I received a Court Order yesterday, confirming that the third tribunal involving the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and I will take place at the beginning of 2014.
I appeared before the Employment Judge earlier this week, who made her decisions about what will happen in this particular case.
I have already been through a six-week hearing in 2011 with a judgment in 2012, followed by an appeal hearing presided over by a High Court Judge in 2013. It is hard to believe that my disputes have gone on since 2009, after becoming seriously unwell.
However, for the first time this week since my battle for justice against Scotland Yard began, I saw my hope for accountability with the treatment I endured dim somewhat.
Only on Tuesday gone, some 11 months after Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe dismissed me as a Detective for ‘Discrediting the Police Service and Undermining It’, did he choose to disclose that one of the three people who sanctioned my dismissal on his behalf back in December 2012 is also a member of the court I will challenge the events leading to the sacking at in the new year.
My concerns no doubt like all those who pursue the right to be treated fairly and within the law at work, are that not only should justice be done, but seen to be done. I’m unsure if that can be achieved now.
I have put everything I know and believe in the British Justice System, because it is all I have as a black ‘mixed-race’ gay Briton in holding to account those whom treat me unlawfully because of my race and/or sexuality.
With the revelation this week, I know my battle will be that much harder as I learned a member of the judiciary was involved in my dismissal. Having been charged twice with Gross Misconduct by the Commissioner, which I dispute.
The writing, may already be on the wall.
I’ve read the many newspaper articles written about my case over the years, and in particular this year within The Guardian, The Times and The Independent, since the Commissioner fired me for challenging him in the first court.
People often tell me that I have ‘won’ in the Public Court of Opinion and although they mean well, it is the Court of Law that I am looking to for accountability. Trial by media is one thing, but it is trial by justice that I hope for.
Equally, I believe there are no winners in this public fall out. I lost my career, and he lost a good cop. A profession, I had dedicated my entire adult life to.
Despite all the games and tactics the Metropolitan Police Service has put me through, I have to work as hard as I can whilst unwell to ensure the justice system works for the average person like me.
I don’t have much and especially not the financial resources and massive legal department the Police Commissioner has, but what I do have to have is hope that someone somewhere will hold him to account for the despicable treatment others and I have gone through and continue to go through for highlighting inequality within the Police Service.
It’s all I have left, as everything else like my home and relationship have gone.
I might not be part of the establishment, but I have served it well since the beginning of my public life at the young age of ten having joined the cadet forces.
I might not look like it with the colour of my skin or even act like it with who I choose to live my life with because I am gay, but, if you cut me open, I am more British than many of those who call themselves patriots.
There is nothing patriotic in these UK modern times, about being a racist and/or homophobe. It’s not how I was raised, it’s not how the friends I have of all different colours and pursuasions act.