The Daily Mail love this story..
- Commander Julian Bennett has pocketed £250,000 after being taken off duty
- He wrote the strategy for raising ‘awareness of the dangers of drug misuse’
- Bennett had been due to face gross misconduct charges in February this year
- It has been delayed until summer, more than two years since he was suspended
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.
Commander Julian Bennett (pictured), 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
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.
