MENWITH HILL'S top policeman has told a jury that he believed he was paying rent for his Ministry of Defence (MoD) home.

Chief Inspector Graeme Robert Drummond, 47, is accused of claiming nearly £13,000 in a housing allowance fraud while living rent-free at a Government-owned house in Harrogate.

The jury at York Crown Court has seen a letter dated May 16, 1997, from the Defence Housing Executive (DHE), which is linked to the MoD, telling him he did not have to pay rent for 18 Oak Avenue, Harrogate.

They have also seen allowance claim forms signed by Drummond between April 1997 and 2001.

Giving evidence, Drummond alleged that he had phoned the letter's author, Lesley Shervington, in late May 1997, telling her he was not entitled to rent-free accommodation and that he later believed she had sorted the mistake out.

She has denied the claim.

Drummond alleged that he received invoices for accommodation costs after the telephone call, which he believed included rent, water, sewage and other expenses.

He also told the jury that he was at one period paying his council tax in three different ways at once, including through the invoices.

Drummond, now of Osborne Walk, Harrogate, denies three charges of deception and two of false accounting. He told the jury he joined the MoD police aged 20 and was moved at two days' notice to Menwith Hill from Scotland in April 1997 after breaches of security.

He was in charge of policing the mainly American base, which included contingents from the American Marines, army and air force, and gave a presentation to the USA's National Security Agency in December 1997.

His wife, Carole, dealt with the day-to-day financial arrangements of the couple, he told the jury.

He alleged that he had alerted MoD officials that something was "seriously wrong" with his housing allowance claim before he was arrested. He had never made any attempt to conceal his claim.

The trial continues.

Updated: 11:06 Friday, March 07, 2003