COPS PAY £430K TO BULLYING ROW BOSS

Civilian worker complained after chief hired old colleague He accused her of setting up meeting with disgraced officer

- BY STEPHEN RAFFERTY

POLICE chiefs paid out a £430,000 settlement to a senior employee who lodged a bullying complaint against Chief Constable Jo Farrell, it has been revealed.

The Scottish Police Authority sanctioned the package to settle a bullying complaint by Andrew Page the force's most senior civilian staff member.

The former deputy chief officer was given an “early retirement” package which included four years of pension payments.

Page retired in April last year but the settlement has only been confirmed this week in the Scottish Police Authority's annual report and accounts.

The Record can reveal the settlement followed claims by Page that during the grievance procedure the SPA misled his legal team over a controversial meeting organised by Farrell.

In 2023, Page lodged a formal grievance after Farrell brought in former Durham Constabulary colleague Gary Ridley to review Police Scotland.

He alleged Farrell demonstrated a “severe lack of judgment” by arranging a meeting between disgraced former Avon & Somerset chief constable Nick Gargan and Police Scotland's chief digital and information officer, Andrew Hendry.

Gargan was forced to resign from the service in 2015 after being found guilty of eight charges of misconduct including “sexting” on his police phone and was later stripped of his Queen's Police Medal.