Ex-Met chief advising Devon and Cornwall Police

A former top police officer has been appointed as an adviser to Devon and Cornwall Police following the suspension of its Chief Constable.

Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Alison Hernandez told councillors at a Police and Crime Panel on Friday in Plymouth that Lord Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner from 2011 to 2017, would help in a strategic and tactical way.

She said the decision was taken after Chief Constable Will Kerr's suspension in July 2023 when he was accused of serious sexual offences, which he denies.

Ms Hernandez added she was not expecting any result from the investigation into Mr Kerr "any time soon", but was hopeful a decision would be made this year.

Last year, the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland said it was investigating "allegations of serious sexual offences" made against Mr Kerr, who used to be an Assistant Chief Constable for the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

In June, the Ombudsman said its investigation had been completed and a file had been submitted to the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland.

Ms Hernandez said Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland had told her they would give her another update in September.

Mr Kerr, who strenuously denied "any allegations of criminality" when the investigation was launched, has been suspended on full pay for nearly 12 months.

Ms Hernandez said following Mr Kerr's suspension, Devon and Cornwall was struggling with "all of the things you would expect to be the bread and butter of a police force".

She reminded councillors of the concerns raised by inspectors about the quality of its investigations and the time taken to respond to calls and attend incidents.

Philip Hackett, an independent councillor at Torridge Council, asked the PCC to explain why taxpayers in Devon and Cornwall were "paying for someone who was suspended and may be suspended for some time".

Ms Hernandez said she was expecting to make a decision regarding the role of Chief Constable "at some point this year".

She said that Lord Hogan-Howe was giving "strategic and tactical advice" to her and the acting Chief Constable Jim Colwell.

"We want to see what we can do to gee things up, create that pace, and see what more we could be doing," she said.

In a separate development, Ms Hernandez said she was making Mark Kingscote a Deputy Commissioner.

Mr Kingscote is a retired NHS mental health support worker who used to be a Conservative councillor in the same ward as Ms Hernandez in Torbay.

The panel voted to recommend the PCC did not appoint her chosen candidate as he did not meet the minimum requirements for the role, but Ms Hernandez said she would not accept the recommendation.

Defending her decision, Ms Hernandez said she felt it was the right move to bring in Mr Kingscote, especially during Mr Kerr's ongoing suspension.

She said: "I'm excited to be able to appoint Mark Kingscote today and he will help me on developing my street operational focus on tackling anti-social behaviour.

"He'll help build capacity in the leadership team while we've got the absence of a chief constable and the police are having their performance issues," she added.

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