Race chief quits over cricket outburst

The disgraced head of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) resigned today after admitting drunkenly trying to headbutt a police officer outside Lord's cricket ground.

But in spite of his guilty plea and an admission that his behaviour risked damaging race relations, Gurbux Singh will walk away from his £120,000-a-year post with a pay-off believed to be the equivalent of a year's salary.

Bow Street Magistrates Court heard that Singh shouted "I'll have your job", after jostling a police officer following the Indian cricket team's dramatic last-over win against England in a one-day international last month.

Today Singh, 51, who had two years of his contract as CRE chairman still to run, pleaded guilty to using threatening words and behaviour and was fined £500.

Mrs Sally Walsh, prosecuting, told how Singh approached a PC Hambleton and "knocked the officer's right shoulder then pushed him out of the way".

Singh's wife Siobhan Maguire, 50, apologised on his behalf. However, the CRE chairman made clear he knew Ian Blair, the Deputy Commissioner of the Met, shouting at the policeman: "F*** you. Do you know who I am? I know Blair. Do you know who he is? Me and effing Blair."

A scuffle broke out and two men tried to hold Singh back. He broke free from one of them and pulled the other back towards the policeman, shouting: "I'll have your job, do you know who I am? Blair is going to hear about this."

Another officer put him in a neck hold which provoked

the response: "You don't know how much trouble you are in."

Mrs Walsh said his eyes were glazed, his speech was slurred and that as officers tried to lead him away in handcuffs he deliberately allowed his body to go limp, so it appeared they were dragging him along the ground. He then tried to headbutt an officer who told him to calm down.

Singh, who was held in custody for four-andahalf hours, has since written a letter of apology to the officers involved and to the Metropolitan Police.

Singh sat impassively in the dock as his lawyer, William Boyce QC, called him a man of "honour and integrity". He said: "The day had been long and hot and the defendant had been bareheaded throughout.

"He had been drinking. He had been affected but didn't consider he was drunk." His client had

had "five, six or seven glasses of wine".

"He is sorry that he slipped momentarily from setting an example to others. He will never forget today. He is a defendant who has, and will, punish himself far more than the court will," Mr Boyce said.

Fining Singh £500 and £55 costs, District Judge Nicholas Evans said: "This was disgraceful behaviour brought about no doubt by your excessive drinking."

Singh had insisted that he would not resign, but his departure was inevitable from the moment he was charged and he found himself politically isolated. Quitting today, he issued a statement saying it was "in the best interests of both the CRE and race relations in general".

Home Office civil servants left him in no doubt his position would be untenable if he was convicted because he holds powers of investigation over several bodies, including the police.

Home Office sources would not be drawn on claims that Singh has spent a week negotiating for a six figure pay-off.

He is believed to have asked for nearly £250,000 in compensation for the two years remaining on his contract, plus his pension entitlement.

Ministers wanted him to step down with no payment. Sources claim he was then offered six months' money, but a settlement is understood to have been agreed in the region of his £120,000 annual salary.