Information

Request

1. List the police officers dismissed or who have resigned from the local force since 2018 following conviction of a crime, the PCC is aware of?
2. For each officer listed in your answer to Q1, itemise them to show if they were dismissed or resigned, gender, offence(s), year of conviction, pension worth at time of leaving and if their pension has been forfeited (if so, include % forfeited).

Response

I can confirm that the Office of the Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner does hold the information requested, however we are withholding some information which we consider to be personal information.

1. 1. List the police officers dismissed or who have resigned from the local force since 2018 following conviction of a crime, the PCC is aware of?

The OPFCC adopted a Pension Forfeiture Policy and Procedure which has been in place since 2022. This means that the Force must formally notify the OPFCC of any Police Officer or staff member that has been convicted of a criminal offence. The Officers that we have been notified of are Gareth Cox, Matthew Bell and Toby Mullen.

1. 1. For each officer listed in your answer to Q1, itemise them to show if they were dismissed or resigned, gender, offence(s), year of conviction, pension worth at time of leaving and if their pension has been forfeited (if so, include % forfeited).

 

PSM	Officer/Staff	Gender	Offence	Forfeiture decision made	Decision	Appeal	Method of dismissal	Year of conviction
Gareth Cox	Officer	Male	Data Protection Breaches	Jan 2025	10%	No	Resigned while under investigation. After conviction the Chief Constable ran an accelerated misconduct hearing that determined had this officer still been a serving officer they would have been dismissed	2022
Matthew Bell	Officer	Male	Misconduct in public office	Apr 2025	15%	No	Resigned while under investigation. After conviction the Chief Constable ran an accelerated misconduct hearing that determined had this officer still been a serving officer they would have been dismissed	2024
Toby Mullen	Officer	Male	Data Protection Breaches and Malicious Communications	August 2025	15%	No	Resigned while under investigation. After conviction the Chief Constable ran an accelerated misconduct hearing that determined had this officer still been a serving officer they would have been dismissed	2024

 

https://northantspfcc.org.uk/pension-forfeiture-notice-toby-mullen/

 

https://northantspfcc.org.uk/pension-forfeiture-gareth-cox/

 

https://northantspfcc.org.uk/pension-forfeiture-notice-matthew-bell/

 

We consider information relating to pension details as personal information. Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the OPFCC when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt within the provisions of the Act) is required to provide you, the applicant, with a Notice which:

(a) States the fact,

(b) Specifies the exemption in question, and

(c) States (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

The exemption applicable to your request are:

Section 40(2) Personal Information

The OPCC is withholding the information you have requested on the basis that the exemption contained in s 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act applies in that the information you have requested is personal data of third parties and the disclosure of the data would breach one of the principles contained in the Data Protection Act. The relevant principle is the first principle which states that:

Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully and shall not be processed unless –

(a) at least one of the conditions in Schedule 2 is met and

(b) in the case of sensitive personal data, at least one of the conditions in Schedule 3 is met

It is only necessary to consider (a) in respect of the information requested. The relevant condition in Schedule 2 is condition 6 which states that:

The processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests pursued by the data controller or by the third party or parties to whom the data are disclosed, except where the processing is unwarranted in any particular case by reason of prejudice to the rights and freedoms or legitimate interests of the data subject. The Freedom of Information Act is a public disclosure regime, not a private regime. Any information disclosed under the Act is thereafter deemed to be in the public domain, and therefore freely available to the general public and will be published on the OPFCC website.

Section 40(2) in these circumstances is an absolute exemption and there is no requirement for the public interest test to be considered.