The chief constable of Northamptonshire police has been fined £50,000 for contempt of court, with his force condemned by three senior judges.
The court of appeal ruled last week that Northamptonshire police were in contempt and had been “wilfully disobedient” for repeatedly failing to obey rulings to hand over video to a woman who complained she had been wrongly arrested by three officers.
Nadine Buzzard-Quashie was arrested by Northamptonshire police in September 2021, triggering a four-year saga.
She was taken into custody but prosecutors soon dropped the case.
The hearing on Thursday before three senior judges was to decide punishment.
Counsel for Northamptonshire police, Dijen Basu KC, said over four years the force had breached every single order made against it.
Basu, representing the police, described their conduct as “shocking” and said only “extremely belatedly” had they complied by handing over all footage as had been ordered, and accepted it was “utterly inexcusable”.
Northamptonshire’s chief constable, Ivan Balhatchet, appeared in person and in his uniform to personally apologise to the court and to Buzzard-Quashie. He said: “The failure of my force has been appalling.”
He said he had been left speechless by the “numerous errors” and hurt to Buzzard-Quashie, who had for most of the saga represented herself in court.
Balhatchet said: “It is my responsibility to make sure it never happens again.”
Basu said the court’s withering condemnation of the force last week had been a “public humiliation and shaming”.
Buzzard-Quashie wanted video footage of her arrest, including from police body-worn cameras, which the force did not provide.
She complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office, which made an order that all video should be handed over, which the force ignored, before a county court judge made another order, which the force failed to obey again.
The force told courts it did not have any more video to hand over, then reversed its position at a hearing in October.
Delivering their judgment, Lady Justice Asplin, Lord Justice Coulson and Lord Justice Fraser said that one video clip now handed over vindicates Buzzard-Quashie’s concerns about the arrest. The judgment said police had told the court the clip did not exist but it had in fact been viewed previously by police.
The judges said the contempt by police was so prolonged that a public finding of contempt was not enough and a fine was needed to “reflect the seriousness of the case”.
It decided against imprisoning the chief constable and praised the tenacity of Buzzard-Quashie saying: “Without her tenacity and resilience, none of this would have seen the light of day.”
At Thursday’s hearing, counsel for the force said the matter had been referred to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), a decision announced last Wednesday.
The IOPC said they would investigate two staff members and a police officer, but not the chief constable.
An IOPC spokesperson said: “We received a voluntary conduct referral from Northamptonshire police on 19 November 2025 in relation to two staff members and one senior police officer.
“The conduct referral relates to their engagement with the courts over an ongoing legal matter and subsequent statements provided as evidence during the proceedings.
“We have assessed the referral, plus all evidence available to us at this stage, and have decided to independently investigate the matters.”
