Yet again NNJ proves its importance to the public of our county. Do get all your friends to read everything this site publishes and, better still, get everyone you know to subscribe. Worth every penny! Who else is going to hold our public servants to account?
Couldn't agree more, its only when you read this story, in tandem with NNJournal being threatened for exposing stuff by the same force you realise how rotten to the core the borough is, and the few good officers and staff trying to make a different internally are bullied out. We need good journalists to make us aware of this, god knows where we would be without people exposing this stuff. Nick Adderley & Mold still in post, with god knows how they would have handled this situation with Nadine.
The article mentions the ongoing court action brought by Nadine Buzzard-Quashie (NBQ) arising from appalling events which took place in 2021. Her civil case against the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire was commenced in the High Court in December 2024 and the police filed their defence in February 2025. When the Commissioner appeared before the PFCC Panel on 27 November 2025 she claimed that Chief Constable Balhatchet did not know about the matter until 22 October 2025 and herself/her office until about 3-5 November 2025. The matter to which the Commissioner was referring were the county court and the the Court of Appeal cases, particularly it seems the latter. Be that as it may, I think most people would question the accuracy of this assertion of having no knowledge until the dates mentioned. In the unlikely event that this assertion is true it beggars belief that the police and the Office of the Commissioner did not inform the Commissioner and the Chief Constable respectively about the court cases when they were commenced and the proceedings served. Remember the county court and Court of Appeal hearings were concerned with the failure of Northants Police to comply with an order of the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to hand over material requested by NBQ from Northants Police and her appeal to the Court of Appeal that found Chief Constable Balhatchet was himself guilty of contempt of court.
It is staggering and very questionable that Commissioner Stone did not mention the main High Court proceedings to the PFCC Panel. Did the Panel know on 27 November 2025 of all the cases? Not a word of mention was made by Danielle Stone on 27 November about the existence of the main High Court proceedings. In my view Danielle Stone has been evasive and, as with the Chief Constable, public trust and confidence must be absent. All this with the recent history of the disgraced former Chief Constable now facing criminal proceedings and the conduct of Danielle Stone's predecessor fresh in the public's mind. The public are being treated with utter contempt.
On the matter of the legal costs and out-of-pocket expenses these are set out in the NNJ article but they are going to amount to very much more when the legal costs of the continuing High Court civil action are added. Unless an out-of-court settlement is reached costs awards are always in the discretion of the court. I am sure an award of a seven figure sum will be made or be part of any settlement. Who is going to foot this "bill"? No mention of this by Danielle Stone or her Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer, Jonny Bugg. But even these eye watering figures may pale into relative insignificance when the compensation which will be payable to NBQ is added to the costs figures.
Danielle Stone has many more questions to answer but those good councillors on the PFCC Panel who are seeking the truth (sadly, not all of the Panel it seems) are being frustrated from doing this for incomprehensible and unacceptable reasons. What a rotten and shameful state of affairs.
Cllr Keeble (Labour) claimed that the Commissioner has many accomplishments in that post.
What we want to know is where is the evidences to support her comments. What the public sees is the lack of transparency in the Commissioner Office. The Commissioner Danielle Stone had said previously that she had sacked Adderley. Not true! The hearing into his military career did that for her.
Balhatchet who preside over one of the most chaotic Constabulary remain in post. Stone has the authority for instant dismissal of Balhatchet. However, she took no decisive actions. The legal cost are going to skyrocket. The Panel under the Chairmanship of Cllr Mark Arnull (Reform UK Ltd) has shown no interest in demanding both the Commissioner and her Deputy immediate resignation. Who has got the backbone to put a stop to this farcical nonsense?
Seems another left over from the past that is coming to bite the present incumbents.
With the departure of previous PFCC there was a opportunity to clear the decks and start afresh. Unfortunately these revelations reveal that this is still to happen. With the government now planning to reorganise the police into fewer, bigger forces these are the dog days of the present regime but Danielle Stone should not flinch from ensuring that the Northamptonshire Police are are in a better state when she leaves than what it was when she took over.
Northants Police abusing their powers to arrest and seize evidence that could discredit them or fellow officers and then lying about it.... surely not.
As the member of the public who asked about the costs giving the PFCC the chance for her to actually be transparent what I take away from this is how claims no one knew are poppycock.
These eye watering sums were signed off over the course of years. Former MP Sally Keeble asked if any review was undertaken when Stone took office. The answer a resounding no.
It really doesn't inspire any confidence that the dark days of Nick Adderley have changed at all when the MO is to just lie and deny knowledge, with officers lying to the court to cover for their colleagues misconduct, at a time when we are told we need to pay more because budgets are tight.
The worst part of this sorry tale is that these costs are just the tip of the iceberg with the PFCC helping increase these daily with trying to be the Chief's best friend and not upset him rather than doing what she was elected to.
Until she grows a backbone and challenges the people pulling the strings who think assaulting members of the public is a noble act they need to back their colleagues up about then nothing will change.
As taxpayers,we now need to see all the supporting lawyers costs. We know that solicitors provide unsupported cost claims that are basically fraudulent accounting in cases such as this and that only court cases costs have any sort of scrutiny and that the Legal Ombudsman is toothless in this respect.
