Britain’s ‘most controversial policeman’ was secretly found guilty of misconduct after an appalling security blunder which jeopardised police operations against serious organised crime, the Mail can reveal.

Steve Rodhouse, Director General (Operations) at the National Crime Agency, ‘recklessly’ left his work laptop, containing classified intelligence files and information about highly sensitive police investigations, in the back seat of his parked car while attending the theatre with his wife.

The device, and other classified documents, were stolen by a thief in the summer of 2021 and never recovered.

Informed sources said the scandal was hushed up by bosses at the NCA, Britain’s version of the FBI, to save Mr Rodhouse and the agency acute embarrassment.

Scotland Yard, which investigated the theft, and the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which probed Mr Rodhouse over his latest high-profile gaffe, also did not publicise the incident which remained a secret for three years until this week, when it was uncovered by this newspaper.

One former chief constable said: ‘If the laptop had ended up in the hands of an enemy state or an organised crime group, it could have been catastrophic..’

Another distinguished ex chief officer said: ‘Due to Rodhouse’s seniority, the head of the NCA had a duty of candour to tell the public what had happened. There has been a cover-up. Rodhouse should have been forced to resign.’

The IOPC confirmed it investigated Mr Rodhouse’s conduct after a referral from the NCA in August 2021 after he was ‘alleged to have left electronic equipment and paperwork in a locked but unattended vehicle. Those items were subsequently stolen from the vehicle.’

It said after the probe was completed in December 2021 it was ‘agreed with the NCA’ that Mr Rodhouse would face misconduct proceedings in respect of ‘duties and responsibilities and ‘confidentiality’ for allegedly failing to safeguard and maintain the confidentiality of his NCA assets.

The NCA tried to play down the security breach. A spokesperson said: ‘During a spate of thefts in a London car park in August 2021, items were stolen from a locked vehicle belonging to Steve Rodhouse. He immediately reported the incident to the NCA and the Metropolitan Police.

‘A risk assessment of the stolen assets found that there was no impact on public safety, nor NCA operational activity or performance.

‘The NCA referred the matter to the IOPC who conducted an independent investigation, following which a senior NCA panel found that the matter constituted misconduct. As a result, Steve Rodhouse received a formal written warning.’

Asked why the NCA kept the matter secret, it said: ‘Publicising any theft of corporate assets would only increase the risk of serious criminals seeking to acquire them. As the items stolen did not present any risk to the public, there would have been no justification for the NCA doing so in this case.’

Last year a damning watchdog report said the NCA has a ‘toxic male culture’ where sexism may be ‘brushed under the carpet’ and top officers escape sanction.

The agency was compared to an ‘old boys’ network’ by staff who said ‘casual sexism’ is tolerated and ‘predatory sexual behaviour’ is treated with leniency.

The soft sanction given to Mr Rodhouse contrasts with the treatment of ex West Midlands Assistant Chief Constable, Marcus Beale, who in 2018 was sacked after secret police documents were stolen from the boot of his car.

At the time of the laptop theft, Mr Rodhouse was fighting to keep his job as joint deputy head of the NCA.

Six former home secretaries had demanded that he and a number of former colleagues face an independent criminal inquiry over Scotland Yard’s calamitous VIP abuse inquiry Operation Midland, which ruined the lives of innocent high-profile figures such as ex armed forces chief, Field Marshal Lord Bramall.

A former Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Mr Rodhouse also bungled an inquiry into ex Tory Home Secretary Lord Brittan over false rape allegations, and mishandled a Surrey Police sex probe into Jimmy Savile, while the paedophile was still alive.

Today, the head of the NCA, Graeme Biggar, and his predecessor, Dame Lynne Owens, were facing serious questions over their judgement in the stolen laptop affair. Mr Biggar chaired the secret misconduct panel over the incident.

Last year, Mr Rodhouse was charged with gross misconduct for allegedly lying in public at the end of Operation Midland.

In the wake of the development, which followed a major Mail investigation, Mr Biggar refused to suspend Mr Rodhouse and instead created a new non-operational job for him, as Director General of ‘Strategic Projects’ at the cash-strapped NCA, on £200,000 year. His rank is equivalent to a chief constable.

No date has yet been fixed for a disciplinary hearing which could see him banned for life from policing work.

Serial liar Carl ‘Nick’ Beech, whose wild claims prompted Operation Midland, was later jailed for 18 years.

Ex Tory MP Harvey Proctor, a victim of Midland, said: ‘Without doubt, Mr Rodhouse is Britain’s most controversial police chief by far. I am concerned there has been a cover-up at the NCA to protect Mr Rodhouse and the agency from public scrutiny and acute embarrassment.’

Retired Chief Superintendent Phil Flower, a respected former head of professional standards at the Met, said he would have expected Mr Rodhouse to have lost job his job over the security breach.

‘Mr Rodhouse should have recognised that he had failed to uphold the necessary standards,’ he said. ‘As a matter of honour, he should have resigned before it was necessary to invoke disciplinary proceedings. The fact the NCA failed to disclose his misconduct undermines public confidence in the accountability processes that apply in this case.

‘Anyone can make a mistake but this was a serious error of judgement, by a very senior officer who has habit of making them, and which was followed by a lack of candour by the NCA.’

Asked to comment further on accusation of a Rodhouse ‘cover up’, an NCA spokesperson: ‘This matter was handled in line with the NCA’s regulations and procedures at all times. Any suggestion that it was not is incorrect, as is any implication that the identity of the officer concerned should have caused us to deviate from our standard approach. We handle each case according to its circumstances and not the individual involved.’