VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

"Fri, May 01 2026, 15:44:41 GMT-4" [ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, [3], 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 14:45:42 01/10/06 Tue
Author: Brian O'Gorman
Subject: Gerry does it again. Hic

Uni chief charged with drink-driving
McKenna in court this week over incident

By Claire Regan, Belfast Telegraph, 10 January 2006

Controversial University of Ulster president Professor Gerry McKenna has been summonsed to appear in court to be charged with driving under the influence of excess alcohol, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal today.

It is understood the former Vice Chancellor, who stood down in the wake of a damning investigation into his behaviour, has been summonsed to appear at Coleraine Magistrate's Court this Friday.

It is understood the leading academic is set to face two charges after a vehicle he was driving was pulled over by police officers in the Lodge Road/Newbridge Road area of the Co Londonderry town on July 14 last year.

As a result, he is set to face one charge of driving with excess alcohol in his blood and another of driving while unfit through drink or drugs.

It is understood a summons has been issued to Prof McKenna - who lives in the university's official Knocktarna residence on the Mountsandel Road in Coleraine - and the 52-year-old is scheduled to appear in court in three days' time.

Prof McKenna was stopped by police just two weeks after the Belfast Telegraph revealed the details of a high-level investigation into his conduct which found evidence to support a number of allegations against him - including one that he had been impaired by alcohol at several official meetings.

We published the contents of the confidential Buckley Report - which also concluded that Prof McKenna had a case to answer regarding allegations of lax financial controls and harsh treatment of staff - after successfully overturning a High Court injunction the university took out against the Belfast Telegraph in a bid to keep the contents secret.

Prof McKenna agreed to stand down as Vice Chancellor last May, after the university's ruling council considered the report privately, but return to the leading institution on August 1 in the lesser role as president for one year only.

But he has yet to come back to take up the role and the university began proceedings last month to sack him and evict him from the Knocktarna residence within a month.

In response, Prof McKenna launched a civil action at the High Court in Belfast last month which is set to re-open tomorrow. The matter was adjourned on December 20 when the university agreed to freeze its attempts to sack the former leader and evict him on January 2, as planned.

The undertaking was agreed to allow Prof McKenna time to appeal an application to retire early on the grounds of ill health which was rejected by the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).

Prof McKenna took the High Court case to seek a declaration from the university that he should remain in its employment as president and have exclusive possession of Knocktarna until July 31 this year, the planned date for his retirement.

It is understood Prof McKenna has been on full pay of almost £195,000 since he last worked at the university in December 2004, when he left on sick leave followed by sabbatical.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.