A TOP detective has accused one of Scotland's most senior officers of “misconduct” in the scandal of Police Scotland illegally spying on journalists’ sources.

DI David Moran was one of four police officers whose private phone records were unlawfully searched by his colleagues in the force amid fears they were leaking stories to the press.

He has now come forward to claim that Deputy Chief Constable Neil Richardson may have “made up” some of the “outrageous” evidence he gave to a Holyrood committee.

DI Moran added that he been the “victim of a crime” by the force and claimed Richardson had made statements which were “extremely injurious to my reputation”.

DCC Richardson is the second highest-ranking officer in the country after chief constable Phil Gormley.

He was a contender to succeed Sir Stephen House, but the spying row reportedly harmed his chances

Under strict rules, police forces must obtain judicial approval before using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to flush out reporters’ sources.

However, in November a watchdog ruled that Police Scotland had committed five “reckless” breaches of the rules.

The force’s Counter Corruption Unit (CCU) had used its spying powers to see if four serving and former police officers had provided a Sunday newspaper with information about the unsolved murder of sex worker Emma Caldwell.

The revelations triggered a probe by MSPs on the Holyrood Justice Committee, which heard evidence from Richardson, who has responsibility for the CCU.

DI Moran, a veteran officer with more than 30 year's service and who works in the 'murder squad', has now revealed himself to be one of the four individuals targeted by his own force.

In a letter to the committee, which is on the Holyrood website, he said: “I have subsequently been able to piece together what I believe to be a fairly accurate, if not complete, picture of the illegal course of conduct against me.”

Moran wrote that the breaches had been wilful, rather than just reckless: “I do not believe the actions carried out by Police Scotland to have been reckless as determined by IOCCO [Interception of Communications Commissioner's Office] and I do not believe they had full possession of the facts when reaching that conclusion.”

“Consequently I have made a complaint to the Police and the Procurator Fiscal through my solicitor that I believe I am a victim of a crime and that the course of conduct followed was wilful and therefore a criminal action.”

After the Sunday newspaper ran the story in April, Moran admitted having a friendship with retired officer Gerard Gallacher who had been quoted in the article.

Moran also made it clear at the time that he had “no knowledge” of the original Caldwell police investigation.

Nonetheless, he was under suspicion: “There was no reason to investigate me and indeed it was based on an unsubstantiated and invented intelligence case.”

“For the record I am outraged that I should have been investigated in this manner without cause and, to add insult to injury, illegally.”

Moran expressed his fury with DCC Richardson over the evidence he gave to the Committee:

“Neil Richardson made statements which are extremely injurious to my reputation and I believe him to be guilty of misconduct in misrepresenting to you what happened in respect of the Police investigation into me.

He continued: “In his statement to the Committee he attempted to partially justify Police Scotland’s actions by stating that I had leaked information to Gerard Gallacher. This was outrageous and completely false. He could have had no evidence of this as it simply wasn’t the case.

“At best he was completely misinformed or at worst it was made up. Either way he has severely scarred my reputation publicly.”

In his evidence to the committee, DCC Richardson did not name Moran, but said of the police leak probe:

“As I said, there was a breach during a murder inquiry from a police officer to a retired police officer, and the focus was on the serving officer in the murder squad...”

In his letter to MSPs, Moran said: “Of the four I am the only one who could fit the description as being in the ‘Murder Squad’.

He concluded: “I will happily assist the Committee in any way in this matter and look forward to hearing from you.”

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “We are aware of the correspondence and are reviewing its content including the allegations.

“Due to the potential of proceedings in relation to an Investigatory Powers Tribunal and the fact that a complaint has been made to the police in relation to this matter, we cannot comment at this time.”