Cleveland PCC Steve Turner accepts handling stolen goods

Mr Turner, who is also facing an allegation of sexual assault, which he denies, previously referred to an “event” which occurred while he was a manager at a former Safeway store in Norton, Teesside.

Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald, who has called on Mr Turner to step down saying he is not a fit person for the role, had used Parliamentary privilege to accuse the PCC of theft when he worked for the now defunct supermarket chain.

In an interview with BBC Radio Tees, Conservative Mr Turner said: “I resigned from the position after receiving a police caution for holding stolen goods to the value of £15 and it was 22 years ago.”

Read more: Labour's Keir Starmer urges Cleveland PCC Steve Turner to step down

Police watchdog the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) is considering a referral made over the matter and has also separately begun a “managed investigation” into an alleged sex assault dating back to the 1980s.

This will be carried out by an external police force, overseen by the IOPC.

This week the IOPC told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it had also made further enquiries regarding other matters brought to its attention concerning the alleged conduct of the PCC.

Mr Turner denied that the investigation he is facing was a “huge distraction” for Cleveland Police and said he had a fantastic team working around him.

He also said there was no formal process of suspension for the PCC and he would not be stepping away as had a job to do for the people of Cleveland.

Mr Turner said: “I will bend over backwards to help this investigation, but we also have to protect that principle in law that you are innocent until proven guilty and you can’t allow an allegation to overturn the votes of 74,000 people.

“I am going to do the job the people of Cleveland elected me to do.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Turner, who was elected in May to the post, should resign.

But he was labelled a “hypocrite” by the PCC for his previous handling of the case of former Labour MP Claudia Webbe who was convicted of threatening a woman with an acid attack.

She was expelled from the party after being sentenced.

Mr Turner claimed that were he to resign, the cost of a by-election to elect a new police commissioner would be about £1m to the public purse.

He also said he was “absolutely confident” in the support of political colleagues and the Cleveland public.

Read more: Police boss refuses to quit in explosive 600-word statement aimed at enemies

On Tuesday Mr Turner issued a statement via his solicitors in which he said Labour opponents were conducting an “orchestrated campaign” against him.

He said the “highly confidential and damaging” allegation he had committed a sex attack had been deliberately leaked to the media.

Mr Turner said he was confident any investigation would prove beyond doubt he was innocent and said he had been told it may not conclude until 2024 – potentially covering the length of his remaining term as PCC.

Mr Turner, who was a UKIP councillor before defecting to the Conservative Party, previously managed the offices of Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Simon Clarke and Redcar MP Jacob Young.

He was elected pledging to put more police on the streets and get tough on crime and drugs gangs, and he said his priorities in that regard remained the same.

His job is to provide a strategic blueprint for the Cleveland force in reducing crime and disorder, as well as being a voice for victims, and his three-year police and crime plan was approved at a meeting earlier this week.

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