Explosive claims of top police officer arrested for shoplifting at Tesco
Playing Old Firm match at Hogmanay?
MADNESS
Lowest rate of crime for 40 years?
DRIVEL
Sending armed cops to deal with routine crimes?
DEBACLE
Me steal beef fillet from local supermarket?
NO CHANCE
A CONTROVERSIAL senior police officer who is accused of shoplifting and whose five-year battle with the force cost taxpayers £1.5m today breaks his silence in an explosive interview with The Sunday Post.
Ex-assistant chief constable John Mauger, who was arrested with three beef fillets in his pocket, vows to clear his name – and launches a scathing broadside at the running of Police Scotland.
Mr Mauger, who was at the third-highest level in the force hierarchy, condemns the decision to allow the Old Firm game to go ahead on Hogmanay as “absolute madness”.
He says official statistics which show crime at its lowest level in 40 years are “absolute drivel” – and blasts the force’s decision to routinely arm officers as a “debacle”.
And he lays into Sir Stephen
Their first thought is always to protect their own
House, the first chief constable of Scotland’s unified police force, saying his approach set policing north of the Border “back many, many years”.
Father-of-two Mr Mauger, 54, a frontline veteran of London’s infamous Broadwater Farm riots in 1983, left the force in August.
He says he was forced into retirement from his £115,000-a-year job following a series of run-ins with his bosses dating back to 2010 which left taxpayers with a £1.5m bill in legal costs and wages.
Now he is facing trial on shoplifting charges following his arrest in a branch of Tesco near his Essex home.
But in a three-hour interview, he insisted he would clear his name and claimed he had been victimised after becoming a whistleblower against police corruption.
Mr Mauger, the most senior officer to speak so publicly about the controversies which have dogged the single force since its formation in 2013, said: “It is just impossible to take on Police Scotland.
“Their first thought is always to protect their own – not where have we gone wrong.”
Mr Mauger was assistant chief constable of now-defunct Central Scotland Police when he was placed on gardening leave in June 2010 accused of insubordination and inefficiency. After three years on full pay, he returned to work in the new single force in July 2013 having been cleared of any wrongdoing.
He was one of six assistant chief constables beneath four deputy chief constables in the chain of command under Sir Stephen’s overall leadership.
His responsibilities included forward planning ahead of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
But Mr Mauger claims he was largely sidelined by Sir Stephen. And, after raising a string of corruption complaints about Police Scotland, he was placed on enforced leave again in September 2014.
It came after he lost his security vetting over his association with a music promoter called Brian Rix, who turned out to have a criminal record.
Mr Mauger said: “Some people will look at the history here and think I have an axe to grind. But everything I have ever done in this sorry mess was not for my benefit.
“It was to try and get senior people to do the job they are paid big money to do and make the force a better service.”
It’s his searing comments about the highly controversial police decision to allow the RangersCeltic clash to go ahead at lunchtime on New Year’s Eve which will draw the most attention.
Rank-and-file police are opposed to the move, as are many publicans who fear the prospect of trouble will scare customers away.
Now Mr Mauger has weighed in, saying: “It seems like absolute madness to me.
“When these two play, incidents
The Old Firm play, incidents of crime and disorder go up