Former Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming has won outright a judicial review against the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). Hemming obtained permission in a judgement of 18 November 2022, arising from a hearing where he represented himself and was accompanied by his partner Emily and also your author. That judgement is now up on BAILII. After permission was granted, the IOPC has conceded outright.
The two points on which Hemming has now prevailed are on the IOPC’s failure to deal with his complaints about a police conduct investigation as follows –
“a. As set out in his letter dated 6 October 2021, that email exchanges between DI Thomas and an officer of the 2nd Interested Party on 15 May 2020 gave rise to an appearance of bias.
b. As set out in his letters dated 22 August and 6 October 2021, that DI Thomas had known that DCS Oomer’s stated reasons (1) and (2) (recorded in his policy book on 1 March 2019) for categorising , once opened, the 2nd Interested Party’s investigation into EB [Esther Baker] (attempting to pervert the course of justice) as low priority were false and that DCS Oomer was aware that they were false.”
The IOPC has also agreed to pay Hemming’s costs. A copy of the relevant parts of the consent order is below –