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Stargazer PCSO in sacking
‘Eccentric’ cop was fired
A COMMUNITY support officer claimed police colleagues at Charing Cross station were members of a “secret society” and warned about astrological messages in the night sky after he was fired for harassing shopkeepers in Covent Garden, an employment tribunal has heard.
Leon Eioyaccu denied a series of allegations about his conduct as a police community support officer (PCSO), only admitting to trying to salsa dance with a member of staff at the Sketch fashion, which he claimed he did “out of sheer politeness”.
His denials were not accepted by Met Police bosses who sacked him for gross misconduct after an internal investigation.
Mr Eioyaccu took an unfair dismissal case to an employment tribunal and won on the grounds that he had not been warned his disciplinary could result in his sacking and that the Met had not considered a “medical suspension’ rather than dismissal”.
The Met appealed against that tribunal’s findings and an employment appeal court judge has now ruled a compensation award of £10,896 should be slashed by 75 per cent.
The Met argued that they had invited Mr Eioyaccu to occupational health assessments but he had declined to take part and that he had been made aware of the disciplinary process.
The tribunal papers, which have just been released, reveal the long history to the case which began when Mr Eioyaccu was first employed as a PCSO in December 2005.
Alarm was raised the following March when council officials in neighbouring Camden complained that he had identified himself as a police officer at their offices and asked for satellite dishes to be removed because they were being used by “aliens”, according to court documents.
The papers said Mr Eioyaccu denied the episode and a Met Police Occupational Health Review concluded that he simply had a “a few eccentricities”.
In November 2006, he launched a complaint against the Met on the grounds that there was a culture of racial discrimination at Charing Cross but it was not upheld.
According to court papers, during an internal Met inquiry, “there was some conversation about his interest in astrology and he went on to explain that he had a personal suspicion that there was some sort of secret society, linked to stonemasons, meeting in the Covent Garden areas”.
Mr Eioyaccu complained that the investigation which led to his sacking had “fallen short of the standards of Edgar Allan Poe’s fictional characters Legrand and Dupin”.
A police spokesman said on Wednesday: “The Metropolitan Police Service expects its staff to behave professional, ethically and with integrity at all times. Any allegations of misconduct are thoroughly investigated and dealt with appropriately.” |
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