Nick Adderley: Failures highlighted as Northamptonshire Police missed chief constable's lies
A damning report has revealed a slew of opportunities were missed to spot inconsistencies in the CV of a top police officer who claimed to have served in the Falklands as a 15-year-old.
Nick Adderley was sacked as Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police in June for gross misconduct for lying about his military record.
A report into how he was able to get away with his lies has revealed the force's "very significant failings", including a failure to ask for basic corroboration or keep records of his application for the £176,500-a-year job.
Adderley had claimed to serve in the Falklands War, despite it ending when he was just 15 years old, and said that he attended prestigious Britannia Royal Naval College for four years, when it was later proven his application was rejected.He had also been wearing a Falklands War medal - implying he had served in the war - which was deemed to be "110% fake" by a Ministry of Defence medal expert.
Mr Adderley claimed he served in the Royal Navy for 10 years when he had served for only two, and had apparently included his service with the Sea Cadets from the age of 10 in that calculation.
The report, published by Northamptonshire Police, says that checks on his qualifications and military record were not carried out.
'A very dark chapter in the history of Northamptonshire Police'
Pre-employment checks were not carried to verify Mr Adderley's degree, education or qualifications.
When he joined Northamptonshire Police, Mr Adderley had previously undergone high-grade vetting known as "developed vetting" (DV). Northamptonshire Police assumed this meant he had also undergone a separate process known as "management vetting" (MV). However, this assumption was not checked - in fact, the relevant MV was never carried out.
When Mr Adderley did undergo MV in 2023, following his re-appointment as chief constable, he gave different details to what he had previously given on other forms. Northamptonshire Police did not pick up on this. The force said it now wants the Home Office to consider some legal change to the vetting process.
Also in 2023, Mr Adderley failed to give the required details so that an HM Forces checkcould be carried out. He left the boxes on the form blank - Northamptonshire Police did not pick him up on that and did not carry out the check on his claimed service.
Many details around Adderley's application could not be checked because Northamptonshire Police did not keep the forms beyond 12 months. They now say they will keep them for longer.
It found that assumptions were made that, because he was undergoing the highest level of vetting, all prior checks had been done.
But inspectors found no evidence that this was the case, and that nobody at Northamptonshire Police had ever checked to make sure.
They also found that when Mr Adderley submitted his vetting renewal forms in 2023, while Chief Constable, he gave different details on each - something that was never picked up on.
The report also raised questions about Adderley's CV.
In it, he details gaining a Master's Degree in Criminology and Police Leadership from Cambridge University in 2011.
But the report found "no record of checking or verifying the master’s degree and no degree certificate was scanned/retained/can be located at this time".
Acting Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet said: "This has been a very dark chapter in the history of Northamptonshire Police, but I am absolutely determined to get right to the heart of all the issues which have surfaced since the original allegations were brought to the attention of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) a year ago.
"This report is difficult reading because there undoubtedly were very significant failings in the processes leading up to the appointment of Nick Adderley in 2018 and the handling of his vetting renewal in 2023.
"We are taking robust action to ensure this situation will never arise again and that officers and staff as well as the communities we serve across Northamptonshire, have the utmost confidence in our processes going forward.”
Northamptonshire's police, fire and crime commissioner Danielle Stone said she fully supported the approach taken in the aftermath of the former chief’s dismissal.
"It’s disappointing that more thorough checks were not carried out when Nick Adderley was appointed," she said.
"I’m pleased that the lessons have been learned, and processes and systems will bestrengthened, and standards raised to give the public confidence in the recruitment of senior police officers.
"I’ve already begun conversations with the Home Office to highlight the gap between national and local systems and to explore what can be done.
"I’m grateful to the Acting Chief Constable Ivan Balhatchet for this clear and thorough review, produced and published so quickly. Transparency and integrity must be at the heart of everything we do."
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