I stand corrected, Chris, and thanks for the link.
I think paras 8 and 9 are pertinent:
8. The Home Secretary will consider whether the pensioner’s offence was either gravely injurious to the interests of the State or liable to lead to serious loss of confidence in the public service
.
9. A person’s rights to a police pension are part of the remuneration to which that a certificate will be issued, it is an additional penalty which should not be added automatically to whatever sentence the Court has imposed. In deciding whether to issue a certificate therefore, the Home Secretary attaches a greater weight to the "serious loss of confidence in the public service" than the harm inevitably caused by any police officer or former police officer who commits a crime.
First of all, of course, Mr Duckenfield will have to be convicted of an offence and this is by no means a certainty. Further, if he is, it is arguable whether his actions led to a “serious loss of confidence in the police service”. His actions on the day were an error of judgement, plain and simple. However he compounded that error by his subsequent lies.
What I find most interesting, though, having read the Cheshire document is the legitimacy of these regulations. I don’t know if they have ever been invoked but it is quite clear that forfeiture of pension is a considerable additional penalty which is being imposed for a criminal offence non-judicially. Up to a few years ago serving prisoners could lose remission (when they got a third off for “good behaviour”) following a hearing in front of the prison governor. It was ruled that additional penalties were being imposed by the governor who was not “a properly convened tribunal”. It is clear from the document, when it speaks of decisions being made at a “quasi-judicial meeting” that the status of such a panel could be simily challenged.
I actually find it outrageous that a police officer can suffer a substantial additional penalty for a criminal offence over and above what a court imposes in accordance with the law and sentencing guidelines (even though it is clear that he the sum he personally had contributed to his pension cannot be subject to forfeit).