Laming inquiry policeman charged

A senior police officer who was one of Lord Laming’s advisers during the Victoria Climbi Inquiry has been charged with two offences of common assault.

John Fox, 49, a detective superintendent at Hampshire Constabulary, pleaded not guilty at Chichester Magistrates Court in October. His trial will take place in July 2006. The charges relate to an alleged incident that took place in Southampton in May while he was off-duty.

Fox retired at the end of November but a spokesperson for Hampshire police said his decision to do so was unconnected to the incident. He had been working on a police project for the past two months, but before that was head of Hampshire’s specialist investigation department, which investigates child abuse and paedophilia.