Police boss criticised for 127-date theatre tour
Qays Najm/BBCA newly elected £79,000-a-year police commissioner is facing criticism for announcing a 127-date national theatre tour.
Opposition parties have questioned how Reform UK's Colin Sutton will be able to focus on his job overseeing Norfolk Police, which he was elected to in July.
The former detective is due to present his true-crime show in theatres across the UK next year discussing police investigations, with tickets priced at around £40.
Sutton insisted the tour "wouldn't impinge" on his day job, but Labour MP Ben Goldsborough warned "you can't police a county from the back of a tour bus".
Sutton became one of the UK's most high-profile detectives in the 2000s, leading the investigation to catch serial killer Levi Bellfield, who murdered Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell and Amelie Delagrange.
After retiring from the Metropolitan Police, Sutton wrote a book about the case, which was later turned into an ITV drama.
He has also become a regular commentator in the media and last year was named as Reform's national policing and crime advisor.
In July, after the former Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Sarah Taylor resigned, Sutton comfortably won the election to replace her.
PCCs are elected officials who set the priorities of a police force, appoint a chief constable and hold them to account.
This week, promoters of Sutton's "Makings of a Murderer" show announced he was set to tour the country from January to November next year.
One stretch will see him visit Consett in County Durham, Tamworth in Staffordshire, Hunstanton in Norfolk, Llandudno in north Wales and Leeds over five consecutive nights.
A drive from venue to venue in that run would cover almost 700 miles (1,126km).
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South Norfolk MP Goldsborough criticised Sutton's decision and said: "If Colin Sutton wants to be a celebrity that's his choice, but Norfolk deserves a police and crime commissioner whose first priority is Norfolk."
Matthew Taylor, a Conservative county councillor who finished second in the PCC election, said he was "shocked" to learn of the former detective's plans for a long run in theatres.
"If there is a major incident, you would expect the police and crime commissioner to be there, front and centre," he said.
"Not operationally, that's down to the chief constable, but in terms of lending his support, communicating with the public, being active and visible."
Defending his decision, Sutton said "I spoke to the people around me and we decided that it wouldn't impinge".
He continued: "The logistics of each evening are that I turn up at about 7pm, I go on stage at 7.30pm and I'm clear by 10pm.
"I don't do any rehearsal… I just literally turn up, talk and go away again.
"The time I'm actually incommunicado is really reduced to the two-hour slots when I'm actually on stage talking.
"I'm not a blue light service where I go round and turn up at things."
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