Two police officers who filed lawsuits claiming that warrants to search their homes were obtained unlawfully by the Bermuda Police Service have rejected settlement offers.

Sergeant Mark Monk and Pc Robert Butterfield brought the civil cases after their homes were raided in December 2020 during a criminal inquiry into the leaking of a legal document about the divorce of former police commissioner Stephen Corbishley.

They are seeking judicial reviews of the decisions to obtain and approve the warrants to conduct the searches, as well as damages.

Sergeant Monk told The Royal Gazette that the proposed settlement from the BPS for him and his wife, Tricia, was “insulting”, while Pc Butterfield said: “They have made an offer, but it’s not enough.”

Their decisions come in the midst of a review initiated by Darrin Simons, the Commissioner of Police, into BPS policies and procedures, after the Chief Justice ruled against him in October and quashed a warrant obtained by officers to search the business premises of radio station owner Zarah Harper in October 2020.

Mr Simons, who became Commissioner of Police in March 2022, said after that ruling that the BPS recognised the “need to bring our policies and procedures in line with findings in the judgment”.

The Harper ruling followed a 2017 Supreme Court judgment against the BPS. That case was brought by Mahesh Reddy, a doctor working for former premier Ewart Brown, who claimed that officers acted unlawfully in May 2016 when they arrested him and searched his house without a warrant. The ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2020.

The warrants approving the raids on the homes of Sergeant Monk and Pc Butterfield, issued by senior magistrate Juan Wolffe, who is now a puisne judge, cited the criminal offence of “causing disaffection” in the ranks of the police.

The officers claim the information used to obtain the warrants to search their homes was “knowingly false”. They told the Gazette that they would cite the Harper and Reddy cases as examples of past unlawful conduct by the BPS if their matters proceed to judicial review.

Pc Butterfield also claims that his suspension from work and his arrest in relation to the leaked affidavit inquiry were unlawful.

The pair, who denied any wrongdoing, were told in July 2021 that they would not be prosecuted.

The Governor, Rena Lalgie, initiated an inquiry into allegations of gross misconduct made by Pc Butterfield against Mr Corbishley.

The inquiry was dropped after Mr Corbishley, who denied any wrongdoing, quit the service in October 2021 and returned to Britain, with almost two years still to run on his five-year contract.

Sergeant Monk and Pc Butterfield told the Gazette that internal grievances they filed in relation to the warrants, separate from the civil lawsuits, remain unresolved.

Complaints have been served formally on four BPS officers arising from claims made by the two officers.

The four, who deny wrongdoing, include a senior officer and an inspector.

Sergeant Monk, who is on sick leave from the BPS, told the Gazette that he was affected badly by matters dragging on. “It’s definitely taken its toll,” he said.

He and his wife are due to stand trial in Magistrates’ Court for allegedly harassing Mr Corbishley and Gillian Murray, a British officer brought in by the former police commissioner to run the BPS’s professional standards department, who has also left the island.

The criminal case is not expected to go ahead until the conclusion of the civil court proceedings by the Monks in relation to the warrant.

Mr Simons said yesterday that it would be inappropriate to comment on the judicial reviews, as well as the criminal inquiry into the leaked divorce affidavit, as all were continuing.

Regarding the internal inquiries, the commissioner said: “The timelines for complex investigations are often difficult to nail down. Rest assured that every effort is being made to bring the matter to conclusion.

“Serving notices on officers who are named in allegations is a part of the process and no inference about guilt or innocence should be made based on the notification.”

He said that the time it was taking to resolve the allegations made by Pc Butterfield and Sergeant Monk was “frustrating for all involved” but necessary to ensure “procedural justice occurs”.

Mr Simons added: “The investigative processes we follow are meticulously set out in law and any deviation from these prescribed procedures could potentially introduce an appeal point that undermines the entire process.

“Our investigators are dedicated to their duty and are required to follow all rules and guidelines to the letter, even when this proves to be time-consuming.”

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