IT WAS mid-March last year when I called in to see the co-ordinator of Darwen’s excellent Resource Centre.

He wasn’t in. Apparently he was “away.” When would he be back? “Mmm. Not sure.”

I’ve been a journalist a long time.

And it was obvious at once that something soft and smelly had hit the fan.

I sank a large Bene in the nearby Brookside while I made a couple of phone calls and I soon had the picture.

Akeel Mohammed was, I discovered, on what is known as “gardening leave.”

I’ve known and admired Akeel since he took over the running of the centre four years ago.

He has built it up into an excellent facility for Darwen folk, especially those with mental health problems. So I tracked him down to his home.

“Sorry,” he told me. “Not allowed to say a thing. And anyway, I don’t know anything. It's just a nightmare.”

I went off to do a bit more digging and discovered that Akeel had been suspended a couple of weeks earlier following an allegation that he’d said something inappropriate to a visitor.

Oh, and to enable a full investigation to be carried out. Ah, yes. The Full Investigation.

I rang him back: “Just one question – are Capita HR involved?”

Yes, they were. “You won’t be back at work before Christmas,” I told him.

He laughed. But he hasn’t laughed much since then. He could barely raise a smile when a full-day disciplinary hearing finally exonerated him of the allegation and he was told he could go back to work today.

Eight witnesses supported him.

Akeel had been warned not to speak to anyone about his suspension and for nine months he had sat at home and suffered in silence while the “Full Investigation,” ran and ran.

I understand a second allegation – that he disobeyed a reasonable management instruction – surfaced during the investigation and this case was judged to have been proved “on balance of probability.”

He is appealing against this decision.

Councillor David Foster, who leads the Council’s Adult Social Services, is demanding an investigation into why it took more than nine months for Akeel to have the opportunity to clear his name.

“I’m not happy this has dragged on for so long. I have already asked questions about it,” he told me.

“It should have been wrapped up in a matter of weeks.”

He might also ask how much this particular investigation has cost.

More than £40,000 of council-tax-payers’ money is my estimate.

In 50 years in the newspaper industry I can’t recall a saga that has gone on as long as this.

I’ve known a few heated sort-out meetings, plenty of rants and lashings of blood and snot.

But it was usually settled one way or another in a few hours and everyone piled down to the pub and then got on with their lives.

Akeel will now, finally, be able to get on with his.