RAY Mallon's year began with accusations that he presided over an "empire of evil" but ended in a group hug with his former accusers.

The transformation from police pariah to professional politician began in earnest when Mr Mallon's former nemesis, Chief Constable Barry Shaw, broke his silence the day after his former detective superintendent left the force.

In an unprecedented attack, the outgoing chief constable likened Mr Mallon's leadership of Cleveland CID - during which Mr Mallon launched his much-vaunted zero tolerance policy - to an empire of evil.

The comment triggered another war of words, but as Mr Mallon's impending victory in May's mayoral elections became more and more obvious, the language between Mr Mallon and some of his accusers changed.

By September, as Mallon settled into his mayoral duties, the two were again face-to-face in public - and this time it was much more civil.

Mallon pulled out a chair for Shaw as he sat down at Middlesbrough Town Hall for a cabinet meeting. They chuckled about how they couldn't mention Operation Lancet - it was almost like Fawlty Towers and the war.

Another month, October, and there was more war rhetoric, this time from the mayor. At the launch of his Raising Hope, Reducing Fear campaign to police the streets of Middlesbrough with 90 wardens, he said he was determined to preserve the legacy left to the town by those who fought in the Great War.

Since then, the former police officer has had to contend with disgruntled councillors, some of whom may have been peeved at having to relinquish their mobile phones.

But, like him - and almost everyone who used to class him as an enemy - they shrugged off the inconvenience as a small price to pay for the greater good of Middlesbrough.

Such is his determination to tell anyone who will listen that everyone in Middlesbrough is moving in the right direction, Mallon has even given up one of the best perks of the job.

Earlier this month he waved goodbye to his gas- guzzling V8 chauffeur-driven Jaguar and said hello to a two-seater 600cc Smart Pulse. He would no doubt now claim that the best things come in small packages.