Tuesday, 11 June 2013

Plebgate: PROBE COP RAPPED OVER FREEBIES




PLEBGATE PROBECOP RAP OVER FREEBIES; 

VIP treatment at gigs and match

EXCLUSIVE

Jason Lewis

9 June 2013


RESIGNED: Andrew Mitchell

THE senior police officer leading the review into the Plebgate affair has been warned over freebies he enjoyed at the home of a Premier League club.
Deputy chief constable Ian Hopkins was questioned over hospitality he accepted from Manchester City FC's security chief at least four times - which he failed to declare promptly.
He enjoyed VIP facilities at sell-out concerts at the City of Manchester Stadium to see Take That, Coldplay and Bruce Springsteen and to watch a Champions League fixture against Real Madrid.
Mr Hopkins and guests were treated to a hotpot and drinks in the corporate hospitality area.
He is in charge of a team of officers from the Greater Manchester force examining the Met police's handing of Plebgate, the affair which led Tory MP Andrew Mitchell to resign as Chief Whip, after a row with officers in Downing Street.
Deputy Chief: Ian Hopkins

The newly appointed £140,000-a-year deputy chief is investigating claims officers lied and fabricated evidence. Mr Mitchell was accused of calling the police plebs, which he denies.
Mr Hopkins has frequently overseen the policing of football matches. Now he has been warned about his failure to disclose immediately special treatment as a guest of the stadium's head of security Peter Fletcher, who is also a former senior police officer with the Greater Manchester force.
Last night a statement from the chief constable Sir Peter Fahy said: "The Deputy Chief Constable has attended three concerts at the Etihad having purchased standard tickets. At each he has received an element of hospitality and has been given advice by the Chief Constable about this issue. As a result he has made additional entries in the force's Gifts and Hospitality Register.”
He added that Mr Hopkins had not been formally disciplined but said the discussion had been “part of the normal relationship between managers and staff and provides a record that a matter has been addressed.”
He added: "It is accepted that occasionally police officers are offered gifts and hospitality due to the role that they perform and the relationships that they build with partners and commercial organisations. It is important that any such gifts and hospitality that are accepted are properly recorded. 
"There is a commercial relationship between MCFC and Greater Manchester Police over the provision of policing services. The charging mechanism for this this set by national guidance, which GMP adheres to."

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