Cleveland Police chief constable Sean Price dismissed

12:56am Friday 5th October 2012 in News Photograph of the Author Exclusive By Graeme Hetherington

PACKING HIS BAGS? Sean Price arriving for his disciplinary hearing at the end of last month PACKING HIS BAGS? Sean Price arriving for his disciplinary hearing at the end of last month

CLEVELAND Police’s beleaguered chief constable Sean Price has today been sacked for gross misconduct and told his behaviour was "shameful".

Sean Price has been the subject of disciplinary action over allegations relating to the recruitment of the daughter of the former chairman of Cleveland Police Authority, Dave McLuckie.

The verdict of the disciplinary hearing, which has lasted eight days, has been announced this morning.

The suspended police chief has always maintained his innocence, and tried and failed to secure a judicial review at the High Court in London to stop the hearing going ahead.

The independent panel, sitting in Northallerton, rejected his explanations.

The hearing found it proven that Mr Price had asked a member of staff to enquire about a job for an individual, had denied doing so when investigated by the IPCC and had then directed the member of staff to lie to the IPCC about the matter in an attempt to mislead the investigation.

The panel decided the proven matters individually and collectively amounted to gross misconduct and recommended to Cleveland Police Authority that Mr Price be dismissed with immediate effect.

The panel found it not proven that Mr Price had directed that a job be found for an individual.

IPCC Commissioner Nicholas Long said: "Sean Price's attempts to mislead the IPCC investigation by lying and putting pressure on a member of staff to lie on his behalf were shameful."

Mr Price said: "Whilst the burden of proof at misconduct hearings is of a lower standard I am still perplexed as to why a misconduct panel could have found against me in the light of the evidence presented and the obvious hurdles that were placed in the way of me being able to lay the full facts of this case before the panel."

Related links

Mr Price, suspended on full pay since he was arrested as part of Operation Sacristy in August last year, is expected to face further disciplinary charges along with his deputy, Derek Bonnard.

Criminal charges against Mr Bonnard were dropped earlier this year.

Comments(15)

DarloXman says...
11:38am Fri 5 Oct 12

It is shameful that the disciplinary process took this long. In a private business this would have taken two weeks max!! Good job the tax payers have deep pockets.

Report this post »

gold1953 says...
11:59am Fri 5 Oct 12

We will need deep pockets when he gets his pay off

Report this post »

Maxxxy says...
12:36pm Fri 5 Oct 12

Hmm. See today's news in the Echo about Norman Bettison . I believe that the Chief Constable of Cumbria Police is suspended, too?

Report this post »

Simple guesswork says...
1:30pm Fri 5 Oct 12

Another cover up. So is the end of the matter!
What about the other charges?
Who would they also implicate?

Report this post »

st-george1 says...
2:19pm Fri 5 Oct 12

Where-oh-where are local supporters MPs Bell and Blenkinsop ?

Just like the call for punishing greedy Bankers, all police officers found guilty of misconduct and corrupt behaviour should be banned for life … without a lump sum payoff or a life-pension and UNABLE to apply to any other police force anywhere in the world … BUT we’ll have to wait and see.
With 2 more years of investigation into what seems to be a long list of misconduct or criminal offences, I’ll bet the cost is zooming and likely be over £10million of taxpayers money.

PS … Sir Norman Bettison, the most senior serving police officer with South Yorkshire Police's discredited Hillsborough operation, always said he had nothing to hide … BUT has today quit the force, presumably losing his knighthood too !

Report this post »

Maxxxy says...
2:29pm Fri 5 Oct 12

st-george1 wrote:
Where-oh-where are local supporters MPs Bell and Blenkinsop ?

Just like the call for punishing greedy Bankers, all police officers found guilty of misconduct and corrupt behaviour should be banned for life … without a lump sum payoff or a life-pension and UNABLE to apply to any other police force anywhere in the world … BUT we’ll have to wait and see.
With 2 more years of investigation into what seems to be a long list of misconduct or criminal offences, I’ll bet the cost is zooming and likely be over £10million of taxpayers money.

PS … Sir Norman Bettison, the most senior serving police officer with South Yorkshire Police's discredited Hillsborough operation, always said he had nothing to hide … BUT has today quit the force, presumably losing his knighthood too !
St-george1, Re your "PS … Sir Norman Bettison, the most senior serving police officer with South Yorkshire Police's discredited Hillsborough operation, always said he had nothing to hide … BUT has today quit the force, presumably losing his knighthood too !" - I doubt that the knighthood will go, unless there is sufficient public outcry. Again! So many involved in all this way-of-thinking.....
. Public outcry is sorely needed. Make your/our voices heard?

