Pubdate: Sun, 16 Mar 2003
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2003 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Contact:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author: Nick Hopkins, crime correspondent
Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Brian+Paddick
http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

POLICE CHIEF SUES OVER KISS AND TELL

Scotland Yard commander Brian Paddick is suing Associated Newspapers
for breach of privacy over two "kiss and tell" articles in the Mail on
Sunday last year.

Mr Paddick is not claiming a specific amount, but his advisers believe
he is entitled to a sum in the region of UKP100,000 - the money paid by
the Mail on Sunday to James Renolleau, Mr Paddick's former partner.

Mr Renolleau, 37, a former male model, alleged in a story last March
that Mr Paddick smoked cannabis regularly and allowed the drug to be
stored in the flat they shared.

Mr Paddick denied the allegations and an eight-month investigation by
the crown prosecution service, the police complaints authority and the
Metropolitan police authority cleared him of any serious wrongdoing.

The paper also quoted Mr Renolleau giving intimate details of their
life together. He accused Mr Paddick of having frequent casual gay sex
encounters and visiting gay saunas. All the allegations were denied.

The following week the Mail on Sunday ran an interview with a former
girlfriend of Mr Paddick, to whom he was engaged 20 years ago.

Lawyers acting for Mr Paddick believe that the articles contain
material which are a clear breach of his privacy. They claim they
cannot be defended on the grounds of public interest.

"There are many intrusive details about Commander Paddick's private
life in the two stories," said Tamsin Allen, a media specialist at
London solicitors Bindmans. "Mr Paddick is not making any specific
claim for damages. That will be up to the court to decide."

Mr Paddick, the country's most senior openly gay officer, had to leave
his post as borough commander of Lambeth after the allegations of drug
taking.

He had pioneered the softly-softly approach to the possession of
cannabis, telling officers to caution rather than arrest people caught
with the drug so that they could concentrate on tackling class A drug
traffickers and users.

Mr Paddick became a target for the homophobic vitriol of some
tabloids. The Sun said he was the "commander [who] brings a whole new
meaning to the expression bent copper", and the Daily Mail called him
the "camp commander" and an "an icon for our moral decadence".

The home secretary, David Blunkett, has announced that he intends to
downgrade cannabis from class B to class C. A modified form of the
Lambeth experiment has been extended across the capital.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake