THE wife of disgraced Cleveland Police chief Sean Price has resigned from her post with the same force putting a stop to disciplinary proceedings against her.

Detective Chief Inspector Heather Eastwood quit the force ahead of the Independent Police Complaints Commission’s hearing into an allegation that she failed to inform her superiors when she was arrested for being drunk and disorderly in 2011.

The former officer, who married Mr Price last year, was arrested at Northallerton train station in 2011.

She was questioned and later released with no further action taken.

Following an investigation, the alleged incident was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission by Cleveland Police and Cleveland Police Authority in May last year.

A force spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that a Chief Inspector who was due to face a misconduct hearing has now resigned from the Force.

“As the individual is no longer a serving police officer they are no longer subject to disciplinary proceedings.”

Last night (Wednesday) a spokesman for the IPCC confirmed that details of its investigation would be released as soon as possible.

He said: “As the force has accepted the resignation of the officer there was no need for the hearing to proceed. However, we will publish the findings of the investigation once we are legally able to do so.”

Last night, the former DCI was unable to go into detail about her resignation.

Her husband, Mr Price, served as Cleveland's Chief Constable from 2003 until last October when he was dismissed for gross misconduct.

He was arrested in August 20011 and subsequently suspended as part of the Operation Sacristy corruption probe and was sacked in October last year following a disciplinary hearing into issues not connected to Sacristy.

In March, Cleveland's former Deputy Chief Constable Derek Bonnard was dismissed for gross misconduct on six counts.

Mr Bonnard denied any wrongdoing and planned to appeal against the ruling, however, earlier this week it emerged he had reached a settlement with the force over disputed wages paid during his suspension and dropped the challenge.

As a result he will not now pursue an appeal against the dismissal or an action claiming sexual discrimination.