Police officer sacked after failing to pay for 40p Sainsbury’s carrier bags

A police officer has been sacked and banned from all forces for stealing three carrier bags worth £1.20.

Over the course of 12 days, volunteer special constable Luke Hodgson stole each bag, worth 40p, and was fired by Sainsbury’s in December.

This July, West Mercia Police brought its own misconduct proceedings against Hodgson, who is now banned from working for any police force.

West Mercia chief constable Richard Cooper said in a misconduct ruling that the former policeman ‘did know that payment was required for the bags and chose not to offer such payment’.

“The public expect nothing more from the police service than for them to be trustworthy,” Cooper said.

“By way of aggravation, whilst this was not operational dishonesty, it does represent an abuse of trust given SC Hodgson’s position as an employee of the store.

Hodgson stole three carrier bags worth £1.20 (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

“There are some mitigating factors. SC Hodgson has lately repaid the amount, but I have found SC Hodgson to have acted dishonestly and to have committed theft, which fundamentally undermines his ability to function as a police officer.”

He added that ‘this is not compatible with the high standards of integrity that are required of the service’.

Hodgson, who previously had a clean disciplinary record, has now been placed on the College of Policing’s barred list.

LADbible Group has contacted Sainsbury’s for comment.