Detective on blackmail inquiry was the offender

A DETECTIVE who tried to blackmail £1,000 out of a man he saw leaving a brothel ended up being assigned to the case once the victim reported the crime to police.

However, DC Gareth Suffling, 35, soon came under suspicion when colleagues at the Bedfordshire Police Serious Organised Crime Unit noticed his nervousness, constant checking of his mobile phone and that he accessed the police national computer, which the team would not normally use.

Suffling was arrested and, after pleading guilty to blackmail and misconduct in public office, was yesterday jailed for 18 months at St Albans Crown Court.

The court heard how Suffling visited an adult website, found the address of a local prostitute and photographed a client (known in court only as Mr A) leave her premises in March this year. He traced the man’s address through his car registration and left a letter and photographs on his windscreen.

Angus Robertson, prosecuting, said Suffling had written: “You made an error of judgment… the next step is for you to decide. You used the services of a prostitute in Sedgewick Road, Luton. Do you really want the people closest to you to know about this? You put your perversion above your family.”

Mr Robertson said the married officer, from Barton-le-clay in Bedfordshire, had demanded £1,000 in return for keeping the photographs from Mr A’s family.