POLICE Scotland has been accused of preventing an outside force from carrying out a full investigation into an illegal spying operation linked to the unsolved murder of prostitute Emma Caldwell.

In “damning” evidence to a Holyrood committee, Durham Constabulary chief constable Mike Barton said the force limited his probe and reduced him to the status of “interim investigator”.

He blasted Police Scotland for “secrecy” and “ineptitude” and told MSPs: “The lawyers in Police Scotland are not transparent and they’re overly defensive. And they are risk averse. And they got in my way.”

Three years ago, a Sunday newspaper revealed the failings of the original Strathclyde Police investigation into the killing of Caldwell, whose body was found near woods in Biggar in 2005.

However, after the media expose was published, Police Scotland’s Counter Corruption Unit used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Scotland (RIPA) to find out whether serving and retired officers had played a role in the leak.

Not only were the individuals blameless, but the force broke the law by not seeking judicial approval and later apologised to the officers concerned.

Durham Constabulary, led by Barton, was tasked with carrying out an independent probe into the controversy.

However, at Holyrood's policing committee today, Barton claimed that Police Scotland had stymied him.

Durham issued two reports, but the full misconduct investigations were carried out by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

John Finnie MSP, the committee convener, said: "We have heard damning evidence about Police Scotland's interaction with Durham Constabulary as they carried out vital investigations into the CCU. We will be asking Police Scotland to respond at the Committee."

Scottish Labour MSP Daniel Johnson said: “The dysfunctional culture at the top of Police Scotland has been utterly exposed today. It has become clear that through sheer ineptitude and incompetence, Chief Constable Michael Barton was prevented from conducting a full inquiry into how the CCU handled the Emma Caldwell spying case."

Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP said:

"At today's committee, Mr Barton did not mince his words. He accused Police Scotland of ineptitude and warned of a culture of secrecy and risk aversion. Mr Barton was also highly critical of what he felt was a lack of support for existing and former officers who had been ‘badly wronged’, indicating that he felt this to be symptomatic of deep-rooted issues within Police Scotland that must be urgently addressed."

Deputy Chief Constable Rose Fitzpatrick said: "A full misconduct investigation was carried out by PSNI at our request, which is the element of the process that Chief Constable Barton says he was prevented from undertaking. The PSNI investigation found that there was no misconduct on the part of any of the seven officers who were investigated.

"It is our position, supported by external and independent legal opinion from a QC, that our regulations would not have permitted Chief Constable Barton from carrying out both the complaint enquiry and the misconduct investigation. We have previously said that there has been significant organisational learning from these enquiries and a report on this has been provided to the Scottish Parliament's justice sub-committee." 

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