Fourth misconduct complaint against Police Scotland chief being considered

Phil Gormley - Image credit: PA

A fourth complaint against Police Scotland chief constable Phil Gormley has been passed to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA).

PIRC is already carrying out investigations into three allegations of gross misconduct against Gormley which were received last year.

PIRC will now consider whether this new complaint would, if proved, amount to misconduct or gross misconduct and whether an investigation by the complaints body is required.

The SPA said: “The Scottish Police Authority has today, Tuesday 16 January, referred a complaint made against a senior officer to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC).

“This follows an assessment by the SPA which determined that, if proven, the allegations would amount to misconduct and require to be investigated.

“The SPA is required under the Police Service of Scotland (Senior Officer) (Conduct) Regulations 2013 to refer this matter to PIRC for assessment.

“Complaint and conduct matters are confidential and the SPA will not provide any further comment on this case at this time.”

PIRC has also said that with investigations underway, it would be inappropriate for it to comment further.

Gormley has been at the centre of controversy this week over the SPA board’s recall of him from the gardening leave in September, which it later reversed following discussions with Justice Secretary Michael Matheson.

Gormley’s lawyer had suggested that Matheson could have acted unlawfully if he interfered in the process, while Matheson told the Scottish Parliament that he had only made sure correct procedures were being followed.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Constable Iain Livingstone, who is standing in as chief constable in Gormley’s absence, has told Holyrood that he wasn’t informed of Gormley’s return from leave and that an SPA statement saying that measures had been put in place to protect those who had made complaints was “not true”.