'Fatal shooting' chief gets £45,000

A police chief who authorised a drugs raid in which a naked unarmed man was shot dead has escaped disciplinary action by quitting his force on medical grounds on a full pension.

Sussex deputy chief constable Mark Jordan, 43 - suspended on full pay for the past three years - will get a full pension of £45,000 a year.

The move is set to ignite a furious row between police and Home Secretary David Blunkett, who warned only days ago that he is ready to change the law to ban officers from avoiding investigations into their conduct in this way.

The Home Secretary has already intervened once in the case, effectively forcing the resignation of Sussex chief constable Paul Whitehouse over events surrounding the bungled drugs raid which ended in the death of James Ashley.

Mr Ashley, 39, was shot dead in front of his girlfriend in Hastings in 1998 in a police raid targeting another man. Five Sussex officers were cleared of criminal charges.

In his sweeping police reforms package published last week, Mr Blunkett said: "There is a perception that some officers are taking medical retirement as a way of avoiding disciplinary investigations. Whether right or wrong, the perception alone is damaging to public confidence in the integrity of the police."

Figures show more than 166 officers in the space of five years have used early retirement to escape investigation for serious misconduct.

Sussex police confirmed a decision had been taken to retire Mr Jordan on " unequivocal medical advice, including independent opinion".

Mr Jordan said in June: "I will not resign. I stress it is not because I'm clinging desperately to my job, it's because I believe in due process."

Sources have indicated he has a stress-related illness which would make it impossible for him to go back to work.

Unfit for discipline