POLICE bosses in North Yorkshire are trying to recoup £100,000 from two former senior officers, which they believe may have been paid illegally.

Julia Mulligan, Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, announced yesterday that letters had been sent to the county’s former Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell and his deputy Adam Briggs, asking them to repay money.

She and the current Chief Constable, Dave Jones, are today publishing a decision following a review of its historic and current payments to chief officers.

In a statement, they said the review was to check whether all allowance packages in the past six years “had a solid legal basis”. They said: “There were some elements which were paid to Mr Maxwell and Mr Briggs that, although decided upon in good faith at the time, do not appear with hindsight to have been within the legal power of the Police Authority.”

Letters have been sent to Mr Maxwell and Mr Briggs asking for the return of sums totalliing £96,866. Mrs Mulligan and Mr Jones are seeking expert legal advice on what steps they can take to force the money to be returned, if necessary.

In a joint statement, Mrs Mulligan and Mr Jones said: “This report was commissioned as a consequence of public concern locally about payments made to former chief officers. We have decided to take a series of actions, including seeking repayment of almost £100,000 to resolve this issue once and for all.”

They said the review, to be published online was “in stark contrast to the old way of doing business and keeping reports like these under lock and key”.

Mr Maxwell left his post in May 2012. He had admitted gross misconduct following an investigation into claims he used his position to gain an unfair advantage in obtaining a job on the force for a relative. Mr Briggs left in 2011. He had faced investigations into a £10,000 training programme he used, claims he too had helped relatives in a recruitment process, and inappropriate material found on a computer disc he had been sent.

Mrs Mulligan yesterday also hit back at a report into policing in England and Wales, which recommended scrapping the commissioner roles.

Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens suggested in his report that the PCC system, which only launched a year ago, should be abolished in 2016, with more powers being given to local councillors and authorities instead.

Mrs Mulligan called the report “a political manifesto in the making”, and claimed it could not be independent as it had been commissioned by the Labour Party.