Moonlighting by an official brave pc

[anonymous-user]

Quite a tragic story really

HERO ex-cop who became a villain has been jailed for "moonlighting" as a private firearms consultant and charging for advice he should have given free.

https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/17531460.hero-ex-...

[catfood12]

That's a spectacular fall from grace. If he knew he had an alcohol problem, should he not have surrendered any firearms licence he held or asked to be moved to other duties ? Let alone the VAT fraud etc....

[Brads67]

Copper breaks law. Wow, would never have imagined it.

[Evolved]

Ok in the grand scheme of things, I was expecting much worse. He charged for a service that should have been given free, and added VAT when not registered. While it was unlawful, he’s hardly dealing arms.

Seems a strong sentence to me.

[Lemming Train]

Despite what it says in the blurb I'm willing to bet that the outcome would have been very different if he hadn't added a VAT element to the invoice.

[anonymous-user]

Lemming Train said:

Despite what it says in the blurb I'm willing to bet that the outcome would have been very different if he hadn't added a VAT element to the invoice.

He was prosecuted for misconduct in public office, on the principle that he was charging privately for something his employer, the Police, should do for free. No doubt the VAT issue was an aggregating feature, however I doubt it made any material difference to the decision to charge.

[f1rob]

Since sub 12flb air rifles are legal I presume his were 12 plus ?
That's classed as a firearm then an a 5 year sentence for you or I

[Bigends]

Its not just the moonlighting aspect that was dealt with - hes accessed information on Police systems for a non policing purpose and then used that information for personal gain.

[anonymous-user]

f1rob said:

Since sub 12flb air rifles are legal I presume his were 12 plus ?
That's classed as a firearm then an a 5 year sentence for you or I

I expect the CPS picked the correct charges (the two firearms charges) for the circumstances and the judge sentenced correctly rather than anything you're suggesting.

[carinaman]

Bigends said:

Its not just the moonlighting aspect that was dealt with - hes accessed information on Police systems for a non policing purpose and then used that information for personal gain.

It reminds me of that former Soldier police officer with Devon and Cornwall who having been caught speeding in a force vehicle without a legitimate operational reason went looking on the computers for an incident in that area that he could use an excuse for his speeding. He was years later found to have been keeping armour piercing ammunition at home and was done for that.

[kestral]

Jail for that!

I have lost count of the times I have read of court cases were the defendants have been convicted of benefit fraud approching £100,000 and they receive a comunity service order.

[Eddieslofart]

Mess about with the VAT man, expect the worst. The rest of the story is irrelevant.

[QBee]

Eddieslofart said:

Mess about with the VAT man, expect the worst. The rest of the story is irrelevant.

Oh dear. I have a VAT inspection on Tuesday.....

[anonymous-user]

Eddieslofart said:

Mess about with the VAT man, expect the worst. The rest of the story is irrelevant.

It wasn't HMRC that went for him. I suspect he hadn't turned over enough to need to be VAT registered in any case (meaning he did not owe it to them). It was wrong but not really something that would get him into heaps of trouble on a couple of invoices.

He was prosecuted for benefiting by personally charging the hotels for work he should have done in his public office role, for free.

[Bigends]

He's not a Police officer so is free to earn money any way he wants (legally) and is free to hold down other jobs, therefore he isnt moonlighting.
However, hes accessed information from Police systems in order to visit the premises and make a financial gain - thats the misconduct aspect for which he was sentenced. He is subject to the Police code of ethics and he fell foul of the following aspects

1. Honesty and integrity
I will be honest and act with integrity at all times,
and will not compromise or abuse my position.

7. Confidentiality
I will treat information with respect, and
access or disclose it only in the proper course
of my duties.