PCC refuses to disclose any 'golden handshake'

DEVON and Cornwall's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has failed to disclose the details of a deal struck with Chief Constable Will Kerr before his retirement.

- By ALISON STEPHENSON

At a police and crime panel meeting on Friday, Alison Hernandez was asked on two occasions if Mr Kerr, who was suspended for two years on full pay, was given "a golden handshake".

She said: “Mr Kerr and I have mutually agreed an arrangement for him to leave and I have done it in a pragmatic and rational way.

"The information will be published in a statement of accounts next year if people wish to go and look at that, but it is not something to be discussed today.”

An investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) in England is continuing into gross misconduct, although this is not related to criminal allegations made against the officer investigated in Northern Ireland that have since been dismissed. Ms Hernandez said in her experience "this could go on for years”.