A police officer who undertook a “noble form of corruption” by returning Class A drugs to users in exchange for information about their dealers committed gross misconduct, a panel has ruled. PC Jonathan Biggins targeted suppliers by stop-and-searching known addicts in the street in Weston-super-Mare and “succumbing to the temptation” of ignoring proper process by handing back their illegal substances once they revealed who sold them.
An Avon & Somerset Police misconduct panel, led by an independent Legally Qualified Chair (LQC), ruled he would have been dismissed had he not resigned before the five-day hearing at force headquarters in Portishead. The officer, who did not attend but denied the allegations, was also placed on a national policing barred list.
Barrister George Thomas, representing the constabulary, told the panel on Tuesday, May 23: “PC Biggins was prioritising going after drug dealers over the victims of the drugs trade. It is, in a sense, a noble form of corruption but the public have to understand that police who are pursuing drug dealers do not succumb to lowering themselves to the standards of those they are seeking to catch.
