Police give burglar a mobile ... and he gives them a bill for £44k!

THE taxpayer has been saddled with an astonishing £44,500 phone bill after police gave a suspected burglar a mobile to use for free.

Officers gave the man the phone so they could keep in contact with him when he was on bail.

But a mix-up meant he was given a contract phone rather than pay-as-you-go, and when he was later convicted and went to prison, he gave it to two associates who continued to use it. They were questioned over the phone bill but, because the burglar had not signed a contract for how the phone should be used, they could not be charged with an offence.

Police said the huge bill, which was run up over six months – the equivalent to £250 a day – was due to data charges for music and video streaming and internet apps, when the contract had not been set up for such use.

The blunder was made by North Wales Police, who have not revealed the identity of the burglar. Last night Keith Hogg, of the National Victims’ Association, said: ‘I’m absolutely flabbergasted. It makes a complete mockery of the judicial system.

‘What an insult to the victims of the burglary. Not only have they had to suffer from the crime but as taypayers, they’ve had to contribute towards paying this £44,500 mobile phone bill.’

The man from the Llangefni area of Anglesey was given the phone following national guidelines introduced in 2010, ‘in order to allow frequent support/communication of an offender in their rehabilitation’.

The force said it ‘ occasionally uses inexpensive mobiles’ to maintain contact with offenders they are working with to help ‘ integrate them back into the community’.

David Green, of legal thinktank Civitas, said: ‘In the long tradition of movies that ridicule the police, including Naked Gun, Hot Fuzz and the Police Academy series, none of the scriptwriters thought of anything quite so absurd as this achievement of the North Wales Police.’

The bill arrived as the North Wales force is implementing £ 30 million of budget cuts, including cutting its number

‘Insult to the victims’

of officers by more than 100. John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘This is a huge error by the police force and taxpayers will want answers as to how this mistake went unnoticed for so long. When money is wasted like this, it means that there is less that can go into front-line policing.’

North Wales Police said its then police and crime commissioner, Winston Roddick, was briefed on the blunder and it was discussed in full by an audit committee – but the size of the bill was not mentioned in reports.

The £44,500 figure came to light through a Freedom of Information request.

No officer or civilian worker has had any action taken against them.