SCANDAL HIDDEN
Leaked Recording Reveals Regulator's Fears Over Rogue Fire Chief Suicide
A tape recording has emerged of a senior Labour figure attempting to silence other politicians concerned about the murky circumstances surrounding the suicide of Britain’s first black fire chief.
Wayne Brown, 54, took his own life in January hours after the West Midlands chief fire officer learned he was under investigation for lying about his qualifications.
The following month, an emergency session of the Labour-controlled fire authority met to discuss the fruits of the internal investigation by the regulator. Was Brown a rogue or the victim of a harassment campaign by a former firefighter?
The emergency meeting of cross-party councillors who make up the fire authority was secretly recorded and shared with The Upsetter by those concerned at what they were hearing and at being told to not get involved.
The secret recording, available here for the first time, raises serious questions about the competence and impartiality of the regulator’s internal investigation into Brown during the crucial few days before he took his own life and after.
Greg Brackenridge, the Labour chairman of the West Mids fire authority, who appointed Brown, appears on the tape determined to defend him, despite compelling evidence that the boss of the second largest brigade in the UK was a serial liar.
Brackenridge and monitoring officer, Satinder Sahota, were forced to investigate Brown after receiving evidence in January that for 13 years he had falsely claimed to have a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from a London University.
Brown’s MBA lie had echoes of another scandal playing out at the same time in Northamptonshire concerning chief constable Nick Adderley’s false claims about his achievements and military service.
The police watchdog and an independent discipline panel considered Adderley’s actions amounted to gross misconduct and sacked him in June.
By contrast, the secret tape recording shows Brackenridge downplaying the MBA lie and vetting failures as “unfortunate.”
He also lent credibility to Brown’s explanation that he had enrolled for the MBA at the London South Bank University, but dropped out because of a “family emergency.”
This was another lie, arguably worse because it was told to the regulator. Brackenridge and Sahota could have and should have exposed it.
University records confirm Brown never enrolled, something the pair had ample opportunity to check before briefing the fire authority during the emergency session on 19 February
Instead, elected councillors were left with the impression that it was an oversight by Brown not to have removed his MBA claim from his CV and job application.
In a remarkable feat of clairvoyance, Brackenridge went as far as to claim that had Brown been asked about the MBA during his job interview he would have said “remove it”.
In truth, Brown continued to claim publicly - on a podcast months after his appointment last year - that he had an MBA.
Brackenridge and Sahota, however, refuse to answer questions about the thoroughness of their internal investigation and the way it was presented to the fire authority.
The emphasis was on rubbishing Ben Walker, who had revealed the MBA lie as part of his defence to a charge of harassing Brown, which has yet to be tried.
Sahota went as far as telling the fire authority that Walker was someone whose associates included an ex-police officer convicted of possessing child pornography.
Sahota declined to explain to The Upsetter the relevance of this further salvo in a dirty war with Walker and his defence team of ex-cops and lawyers.
Controlling the narrative on Brown is the name of this game and so far the fire service and its regulator are on the losing side because their star player was a liar and the national media can smell scandal.
No wonder then, that Brown’s replacement, Oliver Lee, a former marine colonel brought in because he had no connection to the old guard, recently called an extraordinary but ultimately disastrous press conference to deny that West Mids Fire Service was, er, “scandal-ridden”.
At ease soldier, it’s a lot worse. The fire service is scandal-hidden too and lacking an effective and sufficiently independent regulator.
Brackenridge, the chairman of that regulator, whose wife was recently elected a local Labour MP, declined to comment on whether he should have recused himself from investigating Brown.
And whether he misled councillors with the findings of a self-described “fact find” investigation that failed to find any facts following a series of “informal” chats with the fire chief who he had appointed.
The Upsetter started investigating the Brown scandal five months before the fire chief took his own life on 24 January.
A West Midlands Police document reveals that since Walker’s arrest for harassment in April 2023 the cops have been working hand-in-glove with the West Mids Fire Service, and according to Lee’s recent press conference the cosy bromance is growing stronger every day.
The document shows that over one year ago, assistant chief constable Mike O’Hara had agreed “a joint comms strategy” with the fire service in relation to their Walker and Brown problem.
At the same time, the fire service has been working hand-in-glove with the fire authority, its supposed regulator.
For example, and highly usually, the head of corporate services for the fire service, in other words its spin doctor, inserted himself immediately after The Upsetter sent questions directly to Brackenridge about the leaked briefing he and Sahota had given councillors.
Mark Hamilton-Russell objected to the deadline given for the chairman to respond, offered to chat about how he was “currently assisting” Brackenridge, saying it was “very much our hope” that he would respond.
It’s been over three days and he hasn’t.
And when challenged about why the head regulator was being minded off by the head spin doctor for the fire service, Hamilton-Russell emailed yesterday afternoon to say he really wasn’t acting for Brackenridge as he had no power to do so, but “often works as a conduit to those senior to me in the service and Fire Authority.”
The whole rotten and cosy system unravelled further when, days after sending Brackenridge those questions, matters took a sinister turn.
PC Khan, the West Mids police officer investigating Walker, this week contacted The Upsetter to ask if this reporter would be a witness for the prosecution and provide a statement setting out any contact with the defendant!
The approach says much about the prosecution, but more about how West Mids Police view journalists and the protections afforded them under the law.
Across the UK, police forces - most recently, the Met, Durham, Cleveland and PSNI - have been exposed for spying on reporters whose work threatens their reputation.
It’s a matter recently taken up by the National Union of Journalists at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
Consequently, The Upsetter - a long standing NUJ member - is today calling out West Mids chief constable Craig Guilford to provide a formal written declaration on whether his force, directly or indirectly, has authorised or benefitted from covert surveillance on this reporter and his communications.
Here’s why.
