A Police officer has been handed a suspended sentence after it was found he stole cash from two wallets handed into him at the 2019 Cheltenham festival.
38 year old Matthew Rollason, who has since resigned from the Gloucestershire Police force after his arrest, pleaded guilty at Bristol crown court to two offences of theft committed on March 12 and 14 last year.
The first time he stole cash it was when a race-goer on the first day of the Cheltenham festival had found a wallet and handed it into Rollason, who subsequently went on to take the money out of the wallet before registering it as lost property.
Following on from this there were suspicions that he was involved in taking the money out of the wallet before handing in the lost wallet and Rollason was handed a wallet containing £200 by an undercover officer posing as a race-goer.
Once again the convicted ex policeman went on to take the money out of the wallet before handing it in as lost property.
Overall, Rollason resigned from the force in June 2019 after this all came about and has now been handed a 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years concurrently on each charge.
He has also been ordered by the court to repay the first victim of the theft the £100 that was stole and also £200 to the Constabulary as well as costs.
The court heard on Thursday that the 38 year old had been going through a tough time with difficult family circumstances but was not short of cash.
(Credit Racing Post) Following the sentencing Jon Stratford, deputy chief constable of Gloucestershire, said: "The public must be able to trust the honesty and integrity of all police officers that they come into contact with.
"This officer abused that trust. His actions were deplorable and shameful both in the eyes of the public, those currently serving with the police, and those officers and staff that have previously served with this Constabulary with pride.”