A FORMER police officer will receive at least £800,000 for being imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.

Sultan Alam has fought for 17 years for justice after his life and career was ruined after he served half of an 18-month jail term.

The traffic officer was dismissed after he was found guilty of handling stolen car parts in 1996. Mr Alam, who had made claims of racial abuse against his force, always maintained his innocence. In 2007, the Appeal Court overturned his conviction.

Mr Alam, 49, will receive a total of £841,430 from Cleveland Police, the court heard today.

This figure includes various types of damages plus an amount to compensate for the earnings he would probably have made if he had remained as a police officer.

In the civil case Mr Alam brought against the force, the Chief Constable admitted malicious prosecution and misfeasance in public office.

Speaking outside the court today, Mr Alam said he was relieved the case was at an end.

Asked about the size of the payout, he said: "To me it's just a number. It was never about the money.

"It's about the principle. It's about what's right.

"All that it will do is ensure that my future financially is secure and my childrens' future is secure, but that would have happened anyway if I had been allowed to continue with my career."

Mr Alam said: "Seventeen years that should have been spent with family and building a career serving the public have instead been spent fighting for my rights as an individual and fighting for justice against what, at times, appeared to be insurmountable odds."

He added: "I have had to endure years of shame and humiliation and a stain on my good name - a name which I can trace back through 12 generations.

"Not only did I lose my career - I lost my freedom, my family unit, my reputation and my health and much, much more."

The court heard how the former traffic officer was stitched up by fellow officers as a result of industrial tribunal proceedings he launched in 1993 complaining of racial discrimination.

In 2003, four fellow officers involved in Mr Alam's original prosecution were charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and other offences, but were acquitted.

Mr Alam, the son of a Pakistani police officer and the father of two girls who were eight and six when he was convicted, separated from his wife in 2002 as a result of the turmoil the case brought to his family life.

He remarried but his second marriage failed under the pressure of what had happened and his resulting psychiatric illness.

After being cleared in 2007, he was reinstated to Cleveland Police but retired in 2009 on health grounds.