Pc who stole from Ikea and Asda is sacked

A POLICE officer who stole a £30 bathroom cabinet from Ikea and groceries from a supermarket has been sacked.

A West Midlands Police misconduct panel was told Pc Gemma Talbot committed the thefts at an Ikea store in Coventry and an Asda branch in Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham, where she stole items worth £91.85, last October after taking sick leave at work.

She was convicted of two counts of theft in November.

The 31-year-old, from Birmingham, did not attend the hearing but made a plea to keep her job through her union representative. In a letter to the panel, the officer, a single parent who also cares for her mother, described the offences as “completely inexplicable”.

Chief Constable David Thompson ruled she should be dismissed without notice. He told the hearing: “Matters of dishonesty cut to the very heart of the role of a police officer. They profoundly undermine public trust.”