Sixth complaint against Police Scotland Chief Constable Phil Gormley

Mr Gormley is on "special leave" while the complaints against him are investigated

A sixth complaint has been made about the conduct of Police Scotland Chief Constable Phil Gormley.

The Police Investigations & Review Commissioner was already probing three complaints against Mr Gormley but it has now been asked to assess a fourth.

Two separate complaints are being considered by the Scottish Police Authority and by the force internally.

Mr Gormley, who has been on special leave since September last year, has denied the newly disclosed allegation.

His legal team said the complaint was "spurious and contrived" and questioned the timing of it being made public.

BBC Scotland understands the latest complaint was made to the SPA by a civilian worker.

The Pirc must now assess whether it merits a formal misconduct or gross misconduct investigation.

The third option available to Commissioner Kate Frame is to refer the matter back to the SPA.

The SPA confirmed it had referred a complaint to the Pirc.

'Serious questions'

A statement said: "This follows an assessment by the SPA which determined that, if proven, the allegations would amount to misconduct and require to be investigated.

"Complaint and conduct matters are confidential and the SPA will not provide any further comment on this case at this time."

A Pirc spokesman said: "The commissioner is now assessing the allegation to determine whether the conduct, if proved, would amount to misconduct, gross misconduct or neither and to establish whether an investigation is required.

"Whilst this process is underway, it would be inappropriate to comment further.

"In addition to this referral, the commissioner is currently carrying out three investigations into allegations of gross misconduct about the chief constable, which remain ongoing."

A spokesman for Mr Gormley's legal team, Burness Paull LLP, said: "We are aware that a single allegation of misconduct dating back almost one year has today been referred by the SPA's Complaints and Conduct Committee to the PIRC for assessment.

"Chief Constable Gormley entirely denies the allegation as spurious and contrived.

"The chief constable is disturbed by the timing of this allegation arising and it gives rise to serious questions in light of recent political debate about his employment status."

Michael Matheson told MSPs there were "clear deficiencies" in the SPA's decision

Last week justice secretary Michael Matheson criticised the Scottish Police Authority over its attempt to bring the chief constable back to work.

Mr Matheson addressed MSPs after Mr Gormley's lawyers accused him of making an "unlawful" intervention to stop him coming back to work.

But the justice secretary told MSPs he had simply questioned "clear deficiencies" in the decision-making process.

Mr Matheson revealed that he only discovered on 9 November that the SPA had decided at a "private meeting" two days earlier to allow Mr Gormley to return to duty.

He said the Pirc had not been consulted as to whether this would affect the investigation into the complaints.

And he said the acting police command team had not been informed that Mr Gormley was due to return to work the following day.

The justice secretary said in light of these concerns he asked the SPA to review its decision, which he said was "simply unacceptable and could not be defended".

Since then it has emerged no minutes were taken during the meeting in November between Mr Matheson and Andrew Flanagan, the then head of the SPA.

It led to the SPA reversing its decision to allow Mr Gormley to return to duty.

And at the weekend opposition parties asked Mr Matheson to provide details of all communications in relation to Mr Gormley's case.

The SPA is expected to review Mr Gormley's leave of absence by 25 January.