Police officer ‘demoted for blowing the whistle’ on successor who commissioned ‘£8,000 silver statue of himself’ loses court docket battle

Two high flying executives who also volunteered as senior police officers became embroiled in a bitter row after one of them commissioned a £8,000 silver statue of himself.

Chief financial officer Ian Miller clashed with company chairman James Phipson after he succeeded him as chief officer of the City of London‘s special constables, an employment tribunal heard.

The Scottish chartered accountant, who has been awarded an MBE, accused Mr Phipson of fraud over the funding of a commemorative statuette ‘vanity project’ entitled ‘The Copper’ which was based on his likeness.

In return, Mr Phipson warned bosses that his ‘frustrated’ predecessor was undermining him and complained that alleged bad behaviour on Mr Miller’s part, including inappropriate behaviour with young female police officers, had been ignored.

The dispute culminated in Mr Phipson’s resignation and was followed by Mr Miller’s demotion to special constable, a move that he claimed was punishment for him blowing the whistle.

However, his claims have been dismissed after an employment judge ruled that his true ‘ulterior motive’ in making the statue allegations was his rival’s removal. 

The conflict was laid bare during a week long hearing in central London after Mr Miller, the chief financial officer for translation firm Guildhawk, sued the City of London police force (CLPD).

The tribunal was told that in addition to his ‘busy commercial career’ he has been a police volunteer since 2002, rising to the rank of special commander and chief officer of the special constabulary until 2016 when he began a secondment with the College of Policing.

Mr Miller continued carrying out patrols for the force but was replaced in his managerial role by Mr Phipson, chief executive of financial firm Dragon Argent.

The tribunal heard that the CLPD maintains a detachment of officers to the Honorary Artillery Company, a charitable trust which supports the HAC Regiment, which is a unit of the Army Reserve.

The HAC detachment was due to celebrate its centenary in 2019 and the year before Mr Phipson became involved in discussions about celebrating the anniversary.

‘One of the plans to commemorate the centenary was that there should be an item of silverware depicting a police officer to be presented to the HAC to join various other items of silverware of a military nature which form part of HAC’s collection,’ the tribunal was told.

Although funding was not properly agreed, a silversmith was commissioned to make ‘The Copper’, which Mr Phipson agreed to be the model for and which ended up costing just over £8,000.

In July 2019 Mr Miller was appointed as treasurer of the HAC detachment and became involved ‘in the question of the Silver Statuette purchase’ which he regarded as ‘unauthorised’.

In September he reported Mr Phipson to bosses claiming that he had commissioned the ‘unaffordable’ statue fraudulently.

‘My concern is that this action may represent fraud by misrepresentation or fraud by abuse of position at worst,’ he wrote.

‘This is seen by members of the detachment as a vanity project in which James used the funds of the HAC and/or the detachment to have a statuette of himself made in silver.

‘The impact on morale has been obvious.’

The tribunal was told that an investigation cleared Mr Phipson of any wrong-doing but that his relationship with Mr Miller deteriorated significantly from then on.

In an email to then CLPD Commissioner Ian Dyson, Mr Phipson accused his predecessor of trying to undermine him and ‘poisoning’ relationships.

‘He has consistently sniped, undermined and compromised our efforts, spreading dissent to subordinates and probationers, within the wider force, and further afield,’ he said.

‘He is clearly frustrated that he is no longer in command.’

The tribunal was told that Mr Miller made a series of other formal complaints about the performance of the City of London Special Constabulary (CLSC) under Mr Phipson.

He claimed that Mr Phipson had told a colleague that he was working with Commissioner Dyson to ‘destroy [Mr Miller’s] life, have his MBE rescinded, and have him placed on the College of Policing Barred List’, an allegation the tribunal rejected.

In December 2021 solicitors Mishcon de Reya, who represented Princess Diana during her divorce with King Charles, wrote on his behalf to the police chief alleging that he had suffered ‘detriment’ as a result of his whistleblowing.

The tribunal heard that in June 2022 Mr Phipson resigned as chief officer claiming Mr Miller has ‘consistently sought to undermine my command through insubordination, defamation, misrepresentation and malign insinuation’.

Describing him as ‘a rogue and unaccountable individual’, he accused his superiors of failing to tackle concerns raised about his predecessor.

These included ‘consistent and long-term incidents and allegations of sexual impropriety’, he said.

‘These have included forcibly embracing a young female special late at night in his car (for which he was formally disciplined); continuing to drive lone female specials home late at night; ironing a female special’s uniform and polishing her shoes without her knowledge before a parade; and almost solely selecting female specials to accompany him in patrol cars,’ he wrote.

‘This has been raised again and again…but no effective action or sanction has been taken – either formal or informal.’

In 2023 a restructuring of the ‘top heavy’ special constabulary within police force recommended ‘deleting’ most of the senior ranks.

Mr Miller was told that as part of this process he could revert to being a special constable, transfer to another force or retire. As he didn’t respond, he was demoted.

At the tribunal he claimed this move was made because of the ‘protected disclosures’ that he had made.

He also claimed that he had not received a new dress uniform and been issued with a different badge from other special constables.

However, his case was dismissed with the panel finding Mr Miller had ‘ulterior’ motives in reporting Mr Phipson over the statue.

Employment Judge Timothy Adkin said: ‘He wanted Mr Phipson out of the role of chief officer of the Special Constabulary.

‘He saw Mr Phipson as a problem which the statuette allegation would ‘fix’. Our finding is that there was solely an ulterior motive which was [his] personal agenda to remove Mr Phipson.

‘This was an internal, personal dispute and rivalry between the two men and we find [Mr Miller] did not have any belief that it was in the public interest to make this disclosure.’