'His brazen dishonesty will cause lasting harm to police'

Chief constable sacked for lying about service achievements

- STEPHANIE WAREHAM

A top police officer who lied and exaggerated his naval rank, length of service and achievements when applying to become chief constable has been found to have committed gross misconduct and has been dismissed without notice. Nick Adderley, suspended chief constable of Northamptonshire Police, “built a military naval legend that wasn’t true”, a misconduct hearing was told – including implying that he had served in the Falklands war, despite being 15 when the conflict broke out in 1982.

The panel, chaired by Callum Cowx – who served in the Royal Navy, the army and the police – found all allegations against Mr Adderley proven, saying they found “his audacity to be quite staggering”, adding that he had lied over many years with “arrogant temerity”. Mr Adderley was dismissed without notice and placed on the police barred list by the panel, which said his “sustained brazen dishonesty and sustained lack of integrity will cause lasting harm to the police service”. He has 10 days to appeal against the decision.

The misconduct hearing in Northampton heard Mr Adderley wore a South Atlantic Medal (SAM), awarded to British military personnel and civilians for service in the Falklands conflict, that was deemed “110 per cent” fake by a Ministry of Defence medal expert. Mr Adderley claimed on his CV and his application form when applying to become chief constable of Northamptonshire Police in 2018 that he had been in the Royal Navy for 10 years when he had served for only two, and had apparently included his service with the Sea Cadets from the age of 10 in that calculation.