This is the official website of the Inquiry into the reasons and circumstances leading to Mr Ian McGrail ceasing to be Commissioner of Police in June 2020 by taking early retirement. The Commissioner is to inquire, as he shall in his absolute discretion consider appropriate, into such matters, ascertain the facts and report to the Government.

The Inquiry was set up by His Excellency Vice Admiral Sir David Steel KBE, DL, Governor, for the Government, at the request of the Chief Minister on the 4 February 2022.

Sir Charles Peter Lawford Openshaw, DL is the Commissioner of the Inquiry. Sir Charles was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1970. On 9 April 1991, he was appointed a Queen’s Counsel.On 16 March 1999, he was appointed a Circuit Judge. He was appointed the Honorary Recorder of Preston in 1999 and served for seven years. In September 2005, he was appointed as a High Court Judge and assigned to the Queen’s Bench Division. By statute, he retired as a full time judge in 2017, but remains authorised to sit as a High Court Judge, and as an additional judge of the Court of Appeal , as and when required to do so.

The Inquiry will be making announcements from time to time in respect of the progress of its work and the hearings it will hold. Key documents, press releases, notices and forms are available on this site. Persons having any questions in relation to the work of the Inquiry should contact the Secretary at the address below.

To view the Inquiry’s ‘Issue of Commission’ click here.