Don't sack public figures accused of sexual harassment, says retired judge
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Loading... - Genevieve Francoise
- 04 Dec 2020
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Politicians accused of sexual misconduct must not be suspended until a full investigation has been completed, insists the retired High Court judge who wrote a damning report into the police’s Westminster paedophile inquiry.
Sir Richard Henriques today calls for a standard ‘code of practice’ amid a growing row over the treatment of public figures accused of sexual misdemeanours.
Sir Richard’s intervention follows the death of Carl Sargeant, the Welsh Assembly minister who killed himself after being accused of sexual harassment. Mr Sargeant was suspended by the Labour Party and sacked as a minister before a formal investigation had even taken place. Mr Sargeant complained he had not been informed of the precise nature of the complaints against him.
Damian Green, the de facto deputy prime minister, has also faced calls for his suspension over allegations that pornography was found on his office computer and that he touched the knee of a young woman. An investigation remains ongoing into Mr Green’s alleged misconduct.
Sir Richard said: “Investigation must precede detrimental action and avoidable publicity. A code of practice is necessary.”
The judge added: “At present those accused - often of conduct well short of criminal conduct such as viewing pornography, sending suggestive text messages, being over tactile, making unwanted sexual advances, making bawdy jokes or suggestive remarks even juvenile behaviour - find themselves suspended from their parties, from their occupations or from the airwaves.
“The consequences are traumatic both for them and their families, for their finances for their reputation and their health. We must do better.”
Sir Richard, who has been appalled by the treatment of Mr Sargeant, said: “Time and again those accused are suspended either from their parliamentary party or from their occupations in the media whilst an investigation takes place.
“The suspension and adverse publicity almost invariably precedes the investigation permitting the complaint - true or false - to inflict untold damage upon the reputation and/ or the finances of the accused person.
“Frequently those accused are not informed of the allegation nor the complainant prior to suspension. What has happened to the presumption of innocence and the burden of proof even on the balance of probability?”
Sir Richard also takes a swipe at Wiltshire Police over its ‘flawed’ child sex abuse investigation into Sir Edward Heath. Wiltshire Police has insisted its two-year inquiry at a cost of £1.5 million was proportionate and fair.
But the inquiry failed to find any evidence against Heath, who died in 2005 and cannot defend his reputation.
But Sir Richard is calling on Wiltshire Police’s chief constable Mike Veale to approve an independent judge-led inquiry into the evidence. Sir Richard carried out a similar exercise after being called upon to do so by Lord Hogan-Howe, the then Metropolitan Police commissioner, following the disastrous inquiry into false claims of a Westminster paedophile ring made by a fantasist, who can be identified only as ‘Nick’.
Sir Richard writes: “Unless steps are taken to authorise an independent judicial inquiry into the allegations against Sir Edward Heath his reputation will remain unfairly tarnished. Since nothing could ever have been achieved by the process adopted, it is my view that it should never have taken place.”
