A senior police officer under investigation for allegedly stealing a bottle of wine hanged himself after being put under “intolerable pressure” by his own force, relatives claimed yesterday.

Jim Torbet, 54, had risen through the ranks of Sussex Police to become a detective chief inspector assigned to the force’s professional standards department at its headquarters in Lewes.

At the end of September he and another senior officer, Chief Inspector Sharon Rowe, the divisional commander for Worthing, were arrested on suspicion of stealing a bottle of champagne from Marks & Spencer.

The pair, who had been friends for seven years, were suspended despite denying the allegation. The investigation was handed over to the force’s Major Crime Branch, which normally deals only with the most serious offences. Mr Torbet’s home was searched by a forensic science team - some of whom he had worked with - and the previously gregarious and popular officer became withdrawn.

Mr Torbet’s brother, Fraser, a former detective in Sussex CID before transferring to the British Transport Police, claims that the way the investigation was handled was heavy-handed and contributed to his brother’s death. Five years earlier Jim Torbet, who was divorced, had to testify at the trial of his teenage daughter Rae’s killer, an ordeal that left its mark on him.

The investigation has been attacked by the Sussex Police Federation, which last week called for the resignation of a Crown Prosecution Service official who released a statement saying there was “sufficient evidence” to bring charges but it had been decided not to prosecute Mrs Rowe. It claimed that the statement branded them guilty without giving them the opportunity to challenge the evidence.

Mrs Rowe, who is married to a solicitor and has two children, is expected to face disciplinary proceedings and could lose her job.

Fraser Torbet, who had been living with his brother in Peacehaven, near Brighton, found him dead on October 30, the day before he was due to answer to police bail. Four hundred people attended the funeral.

Mr Torbet, 50, claims to have seen the evidence against the pair and says that, had it involved an ordinary member of the public, the case would never have been pursued. He said: “It was as if they needed to make an example of him.”

Mr Torbet learnt of his brother’s arrest after being told over the phone: “Are you sitting down? Because I’m in the back of a police car on my way to Crawley police station. I’ve been arrested on suspicion of shoplifting.”

Later that day Mr Torbet was asked to open his brother’s front door for the search team. He then drove to Crawley police station and waited until 11pm, 14 hours after his arrest, for his brother to be released on bail.

Officers trawled through hundred of hours of the supermarket’s CCTV footage and on October 10 Mr Torbet was arrested again and questioned about a further incident of shoplifting.

The happy, outgoing man became introverted and unwilling to talk to the people sending him messages of support. Mr Torbet said: “Jim was in a dark place and couldn’t work out how this could be happening to him.”

Just days before he died he learnt that yet another allegation of shoplifting was to be put to him. Mr Torbet said: “It felt they were intent on piling more and more pressure on him.” He believes the inquiry should have been carried out by another force.

In a statement Sussex Police said: “It is normal business of police forces to investigate complaints against their own officers in all but the most serious circumstances.”

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