THREE Bury Council chiefs have been suspended as part of a probe into the authority's handling of a councillor who admitted possessing indecent images of children.

Town hall chief executive Mike Owen, children's services director Mark Carriline and monitoring officer Jayne Hammond are understood to have been suspended on February 16 while a review was carried out into possible breaches of child protection.

The council's Human Resources and Appeals Panel has confirmed the suspension of three senior officers pending an independent investigation into how the council handled a historic individual safeguarding case.

The inquiry was launched by council leader Cllr Rishi Shori and the council stresses that no child came to any harm.

It is investigating whether procedures were followed with regard to former Tottington councillor Carter, who was spared jail in September, 2015, after pleading guilty to 16 counts of making indecent images of children. He received a community order.

He was arrested in May, 2015, and first appeared in court in June that year.

But questions about safeguarding arose regarding action taken by the council, especially relating to Carter's role as a school governor, between that time and his guilty plea and resignation from the council in September.

Tory councillors stormed out of a council meeting in 2015 when their submitted written questions about the Carter issue were withdrawn following legal advice.

Cllr Shori said: “The Council received allegations that there were failures to act appropriately in following safeguarding procedures in respect of an historic individual case. 

"Given the importance of the issue we commissioned an external review, from childcare expert Malcolm Newsam CBE, into how the Council dealt with the issue.

"The Panel’s decision today follows receipt of that external review.

"I must stress that the suspension of the three officers is a neutral act and will allow them to focus on responding the investigation".

Pat Jones-Greenhalgh the Executive Director for Communities and Well-being and Deputy Chief Executive, will act as Interim Chief Executive until the investigation is concluded.