Report this post »

Maxxxy says...
2:31pm Fri 5 Oct 12

Sorry, I didn't mean to repeat the PS twice!

Report this post »

Jezreel says...
4:40pm Fri 5 Oct 12

At least he has the good fortune to be alive. Unlike newspaper seller Ian Tompson and Jean Charles de Menezez, gunned down by a police marksman

Report this post »

Maxxxy says...
4:58pm Fri 5 Oct 12

Jezreel wrote:
At least he has the good fortune to be alive. Unlike newspaper seller Ian Tompson and Jean Charles de Menezez, gunned down by a police marksman
When found out or found wanting in such cases, they have then tried to pin the blame on the dead victims . Just noticed another attempt at evidence-tampering: http://www.thenorthe
rnecho.co.uk/news/lo
cal/tyneandwear/9945
036.Sir_Bobby_s_stat
ement_in_cover_up/

Report this post »

itsadoddle says...
5:08pm Fri 5 Oct 12

Is this the only instance of this sort of conduct we ask?

Report this post »

Claude Ted says...
5:26pm Fri 5 Oct 12

Why did it take so long after McLuckie's daughter was actually employed before anyone spoke out? What sort of toxic culture allows this sort of malpractice in a police organisation to happen. How was a Chief Constable's PA persuaded to lie & then supply a second truthful witness statement? Drummond is incorrect to suggest that is brave, honesty is the least we should expect. The sooner the other disciplinary charges are made public, if legally possible, the better. What else has been going on in there? I want to know more about the Steria outsourcing project that will see ex-Cleveland Police employees sacked? We pick up the bill for this whilst Steria look to profit. Why is it not delivering the promised cash savings? I want to know more about the corporate card scandal, Price & McLuckie's foreign trips, especially as Price married the staff officer he went with. Who else went on the trips? Who approved the credit card spending? Where was the CPA in all this, where they aware of internal issues? This is a scandal & I'm sure there is more to come, roll on Sacristy, let's get to the bottom of this organisation. Maybe Price can stand for PCC then we can have 2 disgraced ex-cops in highly paid public roles. Priceless!

Report this post »

Claude Ted says...
5:26pm Fri 5 Oct 12

Why did it take so long after McLuckie's daughter was actually employed before anyone spoke out? What sort of toxic culture allows this sort of malpractice in a police organisation to happen. How was a Chief Constable's PA persuaded to lie & then supply a second truthful witness statement? Drummond is incorrect to suggest that is brave, honesty is the least we should expect. The sooner the other disciplinary charges are made public, if legally possible, the better. What else has been going on in there? I want to know more about the Steria outsourcing project that will see ex-Cleveland Police employees sacked? We pick up the bill for this whilst Steria look to profit. Why is it not delivering the promised cash savings? I want to know more about the corporate card scandal, Price & McLuckie's foreign trips, especially as Price married the staff officer he went with. Who else went on the trips? Who approved the credit card spending? Where was the CPA in all this, where they aware of internal issues? This is a scandal & I'm sure there is more to come, roll on Sacristy, let's get to the bottom of this organisation. Maybe Price can stand for PCC then we can have 2 disgraced ex-cops in highly paid public roles. Priceless!

Report this post »

Commissioner Pleb says...
6:30pm Fri 5 Oct 12

CC Mike Cunningham from ACPO was on radio saying "Thankfully, this is a rare event"
The reason it is a rare event is because it is very rare and difficult to have a Senior Officer held to account in the first place.
Then he goes on to talk about Police Accountability, sometimes you wonder of you are listening to someone who shares the same planet when you hear Senior Officers Spin.

Report this post »

Daza says...
8:57pm Fri 5 Oct 12

With the arrival of Crime Commissioners in November, why do we need Chief Constables!

Get rid of the lot I say!

C'mon, why does any force need a Crime Commissioner, a Chief Constable, an Assistant Chief Constable , sn a Deputy Chief Constable?

Thats over 350K a year!

I'm sure there's savings to be made somewhere!

And let's face it, not one of The above supports the Police Constable on the streets!

Report this post »

drainman says...
8:32am Sat 6 Oct 12

It's even worse when it's a policeman, especially when he's the top guy.He's a liar and a cheat and therfore he shouldn't receive his pay off.

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree