Former Met Police officer jailed for nine years for corruption offences

Former Met Police officer Neil Sinclair has today (Friday 31 October) been sentenced to nine years in prison at Southwark Crown Court after admitting a number of serious corruption offences following an investigation directed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).  

Sinclair, aged 62, who retired from the force in 2017 and returned as police staff in January 2019 unlawfully accessed police systems and disclosed sensitive information to members of an organised crime group. He facilitated the transfer of over £1.5 million in cash from the United Kingdom to the United Arab Emirates and under instruction from a Dubai-based offender, he continued to move funds, with others, within the UK in excess of £3.5 million. The offences occurred between February 2016 and March 2021 when Mr Sinclair was both a serving officer and police staff. 

Sinclair pleaded guilty in June this year to three counts of misconduct in public office and two counts of entering into an arrangement to facilitate the acquisition, retention, use or control of criminal property by or on behalf of another person.  

Prior to his guilty pleas, the former officer had faced trial alongside five other men and a woman, none of them police officers, who were charged with various offences including entering into an arrangement to facilitate the acquisition, retention, use or control of criminal property by or on behalf of another person. Mr Sinclair was dismissed from Met Police in October 2021.

IOPC Director Amanda Rowe said: “The offending by Neil Sinclair, spanning several years, was a deliberate and prolonged pattern of criminal behaviour. 

“The police are responsible for disrupting and dismantling organised criminal gangs, but this officer chose to join them. He played a key role in a substantial money laundering operation and abused his position to provide the gang with confidential police information. This was a profound breach of the trust placed in him by both the public and the force.

“The seriousness of his actions is reflected in the sentence handed down today, and it sends a strong message that facilitating criminal activity will not be tolerated.”  

We began our directed investigation in September 2020 following a referral from the Met Police. Enquiries were carried out by the force’s anti-corruption unit under our direction.  In February 2021, a file of evidence was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service, which authorised the charges.