McGrail Inquiry reconvenes today

The McGrail Inquiry reconvenes today for a three-day public hearing in the Garrison Library.

The decision to reconvene was announced in February and came after the Royal Gibraltar Police and some of its former and serving senior officers disclosed new material months after the main public hearing ended last year.

The material includes WhatsApp messages – including “possible deletions” – between members of the RGP’s senior management team during a critical period with which the Inquiry is concerned.

It also points to “gaps in disclosure” that the Inquiry believes require an explanation in a public hearing.

In an 18-page ruling at the time of the announcement, Inquiry chairman Sir Peter Openshaw, a retired UK High Court judge, said none of the newly disclosed material would likely affect the core findings of fact he had reached in his “very advanced” and extensive first draft of the final report, although he would need to incorporate some of it in the document.

But the “alleged delays, failures and deletions” raised questions that would have to be scrutinised in the hearing this week to ensure public confidence in the inquiry.

The hearing will run from 10am to 1pm and 2m to 4pm each day from Wednesday through to Friday.

The proceedings will be broadcast live by GBC, albeit with a 10-minute delay for legal reasons.

Today’s session will start with a short introduction by Sir Peter Openshaw and opening submissions by Julian Santos, counsel to the Inquiry.

The hearing will then take evidence from Assistant Commissioner of Police Cathal Yeats and Commissioner of Police Richard Ullger.

If time allows, the Inquiry will commence hearing evidence from former Commissioner of Police Ian McGrail, which will continue on Thursday along with evidence from retired police Superintendent Paul Richardson.

On Friday, the Inquiry will hear closing statements from lawyers representing the core parties.

The McGrail Inquiry is tasked with looking into the reasons and circumstances leading to Mr McGrail’s early retirement in June 2020, after a 36-year career and halfway through his term in the top post at the Royal Gibraltar Police.

Mr McGrail’s lawyers have alleged “misconduct and corruption” at the highest levels of government, insisting Mr McGrail was “muscled out” after being placed under huge pressure over the conduct of a live criminal investigation, Operation Delhi.

Those allegations were “denied and roundly rejected” by lawyers for the Government parties, who said Mr McGrail retired because he knew he had lost the confidence not just of the Chief Minister but, crucially, of the then interim Governor, who was the only person with the power to ask him to resign.