Shocking CCTV captured the moment a corrupt detective dropped a bag of cocaine at a primary school after dropping off his daughter.
It was a moment of recklessness that led to an investigation by Greater Manchester Police and exposed Andrew Talbot’s secret life as a drug dealer. The 54-year-old dad-of-two from Leigh was jailed for 19 years on Friday, October 18, after being convicted of a string of crimes, including supplying class A drugs and misconduct in public office.
The footage from the primary school shows the moment his life of crime began to unravel. Just moments after dropping off his young daughter, it captures the former army officer walking away from the class, still within the school grounds shortly before 9am on February 13, 2020, reports Manchester Evening News.
Talbot is seen fiddling in a back pocket and, after he withdraws his hand an indistinguishable white item drops to the ground. He is totally unaware he has dropped anything or that his secret life of crime is about to come crashing down, and walks away, to continue his work as a respected detective constable in the serious crime division.
However, by lunchtime, shocked staff at the primary school discovered what appeared to be a snap bag of cocaine on the path. Tests later proved their suspicions to be correct.
The deputy headteacher viewed the CCTV and noticed not only was it a parent, but a parent who they knew was a cops.
The school alerted GMP whose counter corruption unit launched a probe. Three days later, soon after Talbot had driven into Nexus House to begin his shift, shocked colleagues watched on as he was arrested.
The former detective, sacked by GMP in August, pleaded guilty in November last year to a number of charges, including two counts of possession of cocaine, possession of ammunition without a firearm certificate, theft of cocaine, conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, a further count of misconduct in public office, and unauthorised access to computer material.
Following a trial in September, Talbot was found guilty of supplying a controlled drug of Class A, misconduct in public office and failing to comply with a notice under section 49 of the Regulation and Investigatory Powers Act 2000, namely that he failed to provide investigators with the passcode to his phone.
The investigation by the counter corruption unit of GMP established that Talbot stole just under four kilos of cocaine from the GMP ‘s property store at its Nexus House offices, before then supplying it between February 2018 and January 2020.
He conspired with convicted drug dealer, Keith Bretherton, and used his position as a cop to give him confidential force information to help him to recover a drug debt worth more than £20,000. Talbot also searched the force’s confidential computer systems for known or suspected drug dealers to help him shift the drugs he stole and provide information to a friend who was under investigation for assault.
After his moment of recklessness at the primary school, Talbot was searched when he turned up for work at Nexus House where he was found to have more cocaine on his person. Inside his car investigators found a piece of paper with the property number for two police operations into the supply of cocaine. A subsequent search of his home then revealed drug paraphernalia and a GMP property bag containing more traces of cocaine.
Talbot refused to hand over the pin number for his mobile phone, but detectives were able to recover some of the photographs from a memory card in the device, which included images of the cocaine and exhibit bags on days when he accessed the property store.
Searches for known or suspected drug dealers were also discovered to have been regularly conducted by Talbot on GMP’s computer systems. The jury didn’t believe his claims these searches weren’t carried out in order for him to secure buyers for the stolen drugs or his assertions they related to his work or were made out of professional curiosity.
During the trial at court, the prosecution was able to prove that Talbot supplied the drugs he stole, and that the cocaine was not just for personal use, as he had claimed. The prosecution also proved that Talbot attempted to frustrate the investigation by providing an incorrect passcode for his phone after receiving a formal notice to disclose it.
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