JUSTICE Secretary Chris Grayling’s dodgy judgement was again called into question yesterday after chief inspector of probation Paul McDowell quit over his wife’s role at US firm Sodexo — one of the biggest winners from rehabilitation privatisation.

Questions mounted over the minister’s decision to appoint Mr McDowell despite knowing of his family ties to the outsourcing giant that snapped up a large slice of new contracts.

The ex-chief inspector’s wife Janine is deputy managing director of Sodexo, which now runs probation services in parts of England and Wales.

Labour shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said it was “shocking” that the departure had been delayed until a day after the privatisation came into force.

“Chris Grayling is stumbling from one crisis to another,” he said.

“Not content with sacking the chief inspector of prisons, the chief inspector of probation has now resigned over conflicts of interest the Justice Secretary was fully aware of at the time he appointed him.

“Time and again, Labour has warned the government that Mr McDowell’s position as chief inspector of probation appeared compromised through links to private companies picking up one-third of the privatised Probation Service.”

Mr Khan said that the minister must now explain his role in what he branded a “fiasco.”

Mr McDowell’s links to Sodexo came to light last year, but he maintains that he declared the potential conflict of interest when he applied for the post in 2013.

But MPs on the influential justice select committee said they were not told of the connection when they endorsed him for the job.

And the incestuous links between bidders and the man hired to police them extend even further.

Mr McDowell is former chief executive of charity Nacro, which jointly runs six of 21 national contracts alongside Sodexo.

Probation union Napo said news of the resignation was no surprise as his position had become “untenable.”

“We thought he was very good but, given that his wife had financial interests with Sodexo, he could no longer remain in his post — it is something that could not be maintained in the new private sector partnership,” said a spokeswoman.