[420 Girl]

A policeman who stole cannabis to help cope with his father's death was spared jail today.

Paul Smith repeatedly found excuses to visit the custody suite area of the police station and surreptitiously pocketed small amounts of the Class C substance which had been confiscated from suspects.

The 33-year-old claimed he turned to cannabis because of his struggle to cope with his father's death.

Smith who was stationed at Holborn was caught when a colleague became suspicious and reported the matter, leading to an investigation.

Police used CCTV and a bag of the drug covered with invisible dye to catch Smith out.

The married father of one, who has since resigned from the Metropolitan Police, was arrested and the cannabis used as bait was found in one of his warrant card compartments.

Smith, whose wife is expecting their second child, immediately confessed, London's Southwark Crown Court heard.

He told how he originally dealt with street traders but decided use of some of the small amounts of the drug stored at the station because he feared he might be blackmailed

Jamie Carr, defending, said his client honestly believed 'the cannabis he was taking was destined for destruction... and of no evidential value'.

Smith, of Nether Street, Finchley, north London, pleaded guilty to eight counts of stealing cannabis and two of possessing the drug between April 13 last year and January 5 this year.

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