A former Metropolitan Police officer is being investigated over the theft of £500,000 worth of watches and jewellery from a police station.
The man was a serving PC when the items went missing from a secure evidence storage area over a three-year period. Some 20 watches and 50 rings were stolen from the station where killer PC Wayne Couzens was once based.
Anti-corruption detectives are said to have evidence the watches were sold on to dealers, with the suspect PC receiving “large sums of money”. All the items belonged to a Hatton Garden jeweller arrested by the PC on suspicion of handling stolen goods in May 2020.
The officer is thought to have been able to check them out of the evidence storage area. A source said the jeweller, who was later cleared, found his stock had gone when he went to collect it. He is now suing the Met over the theft in Bromley, South East London.
The ex-PC has been interviewed but not arrested. He was previously convicted of separate charges that cannot be reported and faced a misconduct hearing before being dismissed in 2023.
The Met said it is reviewing procedures for storing evidence. It added: “A man in his 40s was interviewed after watches went missing in our possession. It would be inappropriate to comment further.”
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