UK: Police Officer Steals Wallet to Let His Boyfriend Drink on Gay Pride
Jason Connolly, a police officer is accused of stealing £40 and a provisional driving license
(Before starting this story let me just say that this defendant is going to trial. He has not been convicted of any of the charges yet)
A police officer allegedly stole a provisional driving licence for his teenage boyfriend to use to get into nightclubs, a court heard.
PC Jason Connolly, 25, is accused of taking Callum McCulloch’s licence after spending the night at his home in Brighton, East Sussex, during the 2010 Gay Pride Festival.
The officer gave the identity document to his then partner, 17-year-old Dean Banbridge, to use as a fake ID to fool bouncers into believing he was 18.
Connolly is also accused of stealing £40 from Thomas Taylor during a dinner date at the officer’s house in October 2011.
Prosecutor Piers Von Berg said the two offences came to light when Mr Banbridge reported the alleged theft of the licence to police after he split up with Connolly.
When officers interviewed Connolly they discovered a series of text message on his phone relating to the apparent theft of £40 from Mr Taylor.
‘Both these thefts happened in similar circumstances,’ said Mr Von Berg.
‘The defendant barely knew Mr McCulloch and Mr Taylor.
‘On both occasions it happened in the context of a night out, with Mr McCulloch, or a date that was organised online with Mr Taylor.
‘After the night out the defendant stole the licence and during the date the defendant stole the money.’
Mr Von Berg said the jury would hear from a number of prosecuting witnesses including Mr Banbridge.
‘Mr Banbridge used to be the partner of Mr Connolly, he will say that the defendant gave him Mr McCulloch’s provisional driving licence.
‘He lent it to him on occasions to use as essentially fake ID to get into nightclubs.’
The barrister said the licence was stolen between August 6 and 8, 2010, after Connolly had been out with Mr McCulloch to Revenge Nightclub in Brighton.
‘The defendant spent the night at Mr McCulloch’s house and when Mr McCulloch woke up the defendant was gone, as was his provisional driving licence,’ he told the jury.
At the time Mr McCulloch assumed he had lost the licence.
Mr Von Berg said the second alleged offence happened on October 9, 2011.
He said: ‘Mr Taylor met the defendant online and they got chatting and they exchanged text messages and Mr Taylor agreed to meet the defendant at his home.
‘After leaving the defendant’s address he noticed that £40 in cash had gone missing from his wallet.’
Mr Taylor confronted Connolly over the missing cash on a text message and the officer had 'tried to persuade' him not to report the matter to police.
‘In the meantime the defendant was first interviewed regarding the first allegation,’ said the prosecutor.
‘He denied stealing the licence, he said he was not sure if he had ever met Mr McCulloch and said that the allegations were malicious and had been made up by his ex-partner Mr Banbridge.
‘Mr Connolly was interviewed again and he denied stealing the money. He said he offered Mr Taylor £20 towards petrol money and it was all a misunderstanding.’
He said phone records would be used to prove Connolly had been in contact with Mr McCulloch before the alleged theft and also to show that Mr Banbridge had not made contact with either of the alleged victims.
Connolly, from Ruislip, west London, denies two counts of theft.
By ANNA EDWARDS
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