Gangs detective sacked for phone breach wins his job back

Detective Constable Paul Knowles, who has been with the force for 19 years, was sacked for gross misconduct in May last year after a disciplinary panel found he had potentially harmed the investigation.

Following a successful appeal, the officer formerly based with the gangs' unit will now return to work. The decision to dismiss him has been overturned and replaced with a written warning instead.

West Midlands Police Federation conduct lead George McDonnell said the ruling was “absolutely the right one”.

“This would have been one of the biggest travesties of justice in all the years I’ve been doing this but thankfully the appeals panel found the original decision to be wrong and overturned it which was absolutely the right thing to do," he said.

“There was never any wrongdoing or misconduct and they have put this officer through immeasurable suffering for three years for no reason.

“And obviously there is also a financial implication for the force because it will have to reimburse the officer for 10 months from his dismissal to his reinstatement,” Mr McDonnell said.

Mr McDonnell explained that the original decision to dismiss Mr Knowles centred on his request to a colleague to delete information he had forwarded on his mobile phone which resulted in allegations of honesty and integrity breaches, amounting to gross misconduct.

A second allegation of discreditable conduct against him was found not proven.

Following his dismissal, the officer took his case to a Police Appeals Tribunal that found he had grounds for appeal, which led to a second panel replacing the original sanction with a written warning.

Mr McDonnell said: “It appears the original panel concentrated on an allegation of dishonesty that never was. He did what he did for the right reasons.

“The result of this officer using his own initiative was three offenders getting convicted and given lengthy custodial sentences. He should have received an acknowledgement around what his decision making ultimately achieved, and that was very much the view on social media and with members of the public at the time.

“Instead, he was dragged through a misconduct process and sacked for gross misconduct.”

Mr McDonnell said the force’s policy which forbids the use of personal mobile phones except in extreme circumstances must now be reviewed.

“There was never any dishonesty or wrongdoing in this case,” he said.

“I think it is accepted that the policy on mobile phones has to be much, much clearer and therefore this should go back to the force or some organisational learning.”

"We were pleased that he has got his job and his livelihood back,” he added.

West Midlands Police has been approached for comment.