AT long, long last it appears as if the endgame of Operation Lancet is about to be played.

After three years, £5m and goodness alone knows what cost to the morale of Cleveland police officers and the communities they serve, charges have been laid against suspended officer Ray Mallon.

Yet of five of them have already been "substantiated" against Mallon without him feeling he has had the chance to contest the evidence in a hearing.

It is now up to Cleveland Police to appoint the chief constable who will hear the 14 other disciplinary charges, yet Mallon regards Cleveland Police as his "accusers" - and when Cleveland's own chief constable is currently under investigation for allegedly leaking documents detrimental to Mallon's case to the press, it is not hard to see where his paranoia springs from.

As we have said before, and it is like the mess the General Medical Council has found itself in, the Government must look at how hearings of such magnitude and public interest can be handled by a truly independent body. This is the very least required to restore public confidence in the way the police and doctors police themselves.

As it stands now, Mallon's hearings will be held in private. Such is the public concern and the weight of claim and counterclaim, this hearing should be held in the open so that the public can see the evidence against Mallon and so that he is not able to dismiss it as some form of kangeroo court.

After all, if it is good enough for an ordinary person to be tried in public, it must also be for a policeman.