A POLICE inspector has been branded a bully by a judge after a worker said she had been intimidated.

Staff and disciplinary procedures have also been criticised after Susan Francis suffered two years of harassment at Cleveland Police headquarters.

The judgement at the industrial tribunal said Inspector Phil Veitch victimised Mrs Francis for complaining about his behaviour towards her.

It said Mrs Francis was still intimidated and visibly shaken by his presence when he turned up at the employment tribunal in January as an onlooker.

Mrs Francis, 48, from Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, claimed constructive dismissal after she resigned from her post because of unbearable working conditions.

She declined to comment until after a hearing to decide damages.

The tribunal heard that when she asked Insp Veitch to sign her overtime form, he told her she had filled it out incorrectly and ripped it up.

She waited five months for payment and had to accept a shortfall in the hours worked at Insp Veitch’s insistence.

Instead of following force policy, Insp Veitch met Mrs Francis in the empty staff canteen in semi-darkness.

The judgement said: “It would be reasonable and proper for a respondent to ensure that a formal grievance of bullying was taken seriously and not left to be resolved by a meeting between the perpetrator of the bullying and the victim, especially when the complainant may feel under pressure to accept an apology.”

Mrs Francis believed she was victimised because she made a formal grievance against him for giving her extra work as a punishment.

The tribunal heard that a secret diary was being kept by her colleagues to log her mistakes, and ruled that any problems with her work should have been raised with her directly, instead of asking colleagues to monitor her.

A spokeswoman for Cleveland Police said: “This is a substantial judgement running to some 28 pages. It has just been received and we are presently considering it.”