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Ex Met police officer jailed for stealing cash from Italian filmmaker as he lay dead in the street
13 September 2024, 11:55 | Updated: 13 September 2024, 12:27
A former Metropolitan Police officer has been jailed after he admitted stealing money from an Italian filmmaker's corpse as he lay dead on a busy street in London.
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PC Craig Carter, of Harlow, Essex, pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office after stealing around £115 from Claudio Gaetani between September 7 and 14 2022.
Carter was jailed today at Wood Green Crown Court for 16 months.
His charge stated he “took for his own use money from a wallet received by him in evidence in relation to a sudden death”.
He stole the cash from Mr Gaetani while he lay dead on a street in Haringey, north London, while officers waited for an undertaker to arrive.
Mr Gaetani, 45, is understood to have suffered a heart attack while cycling to meet a couple he was staying with nearby.
Carter worked for the Met's North Area Command Unit, which covers Enfield and Haringey, and appeared at Wood Green Crown Court on Friday wearing a dark blazer and tie and a white striped shirt.
Judge Kalyani Kaul KC described Carter's career, and noted that he has raised two daughters, and has a "strong" marriage with his wife who he cares for.
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She then told him: "On the 7th of September, two years ago, you threw all of that away - you let down your force, you let down your community".
He admitted misconduct in public office on July 26 this year and the charge stated that "while acting as a public officer namely as a police constable" he "took for his own use money from a wallet received by him in evidence in relation to a sudden death".
Carter was dismissed from the force without notice in August after serving for 23 years.