Top female cop faces probe over relationship with senior colleague

Chief Superintendent Rebekah Sutcliffe is accused of failing to mention she was seeing Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Rumney, during a disciplinary hearing

A top female police officer faces a probe over allegations she failed to reveal a relationship with a senior colleague during a disciplinary hearing

Chief Superintendent Rebekah Sutcliffe is accused of failing to mention she was seeing Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Rumney, head of the Professional Standards Branch of the Greater Manchester Police.

The complaint alleges it was inappropriate for Sutcliffe - who is presently acting Assistant Chief Constable - to sit on a panel convened to discipline a fellow officer without declaring she was in a relationship with Rumney, whose department had conducted the investigation, Manchester Evening News reports.

Now the Independent Police Complaints Commission has launched an investigation - the third it has launched into the highest ranking GMP officers this year.

It is already conducting probes into Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy, over how police allowed a boy to walk into the clutches of a suspected paedophile, and Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney, who is being investigated over the secret disposal of the remains of serial killer Harold Shipman’s victims.

CS Sutcliffe was the chair of the disciplinary panel which ruled Sergeant Richard Miller could keep his job after the officer was filmed dragging a suspect with a broken arm across the floor of a station. Instead Sgt Miller, 45, was handed a final written warning.

It follows an incident two years ago when Sgt Miller pulled 6ft 5in student Jonathan Rushambara out of a van and across the floor.

The officer was found guilty of assault following a trial but the conviction was overturned on appeal before the disciplinary hearing took place in August.

Colleagues of Sutcliffe, currently in charge of a huge operation to tackle organised crime and a temporary assistant chief constable, have defended her.

One said: “Their relationship wasn’t a secret. Neither of them were involved with anyone else. Everyone knew about it. It is perfectly legitimate. If anything, this was a technical breach of the rules but nothing more.”

She was reprimanded in 2010 for trying to pull rank and gatecrash a Labour party conference hotel bash when she had no accreditation to enter the secure site.

It is understood DCS Rumney has announced he is to leave his post at the PSB although colleagues say the exit is unconnected to the IPCC probe.

A spokesman for the IPCC said: “The IPCC is independently investigating an allegation that Rebekah Sutcliffe, Temporary Assistant Chief Constable at Greater Manchester Police, failed to declare a potential conflict of interest before chairing a disciplinary hearing for the force.”

A spokesman for GMP declined to comment as the matter as it is in the hands of the IPCC.