FURTHER accusations of racism at Cleveland Police were made at a tribunal today (Friday, May 15).

Firearms officer Nadeem Saddique has taken the force to an employment tribunal claiming race discrimination because he was Asian.

Mr Saddique, of Ingleby Barwick, who has acted as a police bodyguard for Tony Blair and members of the Royal family, has argued that he was not given a chance to win back his status as a VIP protection officer after a sickness absence.

And at the tribunal at Middlesbrough's Magistrates Court today another Asian officer, PC Mo Morashad, also claimed he had missed out on opportunities due to the colour of his skin.

Mr Morashad, who is still a police officer, told the tribunal that he had at one point filed an eight page document outlining his concerns to Deputy Chief Constable, Iain Spittal.

The details of that document were not made public, however he told the tribunal he believed he had repeatedly missed out on the chance to become a firearms officer, despite, like Mr Saddique, being a member of Cleveland Police's special operations unit which concentrates on specialised police services.

He was turned down twice for firearms training despite at one point being wrongly informed his line manager was supporting his bid. On his third application he was accepted for training but was suffering an injury and was unwell and was only asked to return to training when his superiors knew he was unfit to do so. He has since been de-selected from the special operations unit.

He said: "I believe they were setting me up to fail." Asked if he believed there was "a racist culture" in the special operations unit, Mr Morashad replied that he did believe so.

Cleveland Police deny allegations of racism. The tribunal continues.