NCA officer unfairly sacked after offensive Muslim remarks

The NCA lost vital evidence relating to its disciplinary process against Abbey Brooke, a tribunal heard

A National Crime Agency (NCA) officer who made offensive remarks about Muslims was unfairly sacked, an employment tribunal has found.

Abbey Brooke made the comments at a training session led by Abrar Javid, a Muslim community leader in Rotherham.

The tribunal said the intelligence officer's conduct had contributed to her dismissal.

But it found the dismissal was unfair due to procedural failures during the NCA disciplinary process.

Ms Brooke was awarded over £6,500 in compensation.

Details of the employment tribunal heard in Leeds in December 2021 are now reportable for the first time after BBC News successfully argued that a number of reporting restrictions imposed by the court should be lifted.

The tribunal heard that in 2020 the NCA summarily sacked Ms Brooke for making the remarks during a training session in Sheffield which was examining best practice for arresting suspects and searching homes where Muslim women were present.

The NCA found that Ms Brooke said words to the effect: "If I was in their country I wouldn't expect an English-speaking Christian officer to be on the search. In their country they wouldn't expect this so why should they expect it here?

She had also used the phrase: "They can always go home".

The tribunal did not rule on whether she had made those particular remarks, which she denied, but did find she had made comments which others had found racially offensive.

The training session had been led by Mr Javid.

Abrar Javid was leading the training session during which Ms Brooke made the offensive remarks

In evidence to the tribunal, Ms Brookes claimed she had believed Mr Javid was a suspect in Operation Stovewood - the NCA's investigation into the historical sexual abuse of more than 1,000 young female victims in Rotherham.

The NCA, however, confirmed to the tribunal that Mr Javid is not and has never been a Stovewood suspect.

Ms Brooke went on to claim the NCA had sacked her after she had raised concerns about Mr Javid. The tribunal held, however, that the reason for her dismissal was the conduct alleged against her.

The tribunal accepted that Ms Brooke's belief that Mr Javid had been a suspect was wrong.

Concerns raised

Two other former NCA officers, who appeared as witnesses for Ms Brooke, said they too had raised concerns with senior management about the appointment of Mr Javid to deliver training on the basis that an associate of his had been a suspect in Operation Stovewood.

In evidence, former NCA officer Derek Hatton stated that, in his opinion, allowing Mr Javid to conduct training sessions inside a police building might have allowed Mr Javid to gather information which could have been passed to individuals being investigated by Operation Stovewood.

A third former NCA officer, Peter Sayer, stated that Mr Javid had been present as officers from the crime agency arrested a suspect of Operation Stovewood.

When approached by the BBC News about the statements made at the tribunal, Mr Javid declined to comment.

In written evidence senior officers from the NCA said Mr Javid was the "community engagement lead" for Stovewood.

NCA Regional Head Robert Burgess told the tribunal he had been advised that Mr Javid "is not, nor has ever been, a suspect within Operation Stovewood and as such, has been someone that my predecessor, and then subsequently I, have spoken to in order to ensure ongoing community engagement".

In April 2022, Employment Judge Olivia-Faith Dobbie ruled that Ms Brooke had been unfairly dismissed by the NCA.

She stated the crime agency had acted reasonably in dismissing Ms Brooke in the "belief that the claimant (Ms Brooke) had made the comments alleged (or similar such comments)".

However, because the internal disciplinary process took a total of 16 months to complete and the NCA had lost vital evidence as part of the process, the dismissal of Ms Brooke was unfair.

'Wholly inappropriate'

A spokesman for the NCA said: "The NCA expects the highest standards of conduct and integrity from all its officers.

"This is especially true for those working on a sensitive investigation like Operation Stovewood, where maintaining the trust and confidence of the community is vital to our success.

"Where those high standards are not met we reserve the right to take action swiftly.

"In this case it was our view that the attitudes shown were wholly inappropriate for a law enforcement officer, and the tribunal agreed that our decision to dismiss the individual concerned was reasonable.

"We acknowledge and respect the decision of the tribunal in respect of the procedural issues identified."

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