Top officer ‘ belted Chief Constable at barbecue over affair with wife’
‘ Hit’... police chief Craik ‘ Fling’... Carolyn Peacock A CHIEF Superintendent punched his Chief Constable at a barbecue after learning his boss was having an affair with his wife, a tribunal heard.
Police are said to have been called after Jim Peacock allegedly attacked Mike Craik.
But the Chief Constable was claimed to have later ordered staff to delete the call from the incident log.
The employment tribunal in North Shields was called after Denise Aubrey, former head of legal services at Northumbria Police for 20 years, was sacked for gross misconduct.
The alleged affair between Mr Craik and Carolyn Peacock – also a senior police officer – was revealed in a statement by Ms Aubrey, 54.
She is accused of revealing details of the affair to staff at a meeting in June 2013, after which she was suspended and dismissed a year later.
Ms Aubrey denies this and accuses former bosses of unfair dismissal, sex discrimination, disability discrimination, victimisation and harassment.
She claimed that “overt sexism was rife” and that she “had been appointed as the token woman”. She said she was referred to as “sex on legs”, “sex on a stick” and that “Northumbria Police ruined my life, my mental health and my career”.
The hearing was told the force had been instructed to investigate whether the affair and 2007 attack took place, but reported back that it was not recorded in the incident log.
Ms Aubrey claimed it was “misleading a criminal investigation”.
She referred to rumours of Mrs Peacock and Mr Craik having an affair, adding: “One of the stories circulating was Craik had been having a barbecue at his house when Mrs Peacock’s husband turned up and punched him.
“It was said police were called and Craik was alleged to have insisted the log was removed from the system.
“I have since found out from a former inspector who was the operational commander on duty that the log was indeed removed.”
Mr Craik and the Peacocks, who are now all retired, deny the affair and the alleged barbecue incident.
The hearing continues.