Mike Culverhouse

Who is Mike Culverhouse?

Mike Culverhouse was Chief Constable of the Isle of Man Constabulary from 1999 until his retirement on 31 December 2007. He took over as Chief Constable following the retirement of Robin Oake QPM and was the first ever Chief Constable of the Isle of Man to be appointed who did not previously hold ACPO, previously being a Chief Superintendent in the Merseyside Police.

Mr Culverhouse has been widely criticised for his tough stance on alleged corruption and internal discipline. As such he was taken to court by his former deputy Neil Kinrade over the Manx Bugging Scandal and other matters, and has been repeatedly criticised on the floor of Tynwald by John Houghton MHK, a strong Police critic. Mr Culverhouse was the subject of up to 10 complaints by former and serving officers which were investigated by the Chief Constable of Hampshire Constabulary but no action was taken.

Mr Culverhouse was also controversial in his appointment of non-Manx Senior Officers including Mike Langdon as Deputy who took over as Chief Constable.

While proclaiming in the local press that illegal bugging had been taking place it was decided that it was not then in the public interest to publish the results of the Cheshire police's investigation, which failed to substantiate any of the claims made. However in August 2006 the Interception of Communications Tribunal made an Order that found that warrants applied for by Culverhouse for telephone bugging were unlawful. Despite a strenuous appeal by Culverhouse and the Attorney General, John Cortlett, the Isle of Man Appeal Court found in favour of the Tribunal and upheld the Tribunal's Order. The evidence in the case raised concerns as to the procedures adopted by the Chief Constable, the Attorney General and the then Chief Minister in dealing with phone tapping. The victim of the bugging, ex-Inspector Simon Graley currently has an application before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in relation to the unlawful bugging of his telephone. A complaint against Culverhouse is being considered by the Police Complaints Commissioner as to his conduct in this matter.