Anger at £50,000 payout to Pc

A chief constable has attacked a £50,000 compensation payout awarded to a part-time policewoman forced to resign for disobeying an order.

Ben Gunn, Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire Police, said the employment tribunal which made the award to Stephanie McLachlan showed a "lack of understanding" of the requirements of police work.

Mrs McLachlan, 39, from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, was required to resign from the police seven years ago after she refused to stop work on a minor shoplifting case to deal with an alleged child abduction.

The mother-of-two sought compensation during a tribunal hearing in Leicester, claiming a male police officer would not have been required to resign for the same offence.

The tribunal ruled she should receive the £50,000 for loss of earnings and as compensation for "hurt feelings".

The case is likely to reignite the debate about the "compensation culture" in the UK. Last year, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir John Stevens, said his force was becoming a "lottery for disgruntled coppers".

Following the latest case, Mr Gunn said he "totally rejected" the tribunal's findings and was considering an appeal.

He said: "In my view the tribunal has totally misunderstood the responsibility of an officer who receives a lawful order and is required to prioritise that order against all other eventualities - particularly when it concerns a serious allegation of child abduction."

"It is unacceptable, in my view, for the tribunal to conclude that ex-Pc McLachlan made it clear that 'it was not convenient [to comply with that order] because she was doing another job'.

"It is a reflection of the tribunal's lack of understanding of how police have to prioritise different work demands.

"Ex-Pc McLachlan was an experienced officer and she should have known an alleged case of child abduction was more important than anything else she may have had to hand.

"It was a serious disobedience to orders and I dealt with it as such and that view was supported by the then Home Secretary during the appeal process. I totally reject the tribunal's assumption that this was a case in which, because of ex-Pc McLachlan's sex or marital status, she was treated differently."

Police said Mrs McLachlan worked 24 hours a week to give her more time to care for her two young children. She had been in the force for seven years.

Mrs McLachlan, who now works at the Passport Office, was unavailable for comment. Figures released this month showed a 40 per cent increase in tribunal pay-outs. In 2000, £3.53 million was awarded for sex, race and disability cases. In 1999, the figure was £2.55 million.