Breast-f lashing police chief lands £122k council job
A POLICE chief suspended for flashing a colleague has quit her £109,000-ayear job – and taken another public sector role paying even more.
Former assistant chief constable Rebekah Sutcliffe had exposed herself during a drunken rant at a superintendent for having breast implants.
She was taken off-duty following the incident in May 2016, and received a final written warning for gross misconduct.
She was allowed back to work by Greater Manchester Police (GMP), and seconded to Oldham council in early 2017.
Yesterday it emerged that Miss Sutcliffe resigned from GMP at the end of last year and has now taken up a permanent role at the council as a ‘strategic director of reform’. The job was advertised with an annual salary of £122,000 last November.
Thrice-married Miss Sutcliffe, 49, had been tipped for great things at GMP, where she was responsible for counter-terrorism and tackling organised crime. Her career was derailed by her rant following a gala dinner at Manchester’s Hilton Hotel, after opening a conference titled Senior Women in Policing.
Miss Sutcliffe told Superintendent Sarah Jackson that a delegate had said she ‘looked ridiculous and was dressed provocatively’, adding she had ‘zero credibility’ following her surgery.
After claiming Supt Jackson would be ‘judged on the size of her t**s’, Miss Sutcliffe pulled down the top of her own dress and exposed her chest, shouting: ‘Look at these – these are the breasts of someone who has had three children. They are ugly but I don’t feel the need to pump myself full of silicone to get self-esteem.’
Miss Sutcliffe, a vicar’s daughter from Saddleworth, Greater Manchester, was issued with a final written warning at a hearing in December 2016.
Her barrister John Beggs QC, had said ‘one mistake’ should not spell the end of her career. She was backed by a string of supporters, including former Labour cabinet minister-turned-BBC executive James Purnell, who said policing would be ‘poorer without her’.
Her secondment to Oldham council saw her £109,000-a-year salary shared between the police and the town hall. Of her role with the council, a GMP spokesman had said: ‘Rebekah has extensive knowledge and experience of work considering public sector reform.’
Oldham confirmed she took up her permanent role on January 1.
Miss Sutcliffe declined requests for comment.