A DISGRACED policeman, who was sacked for stealing a heating boiler, last night described his disciplinary hearing as a "sham".

Brendon Whitehead, 36, was dismissed on Wednesday over the theft, after a two-week hearing which he did not attend.

Now the former Detective Constable, who was suspended from Cleveland Police in October 1997, plans to appeal against the decision.

He said: "I think the way they have treated me is a sham.

"My barrister and I plan to appeal."

Mr Whitehead, who lives in Brotton, east Cleveland, was among the first to be suspended as part of Operation Lancet, for allegedly supplying drugs to criminals in return for information.

That December, Detective Superintendent Ray Mallon, head of Middlesbrough CID, was also suspended.

Det Supt Mallon's accuser was his former right-hand man, Detective Inspector Russ Daglish, who was also dismissed following Wednesday's hearing.

Insp Daglish declined to comment last night, but he is also understood to be appealing against his dismissal.

The boiler, which had been stolen from a council house and recovered by police, was allegedly put in an unmarked police car and taken to be fitted in Insp Daglish's cottage in Egglescliffe, near Stockton.

A £500,000 criminal trial at Hull Crown Court collapsed last year, after Cleveland Chief Superintendent Kevin Pitt submitted weighty evidence at the last minute.

Mr Whitehead said he took the boiler because he was instructed to do so by a senior officer. He said health problems brought on by the stress of the past five years made him miss the disciplinary hearing.

"I'm addicted to Valium and sleeping tablets, and I overdosed five weeks ago," he said. "I wasn't fit enough to attend the trial."