Cleared prison chief resigns

The chief executive of Ashworth top security hospital has quit her job even though an independent inquiry gave her the all-clear, it emerged today.

Janice Miles, 48, was suspended from her post on 7 February after the then Health Secretary Stephen Dorrell announced the investigation into alleged paedophile activities and drug abuse at the complex in Maghull on Merseyside.

The hospital authority had ordered its own inquiry into the allegations and it put Mrs Miles, who joined the hospital as general manager in 1993, in the clear. Mrs Miles still intends to give evidence to the judicial inquiry, which begins in November after preliminary hearings in August and October.