A “cocaine addicted” police officer who was found to be stealing drugs from an evidence store after he accidentally dropped a bag of white powder at his daughter’s school has been jailed.

Andrew Talbot, at the time a Greater Manchester Police detective, had taken just under 4kg (9lb) of cocaine worth almost £400,000 from police property rooms between 2018 and 2020.

He also used the force’s computer systems to find a drug dealer to help him sell the drugs on the streets of Manchester.

The 54-year-old was found guilty of supplying the drug and misconduct in public office and sentenced to 19 years in jail at Liverpool Crown Court.

Sentencing him on Friday, Judge Neil Flewitt KC said Talbot had deceived colleagues to put a “significant” quantity of cocaine back into circulation as a result of his “addiction and greed”.

The investigation into Talbot by GMP’s anti-corruption unit began in February 2020 after he dropped a small bag of cocaine outside his daughter’s primary school.

Prosecutor James Lake said staff found the bag on a footpath, and saw it fall from Talbot’s person after looking back at CCTV.

“Unsurprisingly, given they knew he was a police officer, they contacted the police,” he told the court.

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