A CALL has been made for Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) to investigate how a police force dealt with concerns about a rapist officer in their ranks.

A report into how Wayne Scott got away with his deviant behaviour while serving in Cleveland Police was branded a 'whitewash' after it was released.

And now Sultan Alam, a former officer who was wrongly imprisoned after being set up by colleagues while he was serving in Cleveland Police, has written to the HMIC demanding a grassroots review of the force and better protection for whistleblowers.

In a letter to Cleveland Police, he wrote: "This report has all the hallmarks of a cover up. It appears to be an exercise in saving face and protecting those who have so completely failed the victims and the public.

"It is astonishing that those who have touted this report to the public of Cleveland have the arrogance to treat that public with such contempt. The public is not stupid and those in public office/service would do well to stop treating them as such."

Scott was jailed for 19 years for a string of rapes and sexual assaults carried out both on and off duty.

The force has published a 208-page report into how Scott managed to carry out a number of sexual assaults and rapes while a serving officer, despite concerns about him being raised less than a year into his police career.

The investigation concluded that Scott’s offending, which carried on for more than a decade, was allowed to flourish unabated as colleagues turned a blind eye to his sexually offensive behaviour and senior officers failed to address his offending after missing more than a dozen “red flag” warning signs.

Chief Constable Jacqui Cheer categorically denied there was a cover up and reiterated the fact that the IPCC had fully reviewed and endorsed the report prior to publication.

She said: "To suggest that the redactions were undertaken in an attempt to conceal the truth is fanciful, as a force we were under no duty to publish the report. If we had wanted to hide its content we would have chosen not to publish. Instead we chose to publish the report in order to demonstrate that the investigation had been completed, that it had been assured by the IPCC and to demonstrate to victims and the community that we as an organisation were taking significant steps to prevent such things happening again in the future.

"There is one element of Mr Alam’s letter with which I share common ground; that is his recognition that the officers and staff who work for Cleveland Police are, in the main, individuals who are ethical, honest and truly committed to protecting the communities they serve from harm."

Police and Crime Commissioner Barry Coppinger added: "Senior officers were right to make this report public.

"This highlights their  commitment to being open and transparent with the public and shows their focus on embedding a new culture within the force.

"I said at the time of publication that it was vital‎ that the report's recommendations were implemented swiftly in order to ensure nothing like this happens again.

That is happening and the Chief Constable will continue to provide me with regular updates on that implementation."