Police chief whose move cost taxpayer £55k is probed over ‘affair with lawyer’
A POLICE chief who charged taxpayers £55,000 to move house with his family is now under investigation over an alleged love affair with his force’s top lawyer.
Instead of being suspended while the official probe takes place, married Deputy Chief Constable Carl Langley has been promoted to a new national role with a six-figure wage.
He and Dyfed-Powys Police’s director of legal services, Samantha Gainard, are both facing disciplinary action over allegations their fling may have detrimentally affected their work.
Senior officers are often suspended on full pay during misconduct investigations, so that they do not contact witnesses or attempt to interfere with the process.
However, Mr Langley, a 48-yearold father of one, has temporarily been given the new £125,000-ayear post of All-Wales Deputy Chief Constable, looking for ways in which forces can save money by working together.
One insider told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It’s outrageous that they’ve moved him to run what is quite a prestigious project, knowing that he’s got this hanging over him.’
Mr Langley received an astonishing £38,202 in removal expenses when he joined the Welsh force from Lincolnshire in 2012, along with an extra £16,743 to cover his tax bill on the perk. He was also reimbursed for redecoration of the £300,000 house near Lampeter, and was entitled to take out a mortgage at a bargain 0.5 per cent.
Mr Langley, who has a master’s degree in the ethics of policing and criminal justice, is accused of starting a secret affair with unmarried Miss Gainard, who earns £68,000 a year, soon after he joined the force. It is understood that the fling has since ended, but an anonymous complaint was made to the force, which has been referred to the national Independent Police Complaints Commission. A Dyfed-Powys Police spokesman confirmed a probe has been launched by West Mercia’s Chief Constable David Shaw.
He added: ‘Part of the investigation concerns the consequences or otherwise of a former relationship on internal force matters. It is not appropriate to comment any further.’
The force confirmed that Miss Gainard, 41, is also under investigation. Neither she nor Mr Langley’s wife of 28 years, Michaela, 49, would comment last night.