Police officer in 7/7 inquiry jailed over Yorkshire flats scam

Detective Constable Daren Pooley, 41, took the chance to make a "quick profit" out of his employers while on a long-term deployment to Leeds following the terrorist attacks on London in 2005.

The father-of-three was sentenced to three years in jail at London's Southwark Crown Court.

His wife Nicola, 38, who was also found guilty of conspiracy to defraud following a three-week trial, was sentenced to 36 weeks imprisonment suspended for 18 months.

The conspiracy involved over-charging the Met for apartment rentals during their stay to the tune of 93,000 – although the actual loss to the force would have been lower due to costs such as utility bills, the court heard.

At first, the Met officers sent to Leeds were divided into two teams and put up in hotels at a cost of around 3,000 a month per officer, the court heard.

But, to save money, the teams were later moved to apartments.

In May 2006, one team of officers moved into a block of serviced apartments in the Riverside West area of Leeds at a cost of 2,000 per month. Pooley had by then met his future wife when she was staying in the same hotel and started a relationship with her. They have since separated.

Mrs Pooley's brother-in-law, Stephen Butler, 59, ran a company called Citizen Group.

Butler arranged for a lettings firm to provide four apartments, which were smaller and not fully serviced, in the Clarence Dock area of the city, into which Pooley and his team moved.

The court heard that Citizen Group charged the Met 1,950 a month for each apartment but paid only 650 in rent, with the conspirators pocketing the difference each month.

Mrs Pooley's brother-in-law, Butler, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud at an earlier hearing. He was sentenced yesterday to 12 months in prison.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC told Daren Pooley: "This was a prolonged and determined fraud by a trusted police officer against his own police force."

In mitigation, Gareth Weetman, representing Daren Pooley, of Spalding, Lincolnshire, said the "tragic end" of a 12-year career which saw him quickly promoted and honoured for bravery marked a "profound and permanent" punishment in itself.

May loses fight for secret evidence

Home Secretary Theresa May yesterday lost her legal challenge to a coroner's refusal to hold closed sessions of the 7/7 inquests to hear top-secret evidence.

Coroner Lady Justice Hallett earlier rejected calls from MI5 and the Home Secretary for victims' families to be excluded from hearings while she examines highly sensitive intelligence material. Lord Justice Maurice Kay and Lord Justice Stanley Burnton upheld the coroner's ruling at the High Court yesterday. The judges will give their full reasons at a later date.

The Government could now try to appeal against the decision or use powers to transform part of the inquest into a public inquiry, which could examine the secret documents in closed hearings.