ARREST AFTER THEFT OF POLICE HQ CREAM CAKES
Officers question suspect in food raid drama after fancies are swiped from force’s fridge
AN ARREST has been made after Greater Manchester Police’s elite officers had their cream cakes nicked from under their noses.
The fancies were swiped from a fridge at Nexus House, Ashton-underLyne, base for the force’s Serious Crime Division, Economic Crime Unit and Cold Case Unit.
Evidence should be collated quickly as the bespoke building also houses the Forensic Services team.
Police have made an arrest but are still to decide whether the culprit should get his just desserts in court or whether a full blown inquiry would be a waste of force resources.
Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said: “I can confirm that Greater Manchester Police arrested a subcontractor who was hired to work at Nexus House on suspicion of theft after a report was made that a number of items of food had been stolen.
“For obvious security reasons, Greater Manchester Police takes any breach of trust between the force and its employees very seriously.
“However, we are now reviewing this incident to decide whether this is a proportionate use of police time and resources.”
The scandal makes mincemeat of last year’s ‘bin-gate’ scandal on TV’s The Great British Bake Off when a contestant chucked his bake Alaska in the bin claiming sabotage by a rival contestant.
One source said: “Whilst the Chief Constable is telling the public that cuts to budgets are affecting what we can do, and victims of crimes are not being visited at all, GMP managed to put a team of Major Incident Team detectives on this minor theft! The forces finest detective unit investigating the theft of cream buns from a fridge!”
Nexus House is also the home of the force’s Operation Challenger - aimed at dismantling and disrupting organised crime gangs, and it’s main intelligence gathering team.
Another source said: “On this occasion it would appear its intelligence has not worked.”
The theft is perhaps the most audacious against GMP since a thief posing as a mechanic stole a high powered fully-livered force Sierra Cosworth from a repair garage in Trafford Park in the late 1990s.
It was driven up and down Trafford Road with its blue light flashing before being torched on the Ordsall estate.