Former council leader demands inquiry into Cheshire Police

The former leader of Cheshire East Council, Michael Jones, has called for an inquiry into the leadership of Cheshire Police over a probe into alleged misconduct claims.

He accused police of wasting more than £1m of taxpayers money and more than four years of police time.

Following its review of police evidence into allegations that Michael Jones awarded an £84,000 contract to the Corefit children’s charity without following the correct procedures, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided there is no case to answer and announced it will take “no further action”.

Mr Jones has written to the Independent Police Complaints Commission and the Police and Crime Commissioner to request an urgent inquiry and has copied his letter to the Home Secretary.

He said the investigation caused significant and unfair damage to his reputation.

Mr Jones is currently redeveloping the former Manchester Metropolitan University campus in Crewe into the Apollo Buckingham Health Sciences Campus.

Apollo has begun training nurses and other healthcare professionals to supply thousands of staff to the NHS over the next few years.

Michael Jones said: “It saddens me greatly that so much time and money has been wasted on this spurious investigation by Cheshire Police.

“It is not a step I take lightly – I have been a great supporter of the police throughout my career and enjoy excellent relations with the force in Crewe, employing several ex-officers at the Apollo campus.

“During my time as leader of Cheshire East Council my key focus was to improve its effectiveness and value for money.

“I delivered two years of budget surpluses with no council tax increase, improved services including no NEETS (not in education, employment or training), and brought in billions of pounds of investment.”