Former Cleveland Police chief constable Mike Veale barred from serving over sexual comments

A former chief constable who told a female officer she could touch herself as they sat in a car has been indefinitely barred from serving after being found guilty of gross misconduct.

Mike Veale, 57, was judged last month by a disciplinary panel to have made unwanted sexual remarks to colleagues during his time as head of Cleveland Police in 2018.

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland, Steve Turner, has now backed the panel’s findings and said Mr Veale would have been dismissed and should now be put on the list of officers banned from serving indefinitely.

Mr Veale resigned from the force in January 2019 after 10 months in charge.

The ex-top officer, who led a controversial inquiry when he was chief of Wiltshire Police into former prime minister Ted Heath for alleged sexual offences, did not attend the 25-minute hearing at the police headquarters in Middlesbrough.

Mr Turner said: “Anything short of dismissal would send a message to the public and police that such conduct is not taken seriously within the police.

“It very much is taken seriously.”

The disciplinary hearing was told last month that Mr Veale was in a car with a female colleague, referred to as Witness B, in November 2018 when he read out a complimentary email he had received from a local councillor.

He looked at her lap and said, “Go on, you can touch yourself now”, the panel was told.

Mr Veale was also found to have inappropriately commented in front of others, while on a visit to Norfolk Police, that the same female colleague and a male senior officer, referred to as Witness C, were “bedfellows – metaphorically speaking or otherwise” before laughing.

Mr Turner said Mr Veale should have known the force is a “workplace where rumours abound”.

He said: “There is a high risk, if a chief constable was seen to engage in such behaviour, he would set the tone for the rest of the force.”

Disciplinary action is designed to maintain public confidence, uphold policing standards and protect the public and was justified in this case, Mr Turner found.

He said his decision was separate from a previous finding that Mr Veale “lied to senior colleagues”, prior to him joining Cleveland Police, about damaging his mobile phone while playing golf.

Mr Turner said Mr Veale claimed his phone had been run over when he had actually accidentally broken it by hitting it.

In a statement after the hearing, Mr Turner said: “I recognise that the investigation into Mr Veale’s conduct and the subsequent proceedings have taken longer than anticipated, and longer than anyone would have wanted, to come to a resolution. I thank all involved for their patience and co-operation.

“I will continue to work closely with the chief constable (Mark Webster) to ensure standards of professional behaviour are upheld and public confidence in Cleveland Police is maintained.”

After leaving Cleveland Police, Mr Veale was an adviser to the Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner but resigned from that role earlier this year.

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