CLEVELAND'S Chief Constable Barry Shaw faced calls to quit last night after a furious judge said a "catalogue of errors" turned an inquiry into the alleged police theft of a £20 boiler into a £500,000 farce.

Judges Henriques was so angered by the collapse of the case against Detective Inspector Russ Daglish and Detective Constable Brendon Whitehead that he ordered Chief Superintendent Kevin Pitt to appear before him.

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

He told the shaken chief superintendent: "You have shown absolutely no regard for the criminal justice process."

Yesterday, Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate, a Home Office advisor on law and order, said the latest embarrassment made it impossible for the chief constable to go on. He said: "This heaps injustice on injustice. Cleveland is a force divided. What it needs now is strong leadership. I think the chief constable's position is now untenable."

The collapse of the trial, at Hull Crown Court, put further pressure on the Cleveland force still reeling from Operation Lancet, in which suspended police chief Ray Mallon was cleared this week of criminal wrongdoing, after two-and-a-half years. He remains suspended pending possible disciplinary charges.

Yesterday's hearing was told how a damaged boiler was allegedly stolen from the crime property store at Middlesbrough police station by Det Con Whitehead and fitted at the home of his boss, Det Insp Daglish, in April 1997.

The boiler's disappearance came to light in December 1997 and the pair, members of Middlesbrough CID, were charged and suspended. By this time Det Insp Daglish had made serious allegations against the head of CID - Det Supt Mallon.

The court heard how two factions of senior officers developed. One wanted to prosecute Det Insp Daglish for theft and the other wanted to "torpedo" the boiler inquiry so that Det Insp Daglish could be a witness against Det Supt Mallon.

This resulted in increasing delay, cost and squabbling among senior ranks.

At one point, two chief superintendents, two assistant chief constables, a senior Crown Prosecution lawyer and the Director of Public Prosecutions became involved in the inquiry into the £20 boiler.

After three weeks of legal argument the case was due to start at Hull with both officers charged with conspiracy to steal. But the submission of the document by Daglish's welfare officer, Chief Superintendent Pitt, meant the trial would have to be delayed and Judge Henriques said this was unfair to the defendants.

After ruling that further delay and recent publicity surrounding Ray Mallon meant the accused could not have a fair trial, he "stayed" the proceedings.

Already the public faces a bill of £200,000 in prosecution costs, but this could rise to more than half a million if a defence application for costs succeeds.

Judge Henriques said the case revealed "a catalogue of errors by senior members of the Cleveland police force" and said he would be sending his report on the case to the Chief Constable of Cleveland "for him to take appropriate action".

He believed the two officers should face internal disciplinary procedures.

A Cleveland Police spokesman said: "We will be reviewing what he has had to say and the reasons for it but cannot comment further."