A POLICE detective accused of arranging to pay off a pub landlord who was burgled by one of his relatives has admitted he “should have done things differently”.

Detective Constable Mark Casey of Cleveland Police told his misconduct hearing today that he made a “wrong decision for the right reasons” after being accused of showing an “unhealthy interest” in the case.

DC Casey is accused of “trashing” Cleveland Police’s public image after a relation of his was involved in the theft of four bottles of spirits, worth more than £250, from the Miners Arms, in Eston, Middlesbrough on October 10 last year.

During his evidence today, he insisted his motive was purely to get his relative to come to the police station and not be arrested at home due to “family matters”.

“In hindsight I would have dealt with it differently and maybe this wouldn’t have happened,” said DC Casey.

“I didn’t ask for any favours and didn’t want to treat it any different to another burglary.

“In hindsight – it was none of my business.”

It is alleged that he watched CCTV footage and read victim impact statements. Noting the landlord "just wanted the money" he allegedly arranged for the suspects to pay the cash and proceedings were later dropped.

During evidence, it was revealed DC Casey received an informal warning in 2012.

The hearing held at Cleveland Police’s headquarters heard DC Casey’s relative sent a message via Facebook to the wife of the pub’s landlord asking why police were involved

Stephen Morley, for the force, said: “There should never be an incident where suspect contacts a victim – that is wrong.

Asked whether he put the victim at risk, DC Casey replied: “I don’t believe they were in danger.

“I put my colleagues in a position, but I maintain there wasn’t malicious intent and I wasn’t dishonest.

“The charge weren’t dropped because I made arrangement – they were dropped because the victim wanted it.”

Asked why texts from his phone around the time of the incident were deleted, DC Casey said it was to save memory and of the 27 messages deleted, only nine relate to the case.

Steven Evans, representing DC Casey, said: “He told everyone his relative was involved – that is not evidence of lack of transparency, that is absolute transparency.

“He conceded he has done things wrong, but if it happened again tomorrow he would deal with it a in a very different way. This is a good officer who didn’t attempt to deceive anyone.”

The hearing is expected to conclude tomorrow.