Yet again NNJ proves its importance to the public of our county. Do get all your friends to read everything this site publishes and, better still, get everyone you know to subscribe. Worth every penny! Who else is going to hold our public servants to account?
Thanks for the rallying call Sid.
Couldn't agree more, its only when you read this story, in tandem with NNJournal being threatened for exposing stuff by the same force you realise how rotten to the core the borough is, and the few good officers and staff trying to make a different internally are bullied out. We need good journalists to make us aware of this, god knows where we would be without people exposing this stuff. Nick Adderley & Mold still in post, with god knows how they would have handled this situation with Nadine.
The article mentions the ongoing court action brought by Nadine Buzzard-Quashie (NBQ) arising from appalling events which took place in 2021. Her civil case against the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire was commenced in the High Court in December 2024 and the police filed their defence in February 2025. When the Commissioner appeared before the PFCC Panel on 27 November 2025 she claimed that Chief Constable Balhatchet did not know about the matter until 22 October 2025 and herself/her office until about 3-5 November 2025. The matter to which the Commissioner was referring were the county court and the the Court of Appeal cases, particularly it seems the latter. Be that as it may, I think most people would question the accuracy of this assertion of having no knowledge until the dates mentioned. In the unlikely event that this assertion is true it beggars belief that the police and the Office of the Commissioner did not inform the Commissioner and the Chief Constable respectively about the court cases when they were commenced and the proceedings served. Remember the county court and Court of Appeal hearings were concerned with the failure of Northants Police to comply with an order of the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to hand over material requested by NBQ from Northants Police and her appeal to the Court of Appeal that found Chief Constable Balhatchet was himself guilty of contempt of court.
It is staggering and very questionable that Commissioner Stone did not mention the main High Court proceedings to the PFCC Panel. Did the Panel know on 27 November 2025 of all the cases? Not a word of mention was made by Danielle Stone on 27 November about the existence of the main High Court proceedings. In my view Danielle Stone has been evasive and, as with the Chief Constable, public trust and confidence must be absent. All this with the recent history of the disgraced former Chief Constable now facing criminal proceedings and the conduct of Danielle Stone's predecessor fresh in the public's mind. The public are being treated with utter contempt.
On the matter of the legal costs and out-of-pocket expenses these are set out in the NNJ article but they are going to amount to very much more when the legal costs of the continuing High Court civil action are added. Unless an out-of-court settlement is reached costs awards are always in the discretion of the court. I am sure an award of a seven figure sum will be made or be part of any settlement. Who is going to foot this "bill"? No mention of this by Danielle Stone or her Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer, Jonny Bugg. But even these eye watering figures may pale into relative insignificance when the compensation which will be payable to NBQ is added to the costs figures.
Danielle Stone has many more questions to answer but those good councillors on the PFCC Panel who are seeking the truth (sadly, not all of the Panel it seems) are being frustrated from doing this for incomprehensible and unacceptable reasons. What a rotten and shameful state of affairs.
Cllr Keeble (Labour) claimed that the Commissioner has many accomplishments in that post.
What we want to know is where is the evidences to support her comments. What the public sees is the lack of transparency in the Commissioner Office. The Commissioner Danielle Stone had said previously that she had sacked Adderley. Not true! The hearing into his military career did that for her.
Balhatchet who preside over one of the most chaotic Constabulary remain in post. Stone has the authority for instant dismissal of Balhatchet. However, she took no decisive actions. The legal cost are going to skyrocket. The Panel under the Chairmanship of Cllr Mark Arnull (Reform UK Ltd) has shown no interest in demanding both the Commissioner and her Deputy immediate resignation. Who has got the backbone to put a stop to this farcical nonsense?
Seems another left over from the past that is coming to bite the present incumbents.
With the departure of previous PFCC there was a opportunity to clear the decks and start afresh. Unfortunately these revelations reveal that this is still to happen. With the government now planning to reorganise the police into fewer, bigger forces these are the dog days of the present regime but Danielle Stone should not flinch from ensuring that the Northamptonshire Police are are in a better state when she leaves than what it was when she took over.
Northants Police abusing their powers to arrest and seize evidence that could discredit them or fellow officers and then lying about it.... surely not.
As the member of the public who asked about the costs giving the PFCC the chance for her to actually be transparent what I take away from this is how claims no one knew are poppycock.
These eye watering sums were signed off over the course of years. Former MP Sally Keeble asked if any review was undertaken when Stone took office. The answer a resounding no.
It really doesn't inspire any confidence that the dark days of Nick Adderley have changed at all when the MO is to just lie and deny knowledge, with officers lying to the court to cover for their colleagues misconduct, at a time when we are told we need to pay more because budgets are tight.
The worst part of this sorry tale is that these costs are just the tip of the iceberg with the PFCC helping increase these daily with trying to be the Chief's best friend and not upset him rather than doing what she was elected to.
Until she grows a backbone and challenges the people pulling the strings who think assaulting members of the public is a noble act they need to back their colleagues up about then nothing will change.
It seems obvious that at least one and probably more than one police officer took unlawful action to hide the truth. Who pays the penalty?
As taxpayers,we now need to see all the supporting lawyers costs. We know that solicitors provide unsupported cost claims that are basically fraudulent accounting in cases such as this and that only court cases costs have any sort of scrutiny and that the Legal Ombudsman is toothless in this respect.