Election Malpractice: Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne
Acting beyond delegated powers, failure to declare Conservative membership in ROI, evidence of prior multiple identities, compromised audits)
Investigations team,
Electoral Malpractice Office
Sussex Police.
11 April 2024
Dear Sir,
I am writing to express my concerns regarding evidence of current breaches of the law by Katy Bourne, a candidate in the ongoing Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections. I believe that Katy Elizabeth Bourne has committed the following offences during the election campaign:
Failure to disclose that she is sponsored by the Conservative Party in her Register of Interests dated 28 November 2023 (disclosable-interests-commissioner-2023.pdf (sussex-pcc.gov.uk)) and in her biography on the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioners website (SPCC - Your Police & Crime Commissioner (sussex-pcc.gov.uk)). This is a breach of the Code of Conduct and the Companies Act, 2006.
The prominence of Katy Bourne on the Office of the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner website acts as free advertising for the incumbent PCC, giving her an unfair advantage over the other candidates. She claims successes, such as increasing police numbers, that are a result of conservative party policy, without acknowledging her membership of that party.
The Police and Crime Commissioners' Scheme of Delegation clearly defines the authority of PCC explicitly stating their powers and responsibilities and it does not include authorisation for assuming the role of a director in any company (Scheme of Delegation FINAL 1.4.14 (sussex-pcc.gov.uk)). However, Katy Bourne declares the following directorships in her current Register of Interests, dated 28 November 2023, referenced above: "Non-Executive Director – The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners [24 July 2019 to present] Non-Executive Director – BlueLight Commercial Limited [30 September 2022 to October 2023] Non-Executive Director – Police Digital Service [20 July 2016 to 25 July 2022] Non-Executive Director – College of Policing Limited [28 May 2013 to 30 April 2017]". The absence of explicit authorisation within the Scheme of Delegation suggests that assuming directorial roles in companies exceeds the boundaries of delegated authority. As the latest version of the Scheme does not grant PCCs such powers, any involvement in directorial capacities by Katy Bourne is beyond her mandated authority.
Katy Bourne has a history of registering multiple unique identifiers in Companies House and failing to declare interests.
In Katy Bourne’s declaration of interests form, dated 6 12 2021, she declared “None” to; any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain, and to Sponsorship (Appendix 2: Declaration Form for all Conflicts of Interest (sussex-pcc.gov.uk)). She failed to disclose her directorships until I raised a complaint with the Sussex Police and Crime Panel in November 2022.
A search in Companies House in November 2022 on Katy Bourne’s name returned three different identities that certainly belonged to the PCC because they used variations of her office address, refer to image 1.
The first identity, Katy Elizabeth Bourne, date of birth October 1964, was established on 28 May 2013 to register as a director of College of Policing Limited until 30 April 2017. This identity was used to register Police Digital Service, from 20 July 2016 to 25 July 2022 and Bluelight Commercial Limited, appointed 30 September 2022, then active, reference image 2, Appointments to Katy Elizabeth Bourne, date of birth October 1964, as at November 2022.
The second identity excluded her middle name, Katy Bourne, born October 1964. This was used for a one day appointment, 28 May 2013, to the College of Policing Limited. This was a duplicated appointment to that held in her first identity, refer to image 3, Appointments to Katy Bourne, date of birth October 1964.
The third identity used the name Katy Elizabeth Bourne and a different date of birth, October 1979, for her appointment as a director to the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, appointed 24 July 2019, refer to image 4, Appointments to Katy Elizabeth Bourne, date of birth October 1979.
Gaining additional identities requires providing a different name, residential address or date of birth. This causes a “false non-match” in the Companies House software and the unwanted outcome is an additional identity. To the software, there were three people: Katy Elizabeth Bourne, date of birth October 1964, Katy Bourne, date of birth October 1964 and Katy Elizabeth Bourne, October 1979.
The audits in 2019 to 2022 of The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, for example, would not have considered transactions with Police Digital Service Limited and, from 2022, Bluelight Commercial Limited, as related party transactions for Katy Bourne, because her appointment record states “Total number of appointments 1”, her other appointments are “concealed” in her other identity.
The PCC varied her name to gain her second identity and varied her date of birth to gain a third identity. However a computer, presently, can not deduce this. Duplicated identities for an individual are prohibited by the Companies Act 2006 section 1082 and our systems of accountability assume that an individual has just one identity. Hence, it is called an “unique identifier”. The effect of multiple identities is that interests held in other identities are concealed from an auditor (audit software or person doing due diligence) on any one interest. This compromises audits for “related party transactions”.
