Police officer sues force over handling of affair complaint

A former detective is suing North Wales Police (NWP) over the handling of his complaint after his fiancée cheated on him with a colleague and later married the senior officer brought in to investigate the matter.

Andrew Fearon split up with his fiancée, who was also a police officer, in 2017 after she had an affair with another officer and he lodged a grievance.

His ex-fiancee is now married to the grievance manager who was looking into Fearon's complaints, but the force said there was no evidence the couple were in a relationship until long after the investigations had concluded.

Lawyers representing Fearon told a court that the way the force handled his complaints left him with complex PTSD.

Liverpool Civil Court was told that Fearon and another NWP officer – referred to in court only as "RH" - were engaged to be married.

But in 2017, four months before their wedding, she admitted having "numerous affairs", including one with a third police officer, referred to in court as "SP".

Fearon lodged a grievance, but the force concluded there was no case to answer. He has since retired on ill health grounds.

On Wednesday, Fearon brought his case to the civil court claiming that the officer appointed as grievance manager, was in a relationship with "RH" at the time.

He told the court: "Sources told me later that he was using his influence... to scuttle the investigation from the start."

When questioned by lawyers for NWP, he admitted that the information came from a single source, whom he refused to name in court.

When asked by the judge hearing the case on Thursday, Fearon said he accepted there was "no evidence of that relationship" at that time being put before the court.

The force said the officer appointed as grievance manager at the time, was now retired, and only started a relationship with "RH" in 2020, some years after she split up with Fearon, and some years after the investigation into her.

Fearon's case is that NWP should have referred his complaints to an outside police force, something he asked to happen four times in 2018, and which breached their duty of care towards him.

He claims the poor response from the force caused him further trauma. The court heard that Fearon is suing the force for over a third of a million pounds (£343,251) in damages and loss of earnings.

The case is due to last into next week.