Sacked police chief who lied about Navy career reported by ex-wife
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
The wife of a chief constable who was sacked for lying about his military service has revealed that she reported him after feeling “sickened” at the disrespect he had shown genuine veterans.
Jenny Eastman, Nick Adderley’s ex-wife who is a retired policewoman, said she blew the whistle on him after a former colleague sent her a picture last year of her husband wearing the General Service Medal (Northern Ireland) – awarded for service during The Troubles – and the South Atlantic Medal.
Ms Eastman knew her former husband could not have served in the Falklands as he was just a 15-year-old sea cadet at the time of the 10-week conflict.
Mr Adderley, who was the chief constable of Northamptonshire with a salary of £176,000 a year, was dismissed without notice on Friday, after being found to have committed gross misconduct.
The Crown Prosecution Service is considering a file of evidence which could lead to criminal charges of misconduct in a public office and fraud by false representation – both of which can carry jail terms.
Mr Adderley will lose his lucrative police pension if he is found guilty of a criminal offence.
After Ms Eastman contacted Northamptonshire Police, her complaint was passed to the police, fire and crime commissioner’s office, which launched an investigation.
She told The Telegraph on Saturday: “I left him two years after our marriage because I could see the type of person he was and I chose not to be part of it anymore. I got a good idea of his bad character and left him soon after and put it behind me.
“But when I was sent that photograph, I knew the truth had to be told. There comes a time when you see something so disgraceful that you have to say ‘no’.”
‘Integrity is not an option’
Ms Eastman, who met Mr Adderley when the pair were in the same training intake at Cheshire Constabulary in February 1992, emphasised she had nothing to gain from reporting her ex-husband.
“I was a police officer, serving as a PC, for nearly 30 years and I know integrity is not an option.”
Speaking to the Daily Mail, she added: “The public need to have trust in the police. I found his lies gut-wrenching. It is horrifying to me when you consider the bravery of the police and the people who were actually in the Falklands War.”
Ms Eastman, who now lives in Cheshire, said her ex-husband “was embellishing his past to give himself some sort of war hero status.”
She said: “People in service should be held to a high degree of trust. People like him should not be running a police force.”
Misleading application
Mr Adderley claimed on his CV and application form when applying to become chief constable in 2018 that he had been in the Royal Navy for 10 years when he had served for only two.
He had apparently included his service with the sea cadets from the age of 10 in that calculation.
He also claimed that he had attended the Britannia Royal Naval College for four years, despite his application being rejected.
The former chief constable also said that he had seen active service, been a military negotiator in Haiti despite never visiting the country and that he had been a “commander or a lieutenant” even though he only achieved the rank of able seaman.
In a statement read out on his behalf by Matthew Holdcroft, his barrister, he said he “deeply regrets” any offence his medal-wearing may have caused veterans.
