A former PSNI officer has lost his legal battle to being sacked over disputed allegations of raping and physically attacking an ex-partner.
Court of Appeal judges rejected all grounds of challenge to a disciplinary process which led to his dismissal from the force for gross misconduct.
Lord Justice McCloskey ruled on Monday: “We can identify no merit in the appellant’s appeal.”
Police launched an investigation after the former constable’s ex-partner alleged she was put in a headlock, punched in the mouth, pushed through a pane of glass and forced to perform oral sex during four separate incidents between 2018 and 2020.
In 2021 the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) decided not to charge him with any criminal offences.
During separate PSNI misconduct proceedings he denied all of the allegations, claiming instead to have acted in self-defence and that all sexual contact was consensual.
His lawyers also sought reports from Social Services on the complainant in a bid to highlight complaints of her aggression towards him.
In 2022 a disciplinary panel chaired by an Assistant Chief Constable found the constable guilty of gross misconduct and dismissed him without notice for breaching the PSNI’s Code of Ethics.
Appealing that determination, the officer attempted to discredit the complainant by referring to text messages she sent on the day of the alleged rape as showing they were still a couple.
The court heard in one message she was said to have invited him into the bedroom to discuss their relationship, describing it as the place where they were “intimate”.
However, the Police Appeals Tribunal (PAT) threw out his challenge on the grounds that it had no reasonable prospect of success.
The chair of the body identified no procedural failings by the PSNI misconduct panel and held that the officer was misguided in relying on the separate PPS decision not to prosecute, based on the different burdens of proof.
Claims by the officer that he had been the victim of gender bias were assessed as having no evidential foundation.
High Court proceedings were issued in a bid to judicially review the decisions reached by both the PSNI and Police Appeals Tribunal.
Lawyers for the sacked officer argued that the text messages amounted to new evidence with a realistic prospect of success.
A failure to disclose Social Services reports was a further unfairness in the appeal process, it was contended.
Earlier this year the former officer’s application for judicial review was dismissed.
He went to the Court of Appeal in a bid to overturn that verdict, arguing that new points of evidence had not been properly considered.
However, Lord Justice McCloskey described the tribunal’s handling of his claims as unimpeachable.
“We have no reservations about our conclusions: the application to adduce fresh evidence has no merit; and the judgment and ensuing order (of the High Court) is affirmed,” he said.
Attending the ruling without legal representation, the former constable indicated he may attempt a further appeal to the Supreme Court.