First chief constable to be sacked for 35 years would have faced further disciplinary charges

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The first chief constable to be sacked for 35 years would have faced further disciplinary charges including for spending on a corporate credit card and trips abroad if he had kept his job, according to new documents released yesterday.

Sean Price was sacked last month as head of Cleveland Police after he tried to bully a junior colleague into helping him cover up his lies to an independent inquiry probing years of alleged wrongdoing. A panel found that he had tried to mislead the Independent Police Complaints Commission about efforts to secure a job for the then head of the police authority.

Mr Price had faced another 18 misconduct charges which will now no longer be heard after he was dismissed from the force that he had headed since 2003.

Mr Price said yesterday that he was considering legal options available to him. "Had there been the opportunity for these matters to be properly examined by way of a hearing I would have sought to clear my name in relation to every allegation."

He still faces a criminal inquiry which is looking into issues including contracts awarded by the force, "inappropriate" hospitality, excessive personal rewards and other issues.

The long-running Operation Sacristy inquiry, headed by the director-general of the new National Crime Agency, Keith Bristow, has led to the arrests of eight people, including Mr Price's former deputy Derek Bonnard. He is due to face a three-week disciplinary hearing from next week.