The Office of the Committee for Home Affairs has apologised for sharing incorrect information with the media, and therefore the public at large, in a statement confirming that the former Chief of Police had been cleared of lying.
Last Friday, the States communications team issued a media release to Express and others, confirming that an external investigation had concluded that Ruari Hardy did not lie in a court hearing brought against the force by members of the public.
The statement referenced a firearms case, but the complainant said that was nothing to do with the concerns he had raised in this instance.
Home Affairs has now admitted it was wrong and the Office of the Committee has apologised.
“Those references should have referred to another civil case, brought by the same member of the public and his partner, following an incident at their home in October 2021,” the Committee said.
It added that the complaint, which was investigated by West Midlands Police “was very complex and referenced evidence submitted by the former Chief Officer to both the firearms revocation case and the civil case”.
“The Office of the Committee for Home Affairs, whose officers prepared the previous media statement, apologise to the complainants and the former Chief Officer, for referencing the firearms licence revocation appeal as being the proceedings in which the statement by the former Chief Officer was made”.
Having apologised for the error in its previous public statement, Home Affairs has also said that this doesn’t change the facts at the heart of the matter – reiterating again that Mr Hardy did not lie.
“Having acknowledged the point of clarification, it is very important that we restate unequivocally that the findings of the investigation by West Midlands Police into the complaint against the former Chief Officer were that there was no case to answer and which is a conclusion unaffected by the incorrect reference in the previous media statement,” it said.
The Office of the Committee for Home Affairs has separately apologised to the media for sharing incorrect information for dissemination to the public.