Former Cheshire PCC calls for successor to quit

John Dwyer has called for David Keane to stand down over his handling of misconduct investigation.

Mr Dwyer's call for the current Police and Crime Commissioner, to resign come after the hearing into misconduct allegations against Chief Constable Simon Byrne was suspended.

Mr Byrne had been facing a panel to defend himself against a list of gross misconduct allegations in his senior role within Cheshire Police. His legal team had argued that the hearing was prejudiced and called for it to be dismissed. The independent panel dismissed the claims and made it clear that Mr Byrne can have a fair hearing.

However, Mr Byrne's legal team has said it wishes to challenge that decision through judicial review. This has brought a temporary halt to proceedings, and subject to the outcome of any judicial review, the hearing is set to re-start on Monday 2 July 2018.

Despite their view, the panel was critical of Cheshire's PCC David Keane, citing a lack of attention to procedure and detail. Mr Dwyer's criticism has cut a deeper note, branding Mr Keane as "inept", for pursuing a case against the Chief Constable despite advice to the contrary, and claiming he could not be involved in the investigation as it was an operational matter.

Mr Dwyer said: "This was not an operational policing matter - it was an investigation being carried out on his behalf, at his behest and he should have been involved in it."

"In my view it was a dereliction of duty for him to not get involved."

Mr Dwyer continued: "In my view he has failed to take the role of Police and Crime Commissioner seriously."

In response to these comments David Keane told us: "It is regrettable that former... police and crime commissioner, John Dwyer, has chosen to make comments at a time when the matter has not been resolved."

"As with any legal process where there are ongoing proceedings, I do not think it is appropriate to make any further comments about any of the parties involved at this time. Instead, we will be working to ensure the allegations of gross misconduct against the chief constable are concluded."