PSNI chief Jon Boutcher silent on key News Letter questions about false claims of anti-Catholic sectarianism by former officer 'Sean'
The chief constable has remained silent on a number of key and obvious questions about his handling of allegations of sectarianism by former PSNI officer ‘Sean’ – which were subsequently retracted in an extraordinary confession carried in the News Letter.
Jon Boutcher has declined to say why he said he was “neutral” on one officer’s claims – despite outright denials from dozens of Sean’s devastated former colleagues.
The PSNI also won’t say whether an anonymous survey of officers, sought by Sinn Fein and announced in the wake of the false allegations, will go ahead – given the obvious concerns now raised about anonymous allegations.
For weeks, the News Letter has reported on challenges to the former officer’s account of sectarianism in the force, which were led by former senior PSNI officer Jon Burrows. Sean is not his real name.
The claims, published in the Belfast Telegraph in March, included hearing officers swear at nationalist politicians on the TV, make derogatory comments about Sean wearing ash on Ash Wednesday and using sectarian terms like “fenian b******s”. At the weekend, this newspaper reported a confession from the former Tactical Support Group [TSG] officer – stating that the claims were false.
He said the TSG he served in – known as ‘the blacks’ – was “a diverse group of men and women and I never saw or heard a single one of them speak in a sectarian way or engage in any bullying or unprofessional behaviour”.
Sean apologised for the “hurt” his claims had inflicted on colleagues, and said he had been “proud” to serve in the group, whom he said treated “colleagues and the public professionally, fairly and with humanity”.
His former colleagues had publicly rejected allegations of a sectarian culture within the group and said the chief constable’s position of neutrality was “unfair” – pointing to the anonymous nature of the complaint and the fact it was not being investigated.
At the weekend, the News Letter sought answers from the PSNI chief on a number of points, including:
• Why Mr Boutcher said he remained 'neutral' on the claims of one person, despite dozens of his officers having by that stage offered sworn testimony against them;
• Why he attended a meeting with Sean in the offices of his legal firm;
• Why he described Sean as 'thoroughly decent' when it was becoming clear his accusations were untrue;
• Whether the false claims influenced his decision to launch an internal staff survey into sectarianism/racism/sexism this autumn; and
• Whether that survey will go ahead now that the dangers of anonymous allegations have become clear.
A PSNI spokesperson said they had “nothing further to add” to a statement issued on Saturday (click here to read the statement).
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Mr Burrows, a retired former head of the PSNI’s discipline branch, has repeatedly questioned the chief constable’s assertions that Sean was a “thoroughly decent” man who gave exemplary service. Speaking before the confession, Mr Burrows posed the question that if the allegations were made up, how was that “thoroughly decent conduct”?
Yet, after Sean’s confession that the allegations were not true, the chief constable stuck by his assessment that Sean was a “decent man”. He said: “After my meeting with Sean I described him as a decent man and his statement of retraction is nothing short of what I expected. To their huge credit the very colleagues Sean criticised also described him to me as a good and decent man.”
The PSNI boss also declined to say whether a planned anonymous staff survey would go ahead, despite the risks of anonymous allegations having become clear. Nor would he say whether the Sean allegations influenced the decision to conduct the survey, which will also look at attitudes around race and sexism within the force.
In his retraction of the allegations, Sean said that he was “deeply sorry” and said his statement was “not an excuse for why I made these allegations up, but an explanation and a heartfelt apology”.
As well as apologising for the specific false claims of sectarianism he had made in March, he said he is sorry for alleging that he had ever “experienced nuanced sectarianism” in the PSNI.
Sean said that he had been diagnosed with PTSD of “a severe nature” and had been medically retired from the force. “Being unwell has also made me vulnerable in ways upon which I do not wish to expand on publicly,” he said.