Shamed British cop who stole £400 during a house search faces return to prison for stealing a suspect's iPhone

A shamed police officer who stole cash during a house search is facing a return to prison for taking a suspect's iPhone. Former PC Ian Scouler was jailed for 12 months last November after being secretly filmed pocketing £400 while on duty in 2011.

But Scouler was back in court today to admit stealing a suspect's iPhone and another handset while employed by the Metropolitan Police.

The former cop - who walked into Westminster Magistrates Court after being released from his prison sentence - was warned he now faces a swift return to jail.

He pocketed an iPhone after it was seized during the search of a suspect's home on October 28, 2010. 'At the time this theft occurred, Mr Scouler was a serving police officer with the Met,' said prosecutor Emma Scheer. 'When officers went to restore the property to its owner, they found some of the items were missing. 'The iPhone was found to have been sold by Scouler shortly after the date of the search.'

Scouler had set up an account under his own name at website fonebank.com to sell on the stolen handset.

He admitted selling the phone but initially tried to pin the blame on one of his fellow officers. 'He said he didn't in fact take the iPhone but it was given to him by a colleague and had no idea that phone was stolen', said Ms Scheer.

Investigators also discovered he had stolen another phone in May 2010 which had been handed in to police. He again sold it online, but was 'very vague' when investigators asked where he had got it from, the court heard.

Scouler's career was destroyed when a jury at Southwark Crown Court found him guilty of theft following a trial.

He was caught taking money in a sting operation set up following allegations of thefts by officers from Greenwich Borough's Disruption unit during searches. Scouler was filmed removing the cash from a leather jacket left in a flat in New Eltham, south east London, and putting it into his pocket.

He was also taped joking 'It's not divisible by three' when a colleague found 200 Euros.

Scouler and colleagues were filmed browsing pornography and playing music while they were supposed to be searching the flat, which had been wired with hidden recording devices.

He later claimed to have forgotten about the money which he took home, but a jury convicted him of theft. Judge Michael Gledhill QC branded Scouler a 'rogue officer' when sentencing him to 12 months in prison.

'The trust that society places in their police officers is vitally important to everyone', he said. 'When that trust is broken by rogue officers, as you became, public confidence is eroded, it makes the job of honest officers far more difficult, and it seriously undermines society.'

Ms Scheer said Scouler's theft of the phones only came to light in September last year, when the victim asked police for his seized possessions back.

She said it was only after he was jailed for stealing the money that he owned up to his other crimes. 'It appears that only after having been convicted of the maters at crown court that he subsequently admitted he was guilty in relation to these matters', she said.

District Judge Nicholas Evans freed Scouler on unconditional bail until a sentencing hearing on March 28. 'I have indicated that the court has custody in mind', he added.

Scouler, of Borough Green, Kent, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft.

Original report here




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