CLAIMS that a senior civilian worker at Cleveland Police was humiliated by bosses at the force have been rubbished in court.

Mike Hopkins was challenged about his claims when he gave evidence in court as he attempts to sue the force for harassment.

He believes that he was targeted by force chiefs when he was suspended in May 2011, amid allegations he was leaking information to the media.

A civil hearing at Teesside Crown Court heard how the former head of commissioning at the force had his computer searched by members of Cleveland Police’s professional standards department in an attempt to trace the source of a media leak.

Mr Hopkins was the head of commissioning for the force at the height of Operation Sacristy, a long-running investigation into allegations of corruption at the force that eventually resulted in the sacking of its Chief Constable Sean Price and his deputy Derek Bonnard.

He claims his former bosses of a campaign of harassment instigated by the force’s then-suspended Chief Constable and Ann Hall, the former assistant chief officer.

Iain Daniels, who is representing Cleveland Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, dismissed the claims that Mr Hopkins was targeted and that the force was behind his suspension.

During his cross examination of the claimant, he said: “There is not a shred of evidence to suggest that Cleveland Police or Cleveland Police Authority made the request (for your suspension) – I would say that it was Steria that instigated the investigation.

“There is no suggestion in the Ann Hall letter that you should be suspended. he believes that it was Ann Hall who wanted him suspended simply because it was Ann Hall.”

The court heard that concerns had been raised by his Steria colleagues that he was spending too much time helping North Yorkshire Police with their Operation Sacristy investigations.

Mr Daniels said the claimant had not been targeted in a campaign of harassment but had been suspended over concerns about his work and the possibility he was the source of a media leak.

When asked whether the suspension was an appropriate course of action as part of the investigation into his work, Mr Hopkins replied: “Yes. I suppose they were following due process but at the time it just didn’t feel right.”

Earlier in the hearing, Mr Hopkins claimed there was a campaign to “belittle me, humiliate me and force me to leave the organisation” in an attempt to slow down an investigation into senior officers and figures in 2011.

Mr Hopkins was suspended from his job at Steria, where he had been transferred when the company was appointed to run he force’s non-policing departments, just days after it came to light that he was passing on documents to detectives from North Yorkshire Police as part of Operation Sacristy – which he was requested to do.