THE tangled web of Operation Lancet becomes ever more complicated. First we have officers being investigated, then we have the investigators being investigated, and now we have the chief constable being investigated by another chief constable.

Whatever gloss may be applied, Cleveland Police is the subject of a long-running public relations disaster.

The members of Cleveland Police Authority must have known yesterday that they would spark accusations of double standards by not recommending that Chief Constable Barry Shaw should be suspended when they launched an investigation into the serious allegations made against him.

Detective Superintendent Ray Mallon has been suspended for nearly three years. He has been cleared of criminal behaviour but disciplinary charges remain and the prospect of a return to work appears as remote as ever.

Barry Shaw, on the other hand, stands accused of one of the same charges made against Ray Mallon - that he leaked information to the media - and he is allowed to get on with his job.

Let us be clear. So far, Barry Shaw has not been proved to be guilty of anything. But neither has Ray Mallon. There are dark clouds hanging over both men.

So why can one be allowed to go on working while the other twiddles his thumbs at the taxpayers' expense?

If it wasn't mid-summer, you'd be forgiven for checking the calendar to see if April 1 had dawned.