A FORENSIC scenes of crime officer who lied about his qualifications did not jeopardise any conviction, despite being found to have mishandled investigations.

Stephen Beattie started work for Staffordshire Police in 1996 before moving to the Cleveland force in 2002, despite being under investigation for poor performance - information that was never disclosed to his new employer.

He was investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) over allegations that he misled investigators at the scene of an arson and overstated his qualifications.

The IPCC found that Mr Beattie had been claiming to be a “level 2 fire investigator” including this terminology in witness statements he provided for prosecution case files.

More than 350 of his cases, including suspicious deaths and arsons, have been reviewed from his work at Cleveland Police , Northumbria Police and Staffordshire Police.

Among the report's conclusions, it reads: "In relation to Stephen Beattie’s performance at scenes of suspicious or unexplained deaths, there is evidence that he did not correctly handle exhibits whilst employed by Cleveland Police.

"However, his poor performance at these scenes did not unnecessarily influence any of the investigations whereby any injustice has occurred."

A file of evidence was supplied to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) which concluded there was sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction in a prosecution for misconduct in a public office.

However, the CPS decided it was not in the public interest to proceed.

Mr Beattie, who resigned from Cleveland Police in September 2011, did receive an official caution in relation to a fraud offence.

The managed investigation into Mr Beattie’s work for Cleveland Police concluded that if he was still employed he would have a case to answer for gross misconduct. The Staffordshire investigation concluded he would have a case to answer for misconduct.

IPCC Commissioner Cindy Butts said: “Stephen Beattie repeatedly lied about his qualifications and made judgements in cases that were both outside his remit and his level of expertise. Cleveland Police and Staffordshire Police have conducted meticulous investigations examining hundreds of cases and we know that, thankfully, his poor performance did not have a significant impact on the cases he was involved in.”

Detective Superintendent Jon Green, head of Cleveland Police standards department, welcomed the outcome of the report, but raised concerns about the length of the investigation.

He said: “As stated in the IPCC report, all cases involving Stephen Beattie were thoroughly assessed to ensure that the integrity of the cases where he was involved had not been compromised and to assess the impact that this may have had on any criminal investigations or outcomes.

“We are certain that no criminal investigations were affected and that something like this could not happen again. We are pleased that the report has now been published, however, we must express our disappointment that it has taken this length of time for the IPCC to publish it.”