Ex-Police Federation chair wins suspension review

A decision to suspend the chairman of the West Midlands Police Federation, who suggested claims of widespread racism in the force were "nonsense", has been quashed by the High Court.

Richard Cooke was suspended in December 2024 after an investigation by the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) found his comments had breached professional standards.

At the time he said he had been "the victim of a witch hunt", and the ruling on Monday said the decision to suspend him had breached his right to free speech.

In response, the federation said it considered the judgment to be flawed and would appeal, while Cooke said he was delighted and called for the federation's chief executive to resign.

Cooke was investigated by the PFEW in 2024 over several comments he made on social media and in interviews.

One post on X claimed a forum called Brave Spaces, where police officers and staff could share experiences of racism, homophobia and sexism was a "fishing trip to collect hearsay and innuendo to smear colleagues".

When a former chief inspector claimed there was widespread racism and homophobia within the force, Cooke responded that it was "nonsense".

He later said he rejected the use of the word "widespread".

He was found to have breached professional standards, was suspended from his role as chairman and banned from standing in elections for any public roles for a year.

Cooke submitted a claim for a judicial review at the High Court in May last year. The ruling quashed both his suspension and a subsequent appeal which had been unsuccessful.

The court judgment stated: "Mr Cooke's claim succeeds in part: the decisions imposing and maintaining sanctions on his speech are unlawful insofar as they were reached without the required Article 10 [of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to freedom of expression] analysis or a proportionate justification for restricting his freedom of expression."

"This whole situation has taken a heavy personal as well as professional toll on my family and I," Cooke said.

"I only ever sought to defend the reputation of my colleagues from what I considered were unfair, misleading headlines about them. A job I was twice elected to do.

"For that I was silenced and banned from standing in elections by my own representative body, in what I consider was a politically motivated witch hunt.

"The High Court has now declared this unlawful. The CEO of PFEW and his supporters should now resign."

Former West Midlands police officer Khizra Bano was one of the people who had filed complaints against Cooke.

She set up the Brave Spaces forum at West Midlands Police which was criticised by Cooke on social media.

At the time, the PFEW said it had received "multiple complaints on this matter".

Bano told the BBC on Monday that she was glad the PFEW had acted against Cooke, "regardless of predictable challenge and pushback".

"No part of today's judgement refutes the fact that [Cooke] behaved very badly.

"Where he says my reports are 'nonsense' and challenges the veracity of the Brave Space findings, he makes it virtually impossible for the Brave Space complainants to have their discrimination issues addressed.

"All because he feels so certain that he has the right to say stupid, reckless things in public spaces."

In a statement, the PFEW said the case was about process and not about the substance of the complaints or whether or not we were right to take action.

"We acted following multiple serious complaints about behaviour that was found by an independent panel to fall below the standards set out in our statutory rules.

"We were right to act, and it is vital that we continue to stand up for victims and challenge poor behaviour, particularly on matters of race and discrimination.

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