The husband of a police worker who blew the whistle on extravagant expenses by a Police and Crime Commissioner has claimed he was arrested to put pressure on his wife.
Irene Brown, 52, a civilian worker at Cumbria Police, and her husband Steve, were both arrested in the force’s six-month investigation of the leaking of PCC Richard Rhodes’ expenses. Leaked expense claims had revealed Mr Rhodes spent nearly £700 on Mercedes chauffeur-driven journeys to engagements, for which he apologised and paid back the money.
The Browns were questioned by police for several hours on suspicion of data protection offences and misconduct in a public office. However the Crown Prosecution Service declined to press charges, concluding that the leak in April last year could be considered to be in the public interest.
It has now emerged that Mrs Brown, who worked in the force as a Unison official and was suspended for more than a year, has accepted redundancy. Cumbria Police had planned disciplinary proceedings against her.
The Cumbria News and Star reported that she was gagged by the terms of her redundancy but her 55-year-old husband spoke of the “devastating impact” the experience has had on the couple.
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He told the newspaper: “To find yourself being arrested for something that had nothing to do with you at all was terrible. I felt that they arrested me to put pressure of Irene. Now I totally distrust the police.”
He defended his wife’s motivations in leaking the expenses, saying that she was a “very public spirited lady”.
“She doesn’t like to see people get mistreated and she doesn’t like to see money wasted. That information should have been in the public domain from day one.
“As far as people working within Cumbria Constabulary is concerned, I think that people will now be very reluctant after what’s happened to Irene to come forward as a whistleblower.”
Invoices for the hire car were photocopied at police HQ and mailed to the Westmorland Gazette newspaper, which broke the story.
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The case made national headlines last year after the arrests of the Browns and another police worker who was accused of perverting the course of justice. It highlighted concerns that police forces are clamping down on whistleblowers and prompted accusations that the police were being heavyhanded because the leak concerned Mr Rhodes.
Simon Orme, a Crown Prosecution lawyer, concluded in October there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction because the defence could argue “the disclosure was in the public interest”.
Bernard Lawson, the former Chief Constable, had said that the force had a duty to investigate any alleged illegal disclosure of information but Tim Farron, the local LibDem MP, questioned why the police had spent such a “huge amount of money and time” on the investigation.
He said in October: “Given that people in Cumbria sometimes feel let down by the way the police allocate resources, questions should be asked about why the force spent so much time and resources on a case that affected the constabulary itself when we have finished with no action being taken.”
The force this week issued an agreed statement about Mrs Brown’s departure in which she said she “regrets the impact” of her actions on her colleagues. Critically, however, she did not express regret for the leaking of the documents.
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Cumbria Constabulary’s statement, to the News and Star, said that Mrs Brown had failed to be re-elected in March as the Unison branch secretary so “she was placed at risk of redundancy”.
It said: “Rather than go through the disciplinary proceedings and/or redundancy processes, Mrs Irene Brown agreed to leave the Constabulary. Had she remained with the Constabulary the disciplinary proceedings would have been progressed.
“These proceedings will now no longer take place. Whilst the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings will not now be known, on reflection, Mrs Brown would not, if she had her time again, take the same approach to the disclosures she made and, in particular, she regrets the impact on other members of the police staff.”
Mr Brown also told how the pressure of the investigation had badly affected the couple’s health.
The stress also led to a worsening of his wife’s angina, triggering four or five attacks per day and the need for a spell in the cardiac care unit of Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary.
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Mr Brown said: “Irene absolutely loved her job working in the Unison office. She was working long hours and was under a lot of pressure because dealing with redundancies. But she loved her work.
Mr Rhodes’ office did not comment yesterday but he has previously said he did request the police investigation.