| The Right Honourable The Lord Condon QPM, DL |
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|---|---|
| Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police | |
| In office 1 January 1993 – 31 December 1999 |
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| Preceded by | Sir Peter Imbert |
| Succeeded by | Sir John Stevens |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Paul Leslie Condon 10 March 1947 |
| Profession | Police officer, ICC Anti-Corruption Unit head |
Paul Leslie Condon, Baron Condon, QPM, DL, FRSA (born 10 March 1947) is a retired British police officer. He was the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police (covering London) from 1993 to 2000.
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Condon read Jurisprudence at St Peter's College, Oxford and was made an Honorary Fellow in 1996. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Companion of the Institute of Management. He was awarded the Queen's Police Medal for distinguished service in 1989 and was knighted in 1994.
He joined the police in 1967. He became Chief Constable of Kent in 1988 and Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in 1993 at the age of 45, the youngest person to do so.[1] His tenure as head of the Metropolitan Police Service was marked by the Stephen Lawrence case, which became a major controversy. The subsequent public Macpherson Report found the force to be "institutionally racist" and that the failure to arrest and successfully prosecute those believed guilty brought about many changes in the way the Metropolitan Police investigated murder within the capital. In 1995, Condon attracted controversy and media attention for stating that most muggers are black.[2][3] Other challenges Condon faced was Irish republican terrorism, the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales and the millennium celebrations, police corruption, which led to 70 people being charged, 100 police officers suspended and changes to legislation. In November 1994, the National Black Police Association was founded.
He later became head of the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit, investigating the game's betting controversies[4] and was created a life peer in 2001, as Baron Condon, of Langton Green in the County of Kent. He sits as a cross-bencher in the House of Lords.[5]
In March 2007, Mohammed Al Fayed launched legal action in France against Lord Condon, alleging he deliberately withheld evidence from the French inquiry into the death of the Princess of Wales in 1997.[6] Condon was also named to assist Jamaican Police in their inquiry into the strangulation murder of Pakistan's World Cup cricket coach, Bob Woolmer. In March 2007, fifty-eight year old Woolmer, a former England Test player and South African cricket coach, was found unconscious in his Kingston hotel room, hours after Pakistan's upset defeat to Ireland. This loss eliminated the Pakistan side, ranked fourth in the world, from the World Cup competition.
He is married with three children and four grandsons and lives in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
| Police appointments | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Peter Imbert |
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis 1993–2000 |
Succeeded by Sir John Stevens |