Report claims £450,000 investigation into police chief was flawed

A £450,000 investigation into a chief constable who was accused of bullying staff was “flawed” and based on “flimsy” allegations, a report has found.

Cheshire’s chief constable Simon Byrne was suspended from his job after he was accused of bullying staff.

He was completely cleared last year and has since taken the top policing job in Northern Ireland.

The report into the investigation has blamed Cheshire’s police commissioner David Keane for “failures in the investigation and a lack of rigour”.

The report added that the investigation “could and should have been avoided”.

The report by councillors on Cheshire’s police and crime panel said Mr Keane was “still finding his feet” as a newly-elected commissioner when the allegations first emerged in 2016.

The commissioner had “incomplete knowledge” of the relevant rules and laws, his investigation was “under-resourced” and it had “insufficient attention to detail”.

Mr Keane has claimed “sub optimal” work by the investigators he appointed led to mistakes being made.

The report, to be sent to the Home Office, has called for the government to change the “overly complicated, bureaucratic and unbalanced” regulations that govern disciplinary procedures.