In 1994, John Frederick Pickering, then a senior University of Portsmouth administrator, investigated concerns raised by Neil Merritt’s secretary about vice-chancellor Neil Merritt’s travel expenses. Merritt admitted errors of judgment: he claimed executive-class long-haul flight tickets, exchanged them for cheaper tickets, and personally kept the difference. He resigned and received a £52,500 severance package; the university did not seek prosecution. Pickering and the secretary were subsequently dismissed. An industrial tribunal awarded the secretary £10,000 for constructive dismissal, while an unpublished 1994 report by Jeremy Lever QC found a causal link between the expenses investigation and Pickering’s departure.
The National Audit Office’s May 1997 report concluded there was no evidence Pickering had been penalized for whistleblowing, although later correspondence from Comptroller and Auditor General Sir John Bourn acknowledged that the investigation was a significant factor in the events leading to his departure and criticized aspects of whistleblower treatment. A 2000 inquiry by Elaine Storkey also found that recruitment correspondence about Pickering had been inaccurate, late, and dismissive, though it found no evidence that Saxton Bampfylde Hever had unfairly withheld his candidacy. In 2014, Hampshire Chief Constable Andy Marsh wrote that the reviewed material made it evident that fraud offences had been committed and that the police response had fallen below expected standards.
