Paul Stephenson (police officer)

Sir Paul Robert Stephenson, QPM (born 26 September 1953) was the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, 2009-2011, the most senior police officer within the United Kingdom.

On 17 July 2011, Stephenson announced his intention to resign from the post of Commissioner as the result of speculation regarding his connection with Neil Wallis, arrested on suspicion of involvement in the News International phone hacking scandal., Sky News, 17 July 2011..

Biography

Stephenson grew up in Bacup in the Rossendale district of east Lancashire, the son of a butcher. He attended Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School where he became head boy.

Stephenson originally desired a career in the footwear industry, and took up work at the Bacup Shoe Company factory in nearby Stacksteads. By the age of 20 he was made a trainee manager, but in 1975 he followed his elder brother into the police force.<ref...
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