No court action over arrested police chief (From The Argus)

No court action over arrested police chief

12:11pm Friday 28th November 2008 in News By Naomi Loomes

A senior police officer will not face prosecution after being arrested with a colleague on suspicion of shoplifting wine from a Marks & Spencer store.

The Argus revealed how Chief Inspector Sharon Rowe and Detective Chief Inspector Jim Torbet were held in September after allegedly being caught stealing wine from an M&S store in Shoreham.

The pair were freed on police bail pending further inquiries and suspended from their duties with Sussex Police.

It has emerged the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has decided not to charge 44-year-old Ms Rowe, district commander of Worthing.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “We have now received the decision from the CPS that it will not be in the public interest to prosecute.

“In view of this decision, Sussex Police are now considering initiating misconduct proceedings. The chief inspector remains suspended.”

Last month Mr Torbet, 54, was found dead at his home in Peacehaven in “non-suspicious” circumstances shortly before he was due to answer bail.

In 2003, his 19-year-old daughter, bank clerk Rae Torbet, was stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend, Dellwyn James, after he lay in wait for her at her flat in Bexhill.

Mr Torbet joined Sussex Police in 1980 and held a number of senior positions, latterly in the force’s professional standards department.

Ms Rowe is a trained English teacher who became the first woman to reach the rank of inspector in Brighton and Hove in 1998 after joining the police in 1986. She became Worthing’s district commander last year.

Howard Hodges was appointed acting chief inspector in Worthing in Ms Rowe’s absence.