Met PC Bradley Francis faces jail over cash theft from police safe

The money was taken at Stoke Newington police station and paid into the police officer's bank account

A Met Police officer is facing jail after he admitted stealing £1,500 from a safe at an east London police station.

Bradley Francis, 35, from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, pleaded guilty last month to a charge of theft by an employee.

Westminster Magistrates' Court heard he took the money from a safe at Stoke Newington police station on 12 April.

CCTV showed he was acting suspiciously on the day the money disappeared.

The money was paid into his bank account shortly afterwards.

Prosecutor Jordan Pratt told the court that £1,500 was in the safe at the police station and "the only person who had access to that safe was PC Francis".

Bradley Francis will be sentenced in November

The prosecutor added: "A police officer would be held to a higher regard as the work they do is to hold up the rule of law."

The court heard the money was part of an ongoing "intent to supply" investigation.

District Judge Louisa Cieciora said the starting point for sentencing would be two years in prison due to the risk of "reputational damage" to the Met Police force.

"In terms of level of harm, it is the loss of trust that I'm focusing on," she said.

"If the money had been private money that would have been slightly different but it was public money."

Judge Cieciora added that she did not have sufficient sentencing powers at the magistrates' court and sent the case to Southwark Crown Court, where Francis will be sentenced on 7 November.