Ex-Cleveland Police chief constable facing misconduct over alleged 'sexual' comments

A former chief constable of Cleveland Police is facing allegations that he made sexually inappropriate comments to a female member of staff as he drove her to a meeting.

Mike Veale, who quit the force with immediate effect in January 2019 in the wake of the allegations, is also alleged to have made improper comments about two colleagues while at a lunch with the chief constable of Norfolk Constabulary.

Although he is no longer serving, Mr Veale, 57, is facing a disciplinary hearing in Middlesbrough this week. He denies the allegations against him.

The hearing was told that in March, 2018, he was on duty, driving to a meeting at Stockton Borough Council with a colleague and reading out an email from a councillor which was complimentary about him.

He is alleged to have looked at his female colleague’s lap and made a suggestive sexual comment.

In December, 2018, while at a police lunch in Norfolk he is alleged to have said of two colleagues – one a senior male officer and another a senior female officer – that they were "bedfellows, metaphorically speaking, or otherwise", before laughing.

The hearing was told that Mr Veale will argue that the colleague in his car misheard or misrepresented his comment, and that the "bedfellows" comment was not meant in an "innuendo" sense.

Cleveland’s Police and Crime Commissioner Steve Turner brought disciplinary proceedings against Mr Veale after an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found that he had a case to answer.

He is only the second chief constable in the country to face public disciplinary proceedings.

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