Police force bids to claw back £400,000 from sacked chief

Cleveland Police have filed papers at Leeds High Court claiming back salary and bonuses from Sean Price, the first chief constable to be dismissed in the UK in 35 years.

Mr Price, who was once one of the highest-paid officers in the country, received a £50,000 ‘loyalty bonus’ each year and a £24,000 annual bonus for cutting crime.

It emerged last year that he had been using publicly-funded legal insurance to fund the legal costs of a bid to claw back the £50,000 bonus, which was halted following his arrest in 2011 at his North Yorkshire home.

When Mr Price took up the top job in 2003, his original salary of £125,000 included a £32,000 car allowance, £4,000 a year towards private school fees for his son, and £1,000 towards private health insurance.

Cleveland Police are now pursuing a claim against him for around £330,000 paid in wages and bonuses during his time in charge. Interest on top of the claim amounts to more than £100,000.

The force, which polices areas including Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees and Hartlepool, has argued that incentives and hefty bonuses paid to him were effectively ‘unlawful’ as they fell outside of Home Office guidelines on police pay.

When the details of Mr Price’s deal were initially made public, the now-defunct Cleveland Police Authority said the incentives reflected his performance and insisted he ‘fully deserved’ the package.

Mr Price was dismissed in October last year. He remains on police bail as Operation Sacristy, the criminal inquiry into allegations of corruption linked to the former police authority, continues.

The 55-year-old, who has consistently denied all allegations of wrongdoing, lives in North Yorkshire with his second wife, Det Chief Insp Heather Eastwood, 41, who resigned from her post with the same force earlier this month.

It emerged that she faced a disciplinary hearing into an allegation that she failed to inform her superiors when she was arrested for being drunk and disorderly in 2011.

Cleveland Police said: “We can confirm that we are seeking to recover money paid to Sean Price above his statutory salary.” Mr Price was unavailable for comment.