 |
| Former Chief Inspector for Surrey Police Tanya Brookes |
A
shamed senior policewoman described as ‘a disgrace to her uniform’ by a
judge has been freed from prison just four months into a
two-and-a-half-year jail sentence for fraud.
Former
Chief Inspector Tanya Brookes, 46, who was convicted of dishonestly
making £11,000, is now back home with her husband and children.
Her
early release was described as ‘outrageous’ last night after The Mail
on Sunday discovered Brookes, who served with Surrey Police, had been
allowed out with a tag on ‘home detention curfew’ following a successful
appeal to reduce her sentence to 18 months. Even taking that into
account, she has served less than a quarter of her time in jail – and
will even keep her generous pension.
The
mother of four, who was convicted of 33 charges, cheated shops by
forging vouchers or claiming refunds for goods such as micro-scooters
and blankets that she had bought at a discount online.
Jailing her at Winchester Crown Court in May, Judge Andrew Barnett said: ‘You have disgraced the uniform you once wore.’
Surrey
Police and Crime Commissioner Kevin Hurley said: ‘It is outrageous that
Tanya Brookes has been allowed out of prison so soon. It looks wrong.’
The Ministry of Justice said it would not comment on individual prisoners.
Nicholas
Tucker, prosecuting at the case back in May, said at the start of the
first trial how Brookes, who was also married to another senior police
officer, David, had joined the Surrey force as a university graduate and
he described her as a 'high-flyer'.
He
said that it was as she was about to mark her 20 years’ service in July
2011 that she became the subject of an investigation by her own force.
In his opening of the case, Mr Tucker said one of Brookes’s main targets was The White Company.
He
said that she would buy items such as Poitier cotton sheets or a
cashmere satin-edge blanket from the chain’s outlet store in Bicester,
Oxfordshire, at a discount rate.
Outlet: Brookes, 46, made trips to Bicester Village, the outlet street in Oxfordshire, to buy cheap items
She
would then falsify a bank statement on her computer showing that the
full price for the product had been paid and return it to another branch
of the store and fraudulently reclaim the difference in price.
She would tell shop staff that the items had been bought by 'an extravagant great aunt'.
Mr
Tucker continued: 'Mrs Brookes would often be wearing her police ID on a
lanyard round her neck - this was irregular, and the prosecution say it
was a ploy by Mrs Brookes to capitalise on the trust people tend to
place in police officers.'
He
also described how she fraudulently gained a £6,000 discount from a
luxury holiday for her family by falsely claiming that she was a
counter-terrorism officer at Gatwick Airport.
The
deceit was in order to claim a discount given to people connected with
the travel industry from specialist holiday firm Caribbean Unpackaged
for the £10,000 trip to Buccament Bay on St Vincent.
Mr
Tucker said that Brookes even sent an email to the company saying they
could not pass on her details because her identity was a secret because
of the nature of the role.
Mr
Tucker added that as she returned from this holiday, Brookes also
falsely claimed for a damaged Buggaboo buggy worth £849 and a Maclaren
buggy worth £195 from British Airways by providing a forged proof of
purchase from John Lewis.
She
had made a similar false claim against Monarch airlines for a £491
pushchair she alleged had been damaged on a return flight from Tenerife
in May 2009.
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK
No comments:
Post a Comment