Senior officer behind Met drug strategy sacked over refusal to take drug test

Disciplinary panel had found Julian Bennett guilty of gross misconduct for refusing test when accused of smoking cannabis

A senior Metropolitan police commander who wrote the force's drug strategy has been sacked after he was found guilty of gross misconduct for refusing to take a drugs test when he was accused of smoking cannabis.

A disciplinary panel cleared Julian Bennett, who has served in the force since 1976, of using the drug at home in late 2019, but found that he had breached force standards for honesty and integrity, orders and instructions, and discreditable conduct by refusing to provide a urine sample for a drug test on 21 July 2020.