It was my fault but there was nothing dodgy. All I can say is that I was very ill at the time
The former officer in charge of the undercover unit that collapsed amid claims of financial mismanagement has said his mental health was deteriorating for months before.
The officer, known only as DSG, was managing a Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency covert operatons unit when it was exposed as a shambles.
The mess was uncovered by his successor who, on taking over responsibility for the unit, managing the finances for undercover operations against organised crime, found financial and travel documents in names not linked to any operations.
She said the office on a nondescript industrial estate, looked like it had been “ransacked,” with unexplained documents, piles of unopened mail, passports and cash stuffed in drawers. Her boss described the scene as a “total disaster” and agreed with her that the chaos could compromise operations and risk the safety of undercover officers.
The possibility of fraud saw the SCDEA report the officer in charge to prosecutors but no case was pursued. The detective sergeant had been on secondment to the SCDEA but was due to return to Strathclyde, his home force, when he returned from holiday in April 2011.
The shambles was exposed when he was abroad and, on his return, he was escorted to the SCDEA base when he landed at Glasgow Airport on April 14. Within days he was admitted to a secure psychiatric unit at Wishaw General Hospital. Speaking to The Post, he said: “I was in hospital for a month – four weeks.”
He said he was “very ill at the time” and insisted his mismanagement was not fraudulent, adding: “I told the management it was nothing dodgy. It was all symptomatic of me not being well. Just life got on top of me.
“It was all paperwork and mail that hadn’t been opened and it was all part of the illness I was going through at the time. It was names of UCs [undercover officers] that had been working and I just hadn’t cancelled their accounts so what was happening was they were dormant accounts getting charged like £12 a month for, like, a royalty. It was that kind of stuff. There was nothing dodgy. Absolutely nothing.” When asked if he was aware of the Court of Session judgement in favour of his former colleague, known as Mrs K, who claims she was frozen out of her job after blowing the whistle, he said: “I hope everything is alright with her.
“What happened to her afterwards was very little to do with me. It was a management thing.
“It was all completely my fault. All I can say is, I was very ill at the time.
“None of it was her fault and I told the management that at the time.”
Mrs K won her legal action against Police Scotland at the Court of Session two weeks ago although the force is still considering whether to appeal Lord Brailsford’s judgement.