A LEGAL challenge to the investigation into the sacking of former Welsh minister Carl Sargeant is set to be heard in Cardiff tomorrow.

The widow of Mr Sargeant is challenging the legality of the inquiry set up to investigate the role of former First Minister Carwyn Jones in her husband’s removal from office.

Mr Sargeant was found dead at his home in north Wales in November 2017, four days after he was sacked from Carwyn Jones' cabinet following allegations of misconduct involving women.

Bernie Sargeant is seeking to challenge the ‘unlawful’ decision-making of the former First Minister of Wales (FM) and the Permanent Secretary to the Welsh Government (PS) in relation to the inquiry’s operational protocol, which will govern how the inquiry will proceed.

The inquiry in to Mr Jones' role in the removal of Mr Sargeant from office is led by Paul Bowen QC as chair and independent investigator, but the operational protocol was drafted by the PS, who reported to the then FM.

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Mrs Sargeant says that the decision-making by the former FM and PS in relation to the inquiry was done without properly consulting her.

Specifically, she is challenging the decisions to bar the family’s lawyers from being able to question witnesses; to allow the independent investigator to bar the family from hearings; to prevent oral evidence from being heard in public; and to prevent the independent investigator from being able to order witnesses to give evidence.

She is also challenging the decision by the government to send out a memo to all Welsh government civil servants in June asking them to notify the PS or her colleagues in governance or HR if they had evidence directly relating to the inquiry, rather than go direct to Mr Bowen. An amendment was hurriedly sent advising staff that they could also contact the inquiry.

However, Mrs Sargeant’s lawyers argue that this request may have hampered the inquiry and, despite the amended message, it still read as if to impose a requirement to share evidence with the PS before the independent investigator.

Neil Hudgell, of Hudgell Solicitors, represents Mrs Sargeant.

He said: “Getting answers for the Sargeant family is turning into a hugely difficult and drawn-out process, but we hope that this week’s hearing will get the family one step closer to a meaningful enquiry.”

The hearing is expected to last one day.