AN increasingly frantic blame game has broken out at the top of Scotland’s justice system, one of the country’s most senior former officers has claimed.

Graeme Pearson, who headed the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency before a term as a Labour MSP, said frontline cops deserved better from their squabbling bosses.

Police Scotland and its oversight body, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), have been mired in controversy in recent months, with a series of high profile departures.

The SPA chair and chief executive both quit after criticism from MSPs, while Chief Constable Phil Gormley has been on special leave since September over a bullying investigation.

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson is also under fire after intervening over an SPA board decision to reinstate Mr Gormley in November, leading to the SPA reversing its position.

Mr Pearson told The Herald: “It seems to me those at the top of Government, the SPA and Police Scotland are in a shambles, as each tries to ensure they are not holding the ‘parcel’ when the music stops on this affair.

“There is now an unseemly scrabble to hold onto power and influence by each individual in that sphere of government known as Justice.

“All of these manoeuvres are conducted at substantial cost to the public purse whilst ignoring the key job at hand, policing the nation effectively.

“I think the men and women delivering the service on our streets deserve better.”

Mr Pearson also criticised acting Chief Constable Iain Livingstone for criticising the SPA in an interview with Holyrood magazine this week.

He said he should refrained “from entering the political arena with his thoughts” and “would have done better to produce his concerns at a public meeting of the SPA or, if denied that, the Scottish Parliamentary subcommittee on Policing to put the record straight.”