The Daily Post has locked horns with its local police chief after he referred to a gruesome photo as “outstandingly good”.

The Welsh title slammed North Wales Police Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom for using the photo of a decapitated motorcyclist to illustrate his ‘Arrive Alive’ campaign at a press conference.

But it was revealed on Friday that after an Indepndent Police Complaints Commission investigation he would face no conduct charges over the incident.

In April, he caused a wave of controversy in North Wales after he showed journalists the photo without the family’s permission.

It has emerged from the IPCC investigation that an e-mail to senior colleagues said some photos were “not gruesome enough” but the one of biker Mark Gibney was “outstandingly good”.

The paper carried a scathing editorial column on Saturday entitled “You should be disgusted with yourself for sinking so low” while editor Rob Irvine pulled no punches in his online blog.

He said: “As a newspaper editor I regularly have to make moral judgements about the use of photographs.

“Some of these images are gruesome, many of them far too gruesome to publicise.

“In this I am governed by certain codes of conduct.

“What would the family think about these images being displayed – would it unduly upset them?

“The question of what Mr Gibney’s family might think never seemed to have crossed Richard Brunstrom’s mind.

“And as for the wider public, his motto seems to be: ‘The more gruesome, the better’.”

North Wales Police Authority is expected to discuss the incident at its meeting on November 20.

Rob added: “We now await with interest the outcome of North Wales Police Authority’s deliberations on this matter.”