Crooked British cop loses the lot

A corrupt detective who made more than £1 million by selling drugs he was meant to be destroying will only have to pay back an amount equating to a quarter of his ill-gotten gains.

Nicholas McFadden, 39, while a detective constable at West Yorkshire Police, helped himself to heroin, cocaine and cannabis that had been confiscated from criminals and sold it on the streets for more than £600,000.

However, a confiscation hearing held at Leeds Crown Court today was told how he made a total of £1,102,204.31 from his crimes.

Nicholas McFadden has to hand over all of his assets - totaling £250,000

He used the dirty money to lavish gifts on both his wife and ex-fiancee and fund his extravagant lifestyle - including buying an orangery.

In April 2013, he was sentenced to 23 years behind bars and was yesterday ordered to pay £257,052.08 - the total value of all the assets available to him.

McFadden, who decided to stay in his cell while the hearing took place, was given six months to pay the amount and warned that, if he defaults, three years will be added to his jail term.

During last year's trial, the jury heard that the disgraced policeman and his accomplice, his brother Simon, 42 - who was sentenced to 16 years behind bars - made so much money they 'did not know what to do with it'.

His colleagues had noticed that he purchased a private number plate for his car, began to wear designer clothing and an expensive wristwatch and talked about gifts he had bought his wife.

His ex-fiancee, policewoman Tanya Strangeway, with who he had rekindled a 'strong relationship', also received gifts of a bundle of £20 notes, totaling £10,000, and a £10,000 Audi car.

Police found tens of thousands of pounds stuffed in bags in the pair's houses

McFadden lied to colleagues about his new-found wealth, claiming it came from an insurance payout his wife received after battling cancer.

Police first became aware of his suspicious activity in the middle of 2011, when his bank alerted them to the fact that he had deposited a total of £30,000 in small payments over three months.

When police arrested him at work in October 2011 they searched his Ford Focus and found £6,000 in cash. A search of the home he shared with his wife Clair, a deputy head teacher, and child, in Castleford, West Yorkshire, revealed £19,755 in cash stuffed into bags and a further £157,560 in the garage.

When police searched his brother Simon’s home, that he shared with his wife Karen - who pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for 12 months - and teenage son, they found mobile phones containing messages about drug deals, as well as expensive paintings, a bundle of cash in a gravy boat and an expensive wristwatch.

The jury heard Nicholas McFadden had taken the drugs from a hold which contained those recovered from three major drugs operations. He then siphoned off his share in the destruction procedures of these drugs or while they were being transported by officers.

McFadden told police after his arrest he had made money by running an illegal business selling steroids and claimed to have found up to £500,000 in a house from a drug dealer’s secret cash stash. He also told detectives he had found bags of cash in a ditch by the M62 motorway.

He had £430,000 in cash and his brother had a further £160,000 which could not be traced to any legitimate source.

Simon McFadden had spent 'extravagant' amounts in the casino and on designer clothes. He also bought his wife Karen a personalised number plate for her Mazda MX5 sports car which read M2 SXY.

Debt collector Simon splashed out on paintings and indulged a bizarre passion for ‘expensive sausages’.

He claimed he had won at the casino in what he called 'an extremely good run of luck' when he had actually lost more than £8,800.

Both Simon and Karen McFadden had confiscastion hearings, although Simon chose not to attend.

The court heard Simon benefited to the tune of £694,678.15 and had available assets of £41,419.06. He must pay that back within six months or he will see 18 months added to his sentence.

Karen benefited by £83,582.93 and has available assets of £28,237.81. She has to pay it back within six months or she we will receive a 12 month jail term.

Originally a special constable, Simon McFadden joined the police as a probationer in 2000, later serving in the specialist drugs team at Killingbeck police station before moving to Holbeck and then the Organised Crime Group in 2007 as a detective.

Sentencing him in April 2013, Judge Tom Bayliss QC said: ‘We as a community are entitled to expect the very highest standards from our police officers.

'Without that ability to trust our police, society cannot function properly. You undermined that trust. 'Your motive was simple greed.'

Original report here

　

　

　

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