CLEVELAND Police were under pressure last night to say if it would take action against a senior officer, five months after he was criticised by a High Court judge following the collapse of a £500,000 trial.

Chief Superintendent Kevin Pitt was ordered to appear before Judge Richard Henriques at Hull Crown Court in June.

The judge said a "catalogue of errors by senior members of the Cleveland police force" turned an inquiry into the alleged theft of a £20 boiler from Middlesbrough police station into a farce.

Mr Pitt's decision to submit a 400-page document on the eve of the trial, without any prior warning, was guaranteed to delay the trial "and waste a vast amount of public money".

The judge said the submission of the document was unfair to the defendants - Detective Inspector Russ Daglish and Detective Constable Brendon Whitehead - and stayed the proceedings.

He said he would be sending his report on the case to the Chief Constable of Cleveland, Barry Shaw, "for him to take appropriate action".

The judge believed the two officers, who were charged with conspiracy to steal, should face internal disciplinary procedures.

He told Mr Pitt: "You have shown absolutely no regard for the criminal justice process."

But despite the judge's comments, Mr Pitt, who played a prominent role in Operation Lancet, the on-going anti-corruption probe, is still at work as the district commander in Stockton.

Last night, a spokesman for Mr Shaw would only say: "The Chief Constable is aware of the judge's comments."

Lord Brian Mackenzie of Framwellgate, a Home Office advisor on law and order, said he was suprised nothing appeared to have been done. He said: "The chief constable should investigate issues raised by one of Her Majesty's judges.

Standards should be the same across the force. If one person under investigation is suspended, then so should another. I share the surprise that nothing appears to have been done."

Ashok Kumar, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, criticised the fact that Mr Pitt has not been suspended from duty. He said: "The case cost half-a-million pounds. I think he should have been suspended immediately."

The lack of action taken against Mr Pitt was one of the points in a letter of official complaint sent from suspended police chief Ray Mallon's solicitors to the Police Complaints Authority earlier this week.

They took the rare step of writing to every member of Cleveland Police Authority, making serious allegations about key figures in the force.

Those named in the official complaint include Chief Constable Barry Shaw; Detective Chief Superintendent Kevin Pitt and former Deputy Chief Constable Robert Turnbull.

The authority will meet to discuss the letter today.

A spokesman for the Police Complaints Authority said: "This is a matter for the Cleveland force. We can't get involved."

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