August 7, 2017 – CLB Employment Solutions Blog

PC Jonathan Adams is, like me, a fan of horse racing. However, his enthusiasm for the sport caught up with him when he faked illness to watch horses in which he had an interest.

PC Adams was praised for his community policing work in Gloucester city centre and was described by a retired chief inspector as being “one of the most honest police officers I have ever come across”.

On 30 September 2015 he was off work, having called in to say that he was suffering from diarrhoea. However, this coincided with the running of Little Lady Katie at Nottingham, a then three year old filly trained by Karl Burke in which he had a 2.5% share. The horse was third of eleven at odds of 16/1. In the subsequent investigation his attendance at the racecourse was revealed by a number plate check.

He was at Nottingham races again on 6 April 2016, this time watching the same horse come seventh of twelve at odds of 8/1 and having called in sick with a migraine.

He subsequently requested the week off for Royal Ascot and was refused. Undeterred, he told Gloucestershire Constabulary that he had to take 17 June off because he was suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. Somewhat unwisely, particularly bearing in mind his occupation, he was spotted later that day on Channel 4 Racing, leaping about with joy (pictured: credit Channel 4 Television), when another Karl Burke horse in the same syndicate ownership (but in which he didn’t have a stake), Quiet Reflection, won the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup, having gone off at at odds of 7/4 favourite and beating, among others, the Aidan O’Brien trained Washington DC.

At a disciplinary hearing held over two days in July 2017 PC Adams said that he had decided that it would do him more good to go to the races than stay at home because racecourses were his “happy place” where he could alleviate his symptoms of crippling stomach ache and stabbing pains or migraines. In that case he must have acted quickly, notwithstanding his ailment, when arranging to attend the Royal Enclosure at Ascot suitably attired and bearing in mind that he lives in Ross-on-Wye.

Heathrow People often take the view that they can be quite blasé about their contractual obligations, mainly because employers often take the view that suing them is more trouble than it is worth. However, a recent High Court judgment shows that this is a risky course of action and the consequences for serious breaches can be very severe.

OCS Group UK Limited provides services in the aviation industry. It had a contract to provide cleaning and other services to British Airways at Heathrow Airport. In February 2017 it lost the contract which was awarded to a competing firm, Omni Serv Limited. Mr Jagdeep Dadi worked for OCS providing services under the contract until 28 February 2017, when his employment was TUPE transferred to Omni Serv. On 27 February OCS issued proceedings against Mr Dadi and others, seeking declaratory relief (an order determining the rights of the parties without awarding damages or directing anything to be done), an injunction against the defendants and damages for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and/or breach of confidence. It was alleged that they had transmitted confidential documents and information to their home email addresses or external storage devices and that they had made unlawful use of them and/or transmitted them to third parties.

In Mr Dadi’s case, it was claimed that, between 2014 and February 2017, he had sent confidential documents to his personal web-based email account, including information about the logistics and costs of providing aircraft cleaning and other services to British Airways.

The matter came before Mr Justice Marcus Smith on 27 February, without prior notice to Mr Dadi. He granted an interim injunction against Mr Dadi (and others), prohibiting him from disclosing confidential information belonging to OCS and requiring him to provide information about prior disclosures to third parties. He was ordered to retain hard copy and electronic documents, pending a further hearing. He was also ordered not to disclose the existence of the proceedings and the possibility of proceedings against others to anyone other than his legal advisers.

He decided not to defend the underlying proceedings and a default judgment was entered against him.

As is usual in such cases the order of Mr Justice Marcus Smith included a penal notice which warned him that disobedience of the order rendered him liable to be imprisoned or fined or to have his assets seized. He was served with the order at Heathrow by in-house counsel for OCS at 3.10 p.m. on 27 February. While doing so she drew his attention to the penal notice on the front page of the order and read it to him. She also advised him to obtain legal advice as a matter of urgency.