ALLEGATIONS of sloppy practices, bullying and sexual harassment at the heart of the North-East's fight against crime surfaced at an industrial tribunal yesterday.

Gail Hunter, a civilian fingerprint expert, made the claims against Durham Constabulary at the hearing, held in Newcastle.

Miss Hunter of Third Street, Leadgate, near Consett, County Durham, is claiming unfair dismissal from her job as team leader of the fingerprint team which handles evidence from Cleveland Police crime scenes.

The team operates from Durham Police's Aykley Heads headquarters, in Durham City.

She told the tribunal she had been "victimised" for whistle-blowing about working practices within the bureau.

A tearful Miss Hunter also claimed she had been sexually harassed and bullied.

She admitted she had once falsified a document relating to fingerprints herself but claimed no action was taken against a colleague involved in a similar misdemeanour.

She also said there had been a "long-running issue" about people who were entitled to sign important documents designed to prevent tampering with fingerprint evidence, even though they had never been trained to give testimony in court.

She told tribunal chairman, Tudor Garnon, that the documents, known as continuity sheets, detail the whereabouts of fingerprint evidence and the names of those handling it as it moves from crime scenes through the investigative process, to court.

Miss Hunter was originally sacked from her post in July 1999 following accusations she bullied a clerk into incorrectly dating a continuity form.

She was reinstated on appeal after a Durham Police Authority disciplinary committee found the penalty too harsh, and after hearing accusations of similar sloppy practice elsewhere in her department.

Mr Garnon was told that there has never been any suggestion that fingerprint evidence was physically tampered with.

Miss Hunter was eventually moved to a junior post in November 2000, as a clerk at Consett police station, where she is currently employed.

Yesterday, she said her health had suffered, and that she had not received training promised after her reinstatement and her career had "ground to a halt".

Durham Police is expected to outline its case when the tribunal resumes today.