A police chief charged with serious misconduct over alleged nepotism during a botched recruitment drive is understood to have admitted disreputable conduct and could be fired.
Grahame Maxwell of North Yorkshire police, who is the first chief constable to face a gross misconduct hearing for more than 35 years, yesterday went before a disciplinary hearing over allegations that he tried to help a relative during the first stage of a force-wide recruitment process.
The force, its police authority and the Independent Police Complaints Commission have all refused to give any details of what took place at the private hearing, or say where it was held, until the full process is completed.
However, Maxwell is understood to have admitted disreputable conduct and will find out his fate on Tuesday).
Two members of the force have already been dismissed for nepotism, while a constable has been given a final written warning in connection with the affair.
The moves follow an investigation by the IPCC into allegations about the recruitment drive, during which more than 300,000 people applied for 60 jobs in the force, and the jobs telephone line set up to cope with applications repeatedly crashed.
The chief constable was filmed during publicity for the recruitment drive last year, manning the phone lines himself. The accusations focus on help the chief constable was alleged to have given to a relative to circumvent the jam of calls.
North Yorkshire police said: "We have no comment except to say that arrangements for the hearing are legally and practically matters for the police authority.
"As a matter of law the hearing will be held in private. We are not releasing any information until after the hearing and that includes information about the date or venue of the private hearing."
North Yorkshire police said it was a matter for the police authority. The IPCC said it would not make any comment about Maxwell's case until the process was complete.
Maxwell became North Yorkshire's chief constable in 2007, joining from South Yorkshire police, where he was deputy.
The last chief constable to be sacked is believed to have been Stanley Parr, the head of Lancashire constabulary. He was dismissed in 1977 for abusing his position in relation to police vehicles.
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