The fall out from the suicide of West Midlands fire chief Wayne Brown has become a towering inferno now engulfing the boss of another brigade, The Upsetter can reveal.
Brown was found dead on the morning of 24 January at his Birmingham home, hours after learning details of a formal investigation into CV fraud.
Now, his former deputy is facing questions about false claims that she had a law degree.
54-year-old Brown was the first black man to be appointed a fire chief in the UK, but was sliding down the ladder into a bonfire of mendacity.
For thirteen years he had claimed to have an MBA. Just days before his suicide, he continued to lie when confronted by the West Mids fire authority chairman who had appointed him.
Brown claimed to have started the course at London South Bank University in 2010 but in fact had never even enrolled.
Another false claim on the West Mids Fire Service website was that Jo Bowcock, Brown’s deputy, had a law degree from Liverpool University.
The scandal raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the appointment and regulatory system of fire chiefs.
Despite lying to the fire authority and emerging concerns about his conduct towards women, a protective blanket has been wrapped around Brown that goes beyond sympathy for a fallen colleague and father.
On 1 March, flags flew at half mast and fire crews held a minute’s silence during the funeral service at Southwark Cathedral in south London, where Brown had served the majority of his firefighting career.
Jo Bowcock gave a moving speech to the troops and briefly took Brown’s place before recently returning to Oxfordshire Fire Service.
So far, Bowcock has declined to explain how the law degree claim was allowed to linger uncorrected for so long.
West Mids and Oxfordshire fire services refuse to say if she will face an investigation. It seems that the fire chiefs in the UK are even less accountable than chief constables.
Nick ‘Rambo’ Adderley, the suspended boss of Northamptonshire Police, is at least facing a very public discipline board for gross misconduct over claims that he exaggerated his Royal Navy qualifications and implied being a Falklands War veteran.
Adderley’s various explanations of oversight, exuberance and sloppiness did not stop the police watchdog from sending him to an independent panel that could result in dismissal for dishonesty.
Over at the fire service these types of explanations or silence appears to be no impediment to holding on to public office.
The Upsetter is anything but fair and has posted an interview Bowcock gave where she discusses her time at Liverpool University before deciding to join the fire service.
The press office say she wasn’t claiming to have a law degree and even blamed the firefighter interviewing Bowcock for making an “assumption.”
You decide.