The report, which will be discussed by the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Police and Crime Panel’s complaints sub-committee, states the complaint was referred to the IOPC on 4 September 2025.
It said Matthews “sent an unsolicited email to a police officer within Leicestershire Police, asking her to organise for him to have a photo taken with a horse for his next election leaflet, referencing a photograph of Russian president Vladimir Putin posing shirtless on horseback”.
The IOPC said the complaint related to “allegations of intentionally encouraging or assisting an offence and misconduct in public office”.
“The offences were alleged to have happened when a request was made to a serving police officer to participate in promotional election material,” a spokesperson said.
“Following a considered assessment of the referral, we returned the matter to the Panel to be dealt with it as it deemed appropriate, as we did not find evidence to indicate a criminal offence may have been committed.”