The prosecution of a union rep for possessing a 28 inch sword at the Cityclean depot should not have been dropped, the CPS has said.
Dave Russell, 64, was charged last year with possesssing the sword after it was seized from his office at the Hollingdean depot in October 2023.
It was found during a search which came just days before Brighton and Hove City Council published a report written by Aileen McColgan KC which detailed accounts of bullying, intimidation and sabotage by GMB union reps and members working for the waste collection service.
This month, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed a review had concluded the decision to offer no evidence against Mr Russell in January was wrong.
Russell has also spoken for the first time about the charges – insisting that he is innocent, but saying the council has now “broken the strength of the GMB”.
A CPS spokesperson said: “An initial decision not to authorise charges in this case was subject to a detailed internal review.
“While there were evidential weaknesses identified, our review determined there was a realistic prospect of conviction and charges should have been authorised.
“We wrote to the complainant with a full explanation for our legal decision making and apologised for any distress caused.”
Russell says he is also disappointed the case never came to court, saying it would have given him a chance to clear his name.
He said: “This has gone on for so long and I was trying to forget about it.
“I would have preferred to go to court. The council wouldn’t have done well there on the evidence they gave to the police.
“That office was used by so many people. I shared it with one rep and other people still used it. When the sword was found, I hadn’t been there for a week.
“They showed me photos of all this stuff because there were quite a few bits and pieces they found. I said I had honestly never seen that in my life.
“The police said we think we have got a good piece of evidence and we are going to prosecute it. They said if you admit it, we will give you a caution and you have to watch an anti knife video and then it will be expunged from your record in two years.
“If I was guilty, I would have taken the easy option. I risked going to prison for six months and I’m not going to do that at my age with my health if I’m guilty.
“Financially it has put me in debt. I was just slandered by all sides and I had no legal representation from the union because the region stepped away from it.”
Brighton and Hove News has seen a letter from the CPS which says the main weakness in the evidence against Russell was that others had access to the office it was found in.
One council officer gave a statement saying Russell had shown her the sword – while she was pregnant – but the description of the weapon in her statement did not exactly match the weapon found.
Russell also claims none of his DNA or fingerprints were found on the weapon.
By the time the review concluded, the statutory time limit to pursue the case had lapsed, meaning it could not be reopened.
Russell says he believes the accusations against him and Mark Turner – another GMB rep who was suspended at the same time – were politically motivated.
He said: “We were balloting at the Brighton Centre and were about to ballot at Cityclean, so the way to negate that strike was to get rid of the two people who would drive it forward – me and Mark Turner.
“I was suspended on 11 October – one director called me, and one called Mark at the same time and our equipment was immediately frozen. It was about the KC report.
“That’s the process. I don’t have any complaint about that. Originally I was suspended for racism, misogyny, homophobia, everything in the KC report.
“About a week later, they searched the office and found weapons there which is convenient.
“The police are in that depot every week because of the enforcement team that work out of there.
“There are CCTV cameras everywhere. One witness said I walked around the depot carrying a machete – but if that was true, I would have been on CCTV.
“I believe the CPS and police were pressured by the council. I don’t care if I was sacked for doing something genuinely wrong but this was just an attack on my character.”
He also says he does not believe any current union reps are responsible for or have encouraged sabotage at the depot, which the council says has started happening again this year.
He said: “I can’t see that any of the workers I knew who are still there I can’t see the point of doing it.
“As a union rep, we woudn’t encourage it because it’s illegal, and there’s better ways to do things.
“I was a total pain in the neck and Mark was as well, but that’s me doing the job I was meant to do.
“I’m no angel. If they had wanted to get rid of me in the past, they probably could have because I have lost my rag and shouted at people.
“Nobody’s mentioned the stress and strain I was put under. GMB stepped back because they didn’t want to upset the local Labour party.
“I’ve just given up with work – my health’s not good enough now. They completed ruined my chance of working anywhere else.”
In terms of the future at Cityclean, which was quietly rebranded as environmental services in the last couple of months, Russell says that the union is no longer strong – but says this does not mean the service is improving.
He said: “Because of the particular circumstances that was going on the region stepped away from everything.
“They have broken the strength of the GMB in Cityclean. There’s nobody there kicking up the managers’ backsides.
“Some people are frightened of this and that. There’s people going on disiciplinaries for silly things.
