AS we saw with the debacle over MPs’ expenses, public confidence in our public servants can be swiftly eroded once there is a whiff of wrong-doing in the air.

And the ongoing inquiry into the conduct of senior officers at North Yorkshire Police is a matter of serious concern.

Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell faces a hearing early next year intoclaims that family members were helped during a police recruitment drive.

In the meantime, his deputy Adam Briggs has been the subject of confusing messages from the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Initially, Mr Briggs appeared to have been cleared of five of six charges made against him, the outstanding issue being that he failed in his duty to challenge the chief constable.

But now the water has been muddied considerably by a follow-up statement from the IPCC declaring that Mr Briggs had also acted “in a manner likely to bring discredit upon and undermine public confidence in the police service”.

This was already proving to be an embarrassing episode for the North Yorkshire force, and the contradictory pronouncements of the police watchdog have not helped.

Mr Briggs now intends to appeal against the discreditable conduct charge and that means the spotlight will continue to shine on this uncomfortable controversy, with the chief constable’s hearing yet to come.

And all the time, public confidence is being chipped away.