Met officer sacked over £10k found in shoebox in her wardrobe

A shoebox in Inga Gherghel's wardrobe was found to contain £10,000 in cash

A Metropolitan Police officer has been sacked after £10,000 - the proceeds of her husband's criminal activities - was discovered in a shoebox in her flat.

A disciplinary panel said Inga Gherghel must have been aware of the box in her wardrobe and should have taken action.

Mrs Gherghel, a probationary officer, also did nothing about a police stab vest which her husband had been using to pose as an officer.

The items were found when Ioan Gherghel was arrested at their flat in 2020.

Mr Gherghel, who was jailed for six years earlier this year, had been an accomplice of Kashif Mahmood, a serving Met officer who pretended to stop and search drug dealers in order to steal their money.

A still from Mahmood's bodycam which was accidentally triggered during a fake stop-and-search

Mahmood would book out police cars from Stoke Newington Police station when he was officially signed off as unwell, before picking up Ioan Gherghel who would wear a Met Police stab vest.

They were caught when a body camera was accidentally triggered and filmed Gherghel dressed as an officer. Mahmood was was jailed for eight years.

The Gherghels' home in Stratford, east London, was searched and the cash and vest were found in cupboards.

• Police officer who stole drug dealers' cash jailed

The panel decided that having been aware of the items, Mrs Gherghel "wilfully failed to inquire further" as to why they were in her flat.

She was cleared of a more serious allegation that she knowingly concealed the presence of them while knowing the money to be the proceeds of crime and the vest to have been used by her husband.

But the panel decided it was "inconceivable" that Mrs Gherghel had used her cupboard and wardrobe without seeing the contraband.

She had also been sent a photo of her husband wearing the police vest, which he tried to explain by saying he was helping with an undercover police operation.

The panel found this should have raised her suspicions.

Evis Samupfonda, panel chairperson, said the Met was trying hard to win public trust and "to retain her would considerably undermine the trust and confidence the public have".