“They did a damn good job of it. They got what they wanted.”
Council leader Bella Sankey said: “The vast majority of staff in environmental services are working tirelessly to address historic issues and provide an excellent service to residents.
“While the criminal activity and disruptive behaviour we have seen must clearly be addressed, most of our staff want to leave all of this behind them and focus on the future and the improvements that need to be made to the service.
“There are a small minority of staff and ex-staff who are alleged to have carried out acts of sabotage, and other criminal acts.
“All such allegations are subject to disciplinary processes and dismissal action where necessary, although sometimes the evidence of who is responsible is not clear.
“In reference to the weapons found in the office, this very serious issue was addressed in accordance with our disciplinary processes.
“Thank you to the more than 70 staff who bravely provided evidence to the KC. The Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed to our staff who would have been witnesses in the case, that the ‘decision to stop the prosecution of the suspect for the offence of possession of an offensive weapon in a private place [Hollingdean depot] was wrong’.
“All incidents are treated seriously and sensitively, and any further allegations will continue to be reported to the police to be investigated.
“Alongside the police investigations the council is prioritising investment in the service and changing the culture to improve the service provided to our residents.
“This includes taking disciplinary action for those accused of wrongdoing, changes to the day-to-day running of the service and tackling behaviour and equality issues.
“We are proud of our environmental services staff, and of the commitment they are showing each and every day, in helping to transform the service and provide the service that residents deserve.”
Isn’t one of the points of outsourcing to AVOID internal politics??? Never mind have a private company turn into an episode of Grace!
Where did Cityclean go so badly wrong and why can’t they be replaced? They must surely be in multiple breach of contract, meaning the council are potentially free to put the city waste disposal contract out for new tenders.
Cityclean is an in-house service, and not a contracted one.
Glad someone pointed that out, the illusion of otherwise has been going on for years, smoke and mirrors
24 years of disaster since BHCC took this service inhouse. Judicial review time?
https://www.letsrecycle.com/news/brighton-council-to-carry-out-refuse-service-as-serviceteam-deal-fails/
With you on this – there should be some sort of inquiry. Labour outsourced the bin services in the late 1990s which was a car crash and cost the city millions, then they brought it back in house and named the service ‘City Clean’ and the whole thing has been a shambles since.
There has never been an settled period at City Clean for as long as I can remember and throughout all that time Labour have happily accepted periodic donations from the GMB. The bits in the KC report about the 2017-2019 period are particularly worrying, and as far as I can see, to date Labour politicians are not doing any sort of investigation into the criticisms levelled at Labour politicians in the report.
The amount the decades of dysfunction will have cost residents is likely to be huge, and yet councillors don’t seem to be willing to look at how this fiasco has been allowed to rumble on for so long. Labour councillors were getting financial support from the GMB until at least May 2023, despite it being well documented before then that there were serious issues.
Nail on head. As long as Labour are receiving generous donations from GMB, stuff the residents reliant on City Clean. The argument to surgically remove national politics out of local councils grows ever more powerful. They are a cancer eating cities and towns from the inside out.
I agree that national politics tends to be not too helpful at a local level. I’m hoping devolution will move towards separation of national vs local, regardless of leaning.
Please don’t steer my comment in this direction. I stand for localism in local matters. I don’t want some ‘Mayor’ of Sussex deciding what Brighton and Hove needs. We are a UNITARY authority so we already have all the powers we need.
During the 2012 strike, which was prompted in opposition to the need to meet the Equalities Act which had been flagrantly long ignored at the behest of the GMB, Council lawyers said that this true reason could not be publicised. And so the Administration got it in the neck rather than be praised for standing up to forces which would have otherwise bankrupted the place, as happened in Birmingham. That waste collection should cause eternal trouble here is dismaying. With a better cast of mind it could be celebrated as part of life’s cycle.
Lawyers advise, councillors decide. If need be, take external advice, as the incoming lot did. Council lawyers tend to be a peculiarly cautious breed, over-concerned about institutional reputation rather than truth, fairness and justice. The Grenfell and Jay reports have plenty of examples of poor legal advice and, re the NHS, so does the Francis report.
It’s a much nicer place to work without these two clowns in the depot. Shouting and swearing and generally being nasty for no reason. Good riddance. Some of the old crusties get a hard on for this stuff but thankfully management have got rid of the worst ones.