A CHESHIRE police misconduct hearing into suspended chief constable Simon Byrne has been taking place this week at Warrington Town Hall.

In April, Mr Byrne unsuccessfully tried to have the allegations thrown out.

Mr Byrne is accused of showing a lack of self-control and exhibiting volatile, unpredictable and offensive behaviour during his time at the head of the police force.

He denies the allegations, which date from between May 2014 and March 2017.

The chief constable of Cheshire police was suspended in August following an investigation into alleged gross misconduct.

After allegations were made against Mr Byrne in late 2016, an external police force was asked to conduct an enquiry into the matter.

Police and Crime Commissioner David Keane said it was in the public interest for Mr Byrne to be suspended from the force while a gross misconduct hearing takes place.

In February, more details about the allegations came to light.

According to documents posted on the police and crime commissioner's website, the police boss allegedly 'displayed a short temper, a lack of tolerance and engaged in angry outbursts and aggressive attacks upon subordinate staff which created an intimidating, hostile and humiliating environment for staff in the ACPO office'.

In the 21-page report, Mr Byrne is accused of 'displaying anger' where he 'began to spit, wave his arms in the air and turned red in the face' while on another occasion he allegedly showed a 'Jekyll and Hyde' character and 'a lack of tolerance'.

It is also alleged that he missed vital meetings, conferences and events, wasting tax payers' money as tickets has already been purchased.

So far, during the hearing, former head of IT at Cheshire police Andrew Herndlhofer described Mr Byrne as 'bordering on incompetence' as far as his use of technology was concerned and said he had an "uncompromising attitude".

It is alleged Mr Byrne had let his children on to his iPad and they had downloaded some of the games and that had caused some problems.

Another witness, named Witness C in the hearing to protect her identity, said Mr Byrne was 'often red in the face and frothing at the mouth' when he experienced an outburst.

She said he showed a "complete lack of self-control...in respect of his behaviour and outbursts. As soon as something wasn't right he said 'I want to speak to that person'.

She added: "It seemed unreasonable and not right."

Acting chief constable Janette McCormick, giving evidence, said she never witnessed Mr Byrne shouting at or humiliating staff.

The hearing is expected to run for two weeks.