To summarise, her breaches include, in a non-exhaustive list:
Registering 3 identities in Companies House counts as two breaches of Section 1082 of the Companies Act 2006.
Multiple unique identifiers breach the integrity of all audits and due diligence associated to Katy Bourne, in each of her roles. This is a breach of the Companies Act 2006, Fraud Act 2006, and the Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing legislation.
Two counts of providing false details on legal documents is a breach of the Companies Act 2006 and the Fraud Act 2006, section 2 Fraud by false representation.
Failing to disclose all her interests in the Register of Interest between 28 May 2013 and 8 December 2022 is a breach of the Companies Act and the Fraud Act, section 3 Fraud by failing to disclose information.
Dual registration as director of College of Policing. The risk being that these dual appointments were referenced to enable dual bank and trading accounts to be opened on 28 May 2013. If this is the case this would constitute a breach of the Fraud Act 2006, section 4 Fraud by abuse of position
My complaint resulted in correspondence between the Police and Crime Panel and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner which is published on the Sussex Police and Crime Panel website (Correspondence from the Panel – Sussex Police and Crime Panel (sussexpcp.gov.uk)).
The outcome of my complaint was that the Police and Crime Panel found that Katy Bourne's multiple identities and failure to declare interests was a simple oversight and she updated her register of interests, to disclose for the first time that she was, then, a current director of The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and Bluelight Commercial Limited, and was a director of Police Digital Service and College of Policing Limited (Disclosable Interests - December 2022 (sussex-pcc.gov.uk)).
In addition, she updated Companies House by deduplicating her three identities to a single unique identifier (Katy Elizabeth BOURNE personal appointments - Find and update company information - GOV.UK (company-information.service.gov.uk)). However, since Companies House do not have a mechanism to track changes relating to deduplication, evidence of her prior identities has been deleted. By deduplication, Katy Bourne and Companies House have removed the evidence of her dual registration as a director of the College of Policing Limited, and that she had registered as a director of The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners using an incorrect date of birth.
At the time of making those complaints, I had not located the PCC's Scheme of Delegation. The absence of explicit authorisation within the Scheme of Delegation suggests that any involvement in directorial capacities by PCCs would exceed the boundaries of delegated authority. Therefore, I believe there are grounds to investigate whether Katy Bourne has violated the law by assuming these roles because, if this is the case then Katy Bourne may be personally liable for associated loses.
The publication of the audited accounts made up to 31 March 2023 are overdue (SPCC - Accounts (sussex-pcc.gov.uk) https://www.sussex-pcc.gov.uk/about/financials/accounts/). A “notice of delay” informs us that:
Notice of Delay in the Publication of the Audited Accounts ended 31 March 2023 on 30 September 2023
The completion of the Final Accounts of the PCC Group Accounts, the PCC Accounts and the CC Accounts have been met within the timescales requested by the above regulations, however the external audit of the draft statement of accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023 has not yet been completed by our external auditors, EY LLP, due to the complex set of factors contributing to audit delays across the sector. This situation is allowed for by Regulation 10, paragraph (2a) of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015. Therefore, this notification explains, as per paragraph (2a), that we are not yet able to publish our audited 2022/23 final statement of accounts in line with deadline of 30th September 2023, as per paragraph (1). The Police and Crime Commissioner, Chief Finance Officer and Joint Audit Committee will consider the results of the 2022/23 audit when it is completed, after which the final audited accounts will be published.
The delay in publishing the audited accounts for the period ending 31 March 2023 is a matter of significant concern, particularly considering my complaints that the integrity of past audits has been breached by the Police and Crime Commissioner registering multiple identities in Companies House and failing to disclose her interests in the Register of Interests. While the explanation provided cites external audit complexities across the sector, timely financial reporting is crucial for stakeholders to assess the financial health and performance of the PCC Group, and the delays undermine public trust and confidence in the governance of the Police and Crime Commission given the importance of transparency and accountability in the management of public funds and the forth-coming elections at which Katy Bourne seeks re-election.
The combination of breaches described here raise serious questions about transparency and compliance with electoral regulations and I believe they warrant further investigation to ensure the integrity of the electoral process.
Given the significance of PCC elections in ensuring accountability and transparency in policing, it is crucial that any allegations of misconduct or breaches of authority are thoroughly investigated.
I trust that you will handle this matter with the utmost seriousness and impartiality, in accordance with the principles of fairness and justice.
Thank you for your attention to this important issue.
Sincerely,
Alison Wright