Ex-footballer faces sack from South Yorkshire Police after positive cocaine test

Pc Julian Broddle, whose career highlights include being part of the Raith Rovers side that beat Celtic in the 1994 Scottish League Cup Final, faces a misconduct hearing with his employer South Yorkshire Police next week.

According to the force, Mr Broddle provided a urine sample as part of a random drug test after attending its professional standards department on March 19.

A description of the incident on the force’s website says: “The sample was sent for analysis and Alere Toxicology have informed South Yorkshire Police that PC Broddle tested positively for a Class A drug, namely cocaine.”

The officer is next week due to attend a special case misconduct hearing where he will answer claims that his conduct was “unprofessional and inappropriate and breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour, in particular those paragraphs relating to ‘Discreditable Conduct’”.

His case will be heard on the same afternoon as a similar case relating to Special Police Constable Oliver Paduch, who is accused of posting ‘inappropriate and unacceptable comments of a potentially racist nature on Facebook’.

The majority of police misconduct hearings have been held in public since last year as part of efforts by the Government to make forces more transparent and accountable.

Both of the cases being held next Tuesday are special case hearings, where the circumstances of the misconduct have already been considered by the force’s deputy chief constable.

They are fast-tracked proceedings held without witnesses where a force considers that there are already sufficient evidential and public interest grounds for the officer to leave the force without delay.

Mr Broddle started his football career with Sheffield United in 1981-82, though played only once for the first team.

He moved to Scunthorpe United in 1983 and became one of the club’s top 25 scorers of all time over a four-year period. He also had a three-year spell with Barnsley before moving north to Scotland.

He was part of Raith Rovers’ only season in Europe, where they beat two European clubs before going out to the eventual winners, Bayern Munich

Mr Broddle retired in 1998 after having played 399 league matches during his career, and including FA Cup and League Cup, scored a total of 50 goals.

After becoming a policeman, he has served with Greater Manchester Police and Nottinghamshire Police before joining South Yorkshire Police. He was put forward for commendation during his career with the Manchester force after saving the life of a teenage girl.

Earlier this year, it was reported that a counter terrorism police officer was sacked after testing positive for cocaine and neglecting to tell his superiors.

Detective Constable Jonathan Fisher-Eames was screened for the Class A drug while attempting to transfer to the Metropolitan Police’s counter terror command.

In September, a South Yorkshire Police detective was sacked for beating a burglary suspect with a shoe - with two colleagues also fired for lying about the incident.