Paddick snubbed for honour- newspaper claims
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A newspaper is claiming that Britain’s most senior gay police officer has been snubbed for a top honour.
The right of centre Daily Mail claims that Brian Paddick, the Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police is furious that he has not been awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in last week’s Birthday Honours list.
The newspaper say that friends of Mr Paddick have claimed that he was promised an award after he did not feature amongst those honoured in the New Year honours list.
Mr Paddick’s role was altered last month by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair who gave him the task of setting up a new information system.
The 47-year-old, who can retire on a full pension in November, faced trouble earlier this year after allegedly telling a reporter he had made a statement to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which said a senior member of the head of the Metropolitan Police’s office believed the wrong man had been targeted just six hours after Jean Charles de Menezes was killed at Stockwell tube station because he was a suspected suicide bomber.
Mr Paddick first attracted public notoriety when as commander of Brixton Police, where he pioneered a liberal attitude to cannabis and told an online publication that he was attracted by the concept of anarchy.
