Thief cop is spared jail
On-duty officer stole heart attack victim’s tech items from bedroom
A CALLOUS cop who stole from a father minutes after he passed away was branded “disgraceful” as a sheriff spared him jail.
Constable Alan Sneddon swiped electronics worth £2700 from John Green’s home after he died of a heart attack. Sneddon, 46, had been called to investigate the 58-year-old’s sudden death but Paisley Sheriff Court heard he stole a phone and iPad and took them home with him. The brazen officer, who has 28 years’ service, is believed to have used the phone over the next days, and had it with him during two shifts on duty. Sheriff Simon Fraser spared him jail, placing him on a community payback order in which he will be supervised by social workers for 18 months and made to carry out 140 hours of unpaid work. But John’s son, John jnr, said: “I think he’s got off lightly. The court had the chance to make an example here and didn’t. He should have been sent to jail for his disgraceful crime.” John’s daughter Megan added: “The payback order doesn’t feel like any sort of justice. Those phones contained memories that we will never get back. “It was bad enough that my dad died so suddenly and unexpectedly but having this dragged through the court feels like we’re reliving his death all over again.”
Sneddon, of Barrmill, Ayrshire, earlier pled guilty to stealing the items from John’s home in Paisley last June.
The court heard that John had called NHS 24 to report breathing difficulties and an ambulance was dispatched.
Paramedics found John dead inside when the ambulance arrived 20 minutes later.
Police were called and Sneddon was seen by one of the paramedics holding a phone in a brown case in the bedroom, where he stayed while another officer took details from the medics.
Prosecutor Joanne Gilmour said: “The accused then remarked to the deceased’s sister and her husband that there were a number of items of high value with the locus and suggested the family remove them.”
But Sneddon had already hidden John’s brand new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, his iPad and another phone.
The court also heard that John jnr, 40, was able to track all of his dad’s devices using an app.
The search revealed the phone was on and had been at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley and at the town’s police station, then at Inverclyde Royal Hospital the following day, where Sneddon had been while on duty.
Pamela Rodgers, defending, said the married dad of two had “significant debts”, adding: “This was not premeditated and was opportunistic.”
having this dragged through the court feels like we’re reliving it again all over John’s daughter Megan on Sneddon’S caSe