A Metropolitan Police officer allegedly stole a dead man’s driving licence and bank card when he was called out to investigate the sudden death, a court was told.
Oliver Levi Darby, 42, is accused of swiping the possessions from Gary Steel’s home in Maida Vale home after the man was found dead and the officer had been tasked with securing his property.
It is said that Darby stashed the cards in a bag by his bed at his police lodgings in Kennington and that he also had three other bank cards not belonging to him when his room was searched.
“The reason why Mr Darby wanted these cards isn’t entirely clear, but at the time he was having some financial difficulties,” prosecutor Oliver Doherty said.
“He had cause to tell other people he had financial difficulties, but it is not the prosecution’s case he ever used the cards.”
Blackfriars crown court heard Darby, part of the Westminster Borough response team, was in uniform and with a colleague when they were called out to Mr Steel’s home following his sudden death on January 6, 2017.
Mr Doherty said the items Darby is accused of stealing were not recorded on the official police log of Mr Steel’s property. He told the jury: “There was no recording of the licence or bank card later found.”
During the search of Darby’s bedroom five days later at the Gilmour section house in Kennington, police discovered a Halifax Visa and Mastercard still attached to the original letters in a shoebox and a Barclays Visa card on a shelf.
The court heard these cards belonged to two people who had lived in a rented home in Wimbledon, where Darby used to reside.
“Darby does not dispute the items were in his room, but does deny dishonest possession,” Mr Doherty added.
Darby told the court today he "100 per cent" denies stealing a bank card and driving licence from a dead man.
He said he had no idea how the property and bank cards of two other people had come into his possession.
He told the jury at his trial at Blackfriars Crown Court: “They must have been picked up inadvertently and put with my other possessions.”
Asked if he stole the property he told the jury: “That’s not true. A hundred per cent that’s not true. I did not intend to steal any of these items.”
Describing the incident where he and a colleague found the dead body of Gary Steel he said: “A body lay on the floor just inside the door. We searched the body to see if there were any other injuries.”
He said that he had no memory of the driving licence or bank card which ended up in his possession.
The prosecutor cross-examining the officer said: “You as an opportunist nicked some cards from a dead man didn’t you?”
The defendant replied: “That’s not true.”
The officer, who has a commendation for his work in the Metropolitan Police, denies three charges of theft.
The trial continues.
