Police Payout After Officer Targeted in Feminist War on ‘Macho’ Culture

A highly decorated police officer has won nearly £900,000 from London police after he was driven out of his job by a female boss on a witch hunt to eradicate perceived “macho” culture.

Adrian Denby, 49, was running the riot squad in Paddington when Maxine de Brunner, the force’s deputy assistant commissioner, began to target him.

Over a long career, had won nine commendations and was seconded to Afghanistan to set up the police force there, The Sun reports.

Two years ago, in 2016, an employment tribunal ruled that he was discriminated against on five separate occasions, sometimes because of his sex, ahead of his departure.

The case is thought to be the first where a male officer has sued a UK police force over sex discrimination by superiors. The saga reportedly cost the force £2 million, with Mr. Denby winning £870,000 in damages.

During the tribunal, it was heard that Mr. Denby had failed to stop male staff crossing the office in towels as they moved between the showers and their lockers.

This upset Ms. de Brunner, and she reportedly confronted him, saying men in towels was her “pet hate”, The Times reports. Mr. Denby said he regretted the fact the men were not asked to stop, but also blamed poor design of the office.

Despite this, he was placed under investigation and even told he was the subject of a criminal and gross misconduct investigation for allegedly sanctioning misuse of overtime. The judge found no evidence for this.

However, his female equivalents, who also oversaw what was happening, were not challenged on the issues, and Mr. Denby claimed the treatment was sexist.

The North London Employment Tribunal appeared to agree, saying his case was “striking for its unfairness” and concluded that his bad treatment was due to the fact he was male, and it came as the Met attempted to boost the role of females in the force.

Assistant Commissioner Patricia Gallan, one of Commissioner Sir. Bernard Hogan-Howe’s closest aides, was also slammed for her treatment of Mr. Denby and is being investigated separately for bullying.