Police officer tasked with catching shoplifters caught on camera stealing computer games

A police officer who was meant to stop Bristol shop-lifters stole two computer games and ruined his career. Peter Cokell was permanently stationed at The Mall, Cribbs Causeway, and had an unblemished record as a PC, yet he was caught on CCTV in HMV committing the crime he had spent six years trying to stamp out.

The 34-year-old, from Wick, South Gloucestershire, was found guilty of theft by District Judge David Parsons after a three-day trial. Cokell picked PlayStation 3 games Call of Duty: World at War and Kill Zone 2 and hid them under his kevlar body armour before smuggling them out of the store on April 7.

At about 8.40pm that night, 20 minutes before the store was due to close, HMV's loss prevention officer at the time, Gary Sutton, noticed the officer browsing. As he had known Cokell professionally for several years, he recognised him straight away. But he appeared to be acting "suspiciously", looking up at a dome CCTV camera, so Mr Sutton continued to monitor him.



The footage, shown at Frome Magistrates on the final day of the trial, showed Cokell carry the two games in his police hat to a redundant Virgin Media desk at the back of the store. He talked briefly to a security guard before apparently hiding the games – worth £74.98 – and walking out through the store's security barriers without the alarms going off.

Cokell denied the allegations throughout, but District Judge David Parsons was convinced he was guilty. He said: "I do know the games certainly left the site, having seen the evidence of the CCTV and the evidence of Mr Sutton."

Cokell, who was supported throughout the trial by his wife, will be sentenced on November 27.

With CCTV video.