Openshaw findings ‘have not changed’, McGrail says 

Former police Commissioner Ian McGrail said on Tuesday that the Chief Minister’s decision to drop his claim for judicial review meant the findings of the McGrail Inquiry report “are now final and cannot be further challenged”, adding: “The findings have not changed.” 

In a statement issued through his lawyer Charles Gomez, Mr McGrail said the findings remained “exactly as Sir Peter Openshaw determined them” following an extensive public inquiry, the consideration of substantial evidence and the hearing of witnesses. 

Those findings included that Mr McGrail, according to the Inquiry report, was “forced out” of the RGP and that one of the main reasons he retired early was that the Chief Minister “was machinating against [Mr McGrail], including by putting improper pressure upon [him] to alter the course of a live criminal investigation”. 

Sir Peter Openshaw rejected too all allegations that Mr McGrail was dishonest or acted improperly, concluding that “he did not lie” and that it would have been “completely out of character” for him to be deliberately dishonest.  

Mr McGrail noted too that the report found Mr Picardo made a series of “grossly improper” and “sinister” interventions into a live criminal investigation impacting on the national security of Gibraltar. 

 Sir Peter Openshaw also found Mr Picardo “deliberately and cynically” misled the Gibraltar Police Authority about the reasons for his loss of confidence in Mr McGrail and deliberately suppressed relevant links. 

“The unequivocal and damning findings against Mr Picardo were the product of a lengthy and rigorous process conducted by an experienced and independent senior judicial figure,” Mr McGrail said in the statement. 

“They cannot simply be wished away through a political statement or the subsequent withdrawal of legal proceedings.” 

“The people of Gibraltar deserve transparency, honesty and accountability from those who govern them.” 

“These principles are fundamental to public confidence in our institutions and to the proper functioning of our democracy.” 

“I therefore consider it essential that the Openshaw Report continues to be read and understood in its entirety, on the basis of what it actually says, rather than through attempts to reinterpret or politically recast its conclusions.” 

“The legal challenge may have been withdrawn, but the findings have not changed. They stand as written.” 

Mr McGrail ended his statement by quoting Sir Peter Openshaw, who in his report said: “That Mr Picardo still seeks to defend his actions, that he thinks he was within his rights, is not mitigation. Indeed, it makes it much worse.”