedings.
Rachel sits as a Chair on Fitness to Practise Committees with the Nursing and Midwifery Council. She is also employed as an Ombudsman with the Financial Ombudsman Service and as a Panel Member for the Independent Betting Adjudication Service.
Simon Williams is Head of Human Resources for Alpha Plus Group of Schools (20 nurseries, schools and colleges in the UK and internationally). He has worked in HR for close to 20 years, including previous roles in London local authorities. His HR roles have also included HR in the military and for a national disability charity. He has also been a lay member of employment tribunals since 2010. He is a Chartered Member of CIPD and has an MBA from University of British Columbia Business School in Canada but was born and grew up in London.
Vincent Walker MBE is a retired prison governor, formerly with HM Prison Service of England and Wales. Latterly based for six years in the West Indies seconded to the governments of Anguilla and Montserrat as a consultant advising on prison policy and operations, criminal justice integration and human rights compliance.
No biography available.
No biography available.
No biography available.
Past appeals
Please see the details of past hearings including outcomes.
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