Ray Mallon was today described as a liar who cost the taxpayer millions of pounds in a desperate bid to suppress the truth.

Cleveland Police chief constable Barry Shaw launched an attack on the man credited with bringing zero tolerance policing to Britain.

Mr Mallon pleaded guilty last Monday to 14 disciplinary charges for which he was required to resign bringing to a close a police career stretching over three decades and ending speculation about his involvement in matters which prompted the four-year Operation Lancet investigation.

Mr Mallon criticised senior police officials including Mr Shaw yesterday, but today it was the turn of the police to speak about Operation Lancet.

The Chief Constable pulled no punches during an angry attack on Mr Mallon who sat in the front row of the public gallery at a specially arranged Cleveland Police Authority meeting.

Mr Shaw said: "For more than four long years the people of Cleveland have been fed a diet of lies, innuendo and half truths by the man who now wants to be the Mayor of Middlesbrough.

''Under the manipulation of Mr Mallon, Operation Lancet has become, in the public eyes, the vilification of an innocent man - a vendetta by a group of twisted senior officers and an evil force dedicated to drive a man from his job.

"Nothing can be further from the truth and the time has now come for the truth to come out."

The Chief Constable added: "Mr Mallon is the cause of the scandalous cost of this inquiry because he was determined to prevent the truth getting out.

"He was at the centre of an empire of evil and desperate to suppress the truth.

"This was a senior and very experienced officer. He failed to take action and responsibility."

The meeting was told details of the 14 disciplinary charges to which Mr Mallon pleaded guilty.

These included a number of failures to investigate allegations of misconduct including one made by an inspector that a detective had supplied a controlled drug to a female prisoner and another that a criminal had been tipped off.

Mr Shaw said: "As a public figure facing such allegations Mr Mallon became more concerned with his public image than justice. His desperation to cover up led to his unrelenting campaign to vilify those seeking the truth and justice.

"Mr Mallon will be remembered by many people nation-wide as the face of zero-tolerance. He showed no tolerance towards junior officers prepared to stand up to criminal behaviour in the force."