Private life of police chief examined

The controversial private life of the chief of Greater Manchester Police, Michael Todd, is to be investigated by another police force. The investigation will be separate from a coroner's inquiry launched after Mr Todd, 50, was found dead on Mount Snowdon in North Wales last week.

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary said in a statement that it had appointed Sir Paul Scott-Lee, Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, to "conduct an examination of the circumstances, to ensure that nothing in the conduct of Mr Todd's personal life had adversely impacted on the professional discharge of his duties".

A spokesman said a "rigorous inquiry" into his death was already being carried out by North Wales Police on behalf of the coroner, adding that Greater Manchester Police and its Police Authority had requested the second inquiry.

After his body was found, it emerged that Mr Todd, who was married with three children, had been having an affair with Angie Robinson, 50, chief executive of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, and was upset that his wife had been told. Just prior to Mr Todd's death, Mrs Robinson's husband John, 52, who has cancer, reportedly drove 70 miles from his home in Cheshire to Newark to tell Mrs Todd about the affair.