McGrail Inquiry rules against reopening any investigation into payments made to former RGP officers

The Chair of the Mcgrail Inquiry has ruled against reopening any investigation into payments made to former RGP officers.

Ian McGrail’s solicitors had questioned whether Sir Peter Openshaw would require the production of new evidence relating to payments following the publication of the Principal Auditor’s report.

The Principal Auditor’s report referenced payments made to 31 former RGP  officers, spurring Mr Mcgrail’s legal team to ask whether these would be considered in the context of the inquiry.

Sir Peter Openshaw has now published his ruling, saying the process would be hugely costly, take perhaps a year if not longer, and that it would have limited – if any – benefit in helping him determining the facts and circumstances of Mr Mcgrail’s retirement.

Sir Peter points out that in investigating the reasons for Fabian Picardo and Nick Pyle claiming to lose confidence in the ex- commissioner, he had to assess what they knew or believed at the time, not what they learnt thereafter.

He also says that if the newly appointed Commissioner of the RGP, Owain Richards, wished to reopen a criminal investigation into these matters he was free to do so.

The inquiry report is at a very advanced stage and on track for publication this Autumn.