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Former Northumbria Police chief constable Sue Sim has accused the force of sexism.

Ms Sim, who retired last month after 30 years of service, was cleared of misconduct charges in relation to her treatment of staff.

But now Ms Sim- who led the hunt for killer Raoul Moat- says the official report into her conduct found she was the subject of sexist behaviour.

Northumbria Police say they do not accept the criticism.

In an interview with BBC Radio Live 5 broadcast on Friday, Ms Sim said: “I thought we had moved on significantly, but as you are aware there was an investigation into my conduct.

“And one of the things that I was absolutely shocked by is that during the investigation, one of the things they found was that my senior male colleagues treated me differently than they would have done a male chief constable.”

Though the official probe cleared Ms Sim of all charges, it did criticise her management style and recommend she apologise to some officers.

But Ms Sim insists she was trying to get the best out of her team.

She said: “Yes, I was robust, because I was paid a significant amount of money, my senior officers are paid a huge amount of money in comparative terms to everyone else, and I had an expectation that everyone worked as hard as they could for the public we served...So yes I did shout when things weren’t going well.

Ms Sim has now made a complaint against the officers who accused her, and has asked the police and crime commissioner to investigate why the allegations were made.

She said: “I find it difficult to understand how somebody can react differently to a female Chief Constable than they would to a male Chief Constable - I am questioning their reasons for why they made their complaints.

“One of the reasons probably was some parts of policing are still rather old fashioned. Some senior officers believe they have a right to achieve a certain role in an organisation and then retire from that role. My view as Chief Constable always was if you’re performing extremely well, that’s fine. If you’re not, I’m going to move you.”

A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: “It is disappointing and a real shame that Mrs Sim has chosen to express these views and to do so in this way. We do not accept the criticism that she has directed at Northumbria Police, an organisation that she personally was in command of for five years.

“Our priority is to move forward and deliver the best service we can to our communities and make the organisation one which we can all be proud of. It is to these ends that our efforts and energies should be directed.”