Serving Northants chief constable guilty of contempt of court
Nadine Buzzard-Quashie has fought a four-year battle, which has exposed Northants Police and led to chief constable Ivan Balhatchet being found in contempt
By Sarah Ward
Northants chief constable Ivan Balhatchet has been found guilty of contempt of court after a series of ‘misleading and untrue statements’ were made on his behalf to two courts.
The chief constable is now in the spotlight after the judgement was handed down by the court of appeal yesterday following a four year battle by woman who says she was wrongly arrested and maliciously prosecuted and who the court says has been vindicated in her claims that Northants Police with-held body worn video evidence of her arrest from her. Balhatchet could face a prison term of up to two years for contempt.
Chief Constable Balhatchet’s problems come in the same week that his predecessor Nick Adderley appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court charged with fraud and misconduct in public office after misrepresenting his CV and naval history. There is no link between the two cases.
In their damning written verdict yesterday the appeal court judges concluded that ‘a selection of misleading and untrue statements that have been made to the court on behalf of the Chief Constable’ and asserted that: ‘what has occurred in this case concerning the retention, production, refusal to produce and possible deletion of such video footage is a matter of significant concern.’
Today in response to questions from NN Journal, Northants Police has said Balhatchet, who has been in charge of the force since October 2023 does not intend to resign and the matter has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct by Police, fire and crime commissioner Danielle Stone. They say he only became aware of the case last month, leading to further questions about how his office is being run.
Long battle
Nadine Buzzard-Quashie was arrested by three Northants Police officers in September 2021 and charged (the offence is not listed in the court report). The charge was dropped by the crown prosecution service at her first court appearance and Buzzard-Quashie attempted to gain the body-worn footage of her three arresting officers. She claimed she had been physically assaulted and pushed in nettles during her arrest.