A NORTH-EAST Chief Constable will face no disciplinary charges following a controversial inquiry into claims he spread sex slur rumours about a woman station clerk.

Barry Shaw, Chief Constable of Cleveland Police, was yesterday cleared of circulating gossip that Jayne Thwaites, 35, was having an affair with Ray "Robocop" Mallon.

But after a five-hour, private meeting which discussed an inquiry that had lasted 18 months and cost thousands of pounds, Cleveland Police Authority said it still did not know if there had ever been a whispering campaign against Miss Thwaites and Mr Mallon at a sensitive time in the Operation Lancet anti-corruption inquiry.

Following a complaint in October 2000 by Miss Thwaites, a police clerk from Hartlepool, an inquiry was started by South Yorkshire Chief Constable Michael Hedges.

Earlier this week, Miss Thwaites' lawyers released part of Mr Hedges' report. They said it concluded: "I specifically recommend that Mr Shaw be held culpable for abuse of authority and breach of confidence."

But after yesterday's meeting, the authority announced that it had rejected those recommendation.

Authority chairman Ken Walker said the Chief Constable - who was cleared by an earlier inquiry into damaging leaks about Mr Mallon - enjoyed his full support.

After the vote of confidence, Mr Shaw said he had been subjected to a trial by media. He said: "Malicious mischief-making by people with their own agenda - aided and abetted by those either deliberately misinformed or given selective information - have tried to taint and undermine the effectiveness of the force.

"I will not be swayed from rooting out those who want to see the force fail. I will not walk away from what I have started - and that work will be finished. I am not a quitter."

But critics attacked the police authority for holding yesterday's meeting in private, and demanded that Mr Hedges' report be published.

Ashok Kumar, MP for South Middlesbrough, said: "As the meeting was held behind closed doors we - the people of Teesside - have no knowledge of the arguments which led to the decision they made.

"The police authority has to have the courage to release the report and allow it to be debated in public."

Miss Thwaites' solicitor, Scott Taylor, said: "The result is astonishing. The decision is an insult to Miss Thwaites, to Chief Constable Hedges and to the people of Cleveland.

"The police authority and the Police Complaints Authority have ignored the report's unequivocal findings.

"This system has totally failed Miss Thwaites. If Cleveland Police Authority are content with their findings, they should allow full public examination of the report."

Miss Thwaites was now considering "all legal remedies available". Part of her claim is that MI5 tailed her to find evidence of an affair - an affair both she and Mr Mallon, who is now Mayor of Middlesbrough, strenuously deny.

In a statement after yesterday's meeting, the police authority said: "Having studied the investigating officer's report, and having carefully considered all aspects of the matter, the police authority resolved that no disciplinary proceedings need to be taken against the chief constable."

Asked if there had been a whispering campaign, a spokesman said: "The police authority's job was only to decide whether or not the chief constable had been part of the allegations. They decided he was not.

"They did not consider whether there was a whispering campaign by anyone else, or who could be responsible if there was one."

Chairman Coun Walker added: "Barry Shaw is in no way culpable in relation to the allegations and the authority has 100 per cent support for him."