In 1994, Neil Merritt, then vice-chancellor of the University of Portsmouth, resigned after an investigation into his travel expenses. Merritt admitted errors of judgment: he claimed executive-class fares for long-haul flights, exchanged them for cheaper tickets, and kept the difference personally. Despite the admissions, the university paid him a £52,500 severance package and did not seek prosecution. Professor John Frederick Pickering investigated the expenses and referred his concerns to the governors’ audit committee; Merritt’s secretary also raised concerns. Both Pickering and the secretary were subsequently dismissed, and an industrial tribunal awarded the secretary £10,000 for constructive dismissal.
An unpublished 1994 report by Jeremy Lever QC found a causal link between the expense investigation and Pickering’s departure, while a 2000 inquiry by Elaine Storkey found that recruitment correspondence concerning Pickering had been inaccurate, dismissive, and delayed, although it found no evidence that Saxton Bampfylde Hever had treated his candidacy unfairly overall. The National Audit Office’s May 1997 report disputed that Pickering had been persecuted, though its director later acknowledged that the investigation was a significant factor in the events leading to his departure. In 2014, Hampshire Chief Constable Andy Marsh wrote that reviewed material made it evident that fraud offences had been committed and that allegations should have been investigated further, while apologising for the police response. No prosecution or institutional inquiry followed in the source record.
