A TOP police officer was shopped by his former boss who discovered him working for himself while off sick with stress.

North Yorkshire Assistant Chief Constable David Collins, who earned a £100,000 salary, went off on the sick in November last year claiming stress. He was still off in June this year on half his salary.

But on June 4 he attended a University of York conference and handed out flyers to delegates to promote his life coaching consultancy service.

But, unfortunately for Mr Collins, one of the conference delegates was his former boss, North Yorkshire’s ex-Chief Constable Della Cannings, who promptly reported him to North Yorkshire Police Authority.

They investigated and discovered Mr Collins was also offering mentoring services via the internet.

The 49-year-old was allowed to back up his business qualifications with training while he worked as a policeman, but he did not have permission to seek customers for his business.

Shortly after being discovered by Ms Cannings, Mr Collins went on holiday. When he returned he discovered that the police authority wanted to relieve him of his post. Instead Mr Collins, of Monk Fryston near Selby, successfully applied for retirement. Because of this he will still receive a six-figure sum for his 30 years of service. Jeremy Holderness, the chief executive of North Yorkshire Police Authority, said: “Although the authority considered all options with regard to the conduct of Mr Collins in the circumstances, it was not possible to instigate formal disciplinary action against him as he was no longer a serving police officer.”

Mr Collins’ company, Discovery, offers six sessions of individual coaching and mentoring support for £495. A full day of coaching consultancy costs £950.

His website states that coaching is useful for anyone seeking “promotion, advancement or often career development”.

The Press phoned the contact number on his website, but there was no answer.