Probe into theft of Tayside police dossier closed

An investigation into the theft of a dossier detailing allegations against former Chief Constable Justine Curran has been closed. Picture: Julie Bull

A spokesman for the force confirmed today that no-one has been arrested or charged as a result of the detailed enquiry carried out by officers from outside the Tayside division of the national police service.

Seven months ago officers from the specialist crime division of Police Scotland were brought in to investigate the theft of confidential documents, which were understood to contain details of allegations made against former Chief Constable Justine Curran. She was accused last year of sending text messages to her former PA about the size of a colleague’s manhood.

The stolen dossier is believed to have been compiled by Angela Wilson, the Assistant Chief Constable of Tayside, before the creation of Police Scotland, and related to a series of allegations of unprofessional behaviour made against former Chief Constable Curran and her deputy Gordon Scobbie. The dossier was being kept in the executive corridor at the Tayside Division headquarters in Bell Street in Dundee.

A spokesman for Police Scotland said today: “The inquiry is closed. No individual has been identified as being responsible and no one has been arrested or charged.”

Ms Curran was appointed the new Chief Constable for Humberside Police earlier this year after being passed over in the appointment for the top post in Scotland’s new unified police force. She had been Chief Constable of Tayside Police since February 2010.

Last year Ms Curran faced two separate enquires by the local police authority into her conduct. In July last year the board pledged their supprt for Ms Curran following revelations she had sent an inappropriate text about a male colleague to her former personal assistant.

A spokesman for Tayside Police said at the time that the correspondence between Ms Curran, a 44-year-old mother-of-two, and her former personal assistant “may not have been appropriately professional” but no disciplinary action was being taken against her.

A month later the area’s police board gave their full backing to Ms Curran following a fresh investigation into a series of anonymous allegations about her conduct made by an anonymous group who claimed to be serving officers within the Tayside force.

Ms Curran was appointed deputy chief constable of Tayside Police in February 2009, taking the top a year later when Kevin Mathieson stepped down.