Ex-Surrey Police inspector Tanya Brookes admits fraud
A former Surrey Police chief inspector has admitted a series of fraud offences targeting High Street stores.
Tanya Brookes, a 46 year old mother of four, had faced 58 charges of fraud at Winchester Crown Court.
She was convicted of 25 counts of fraud and cleared of two at an earlier trial. She pleaded guilty to eight further offences on Monday. Other charges were ordered to lie on file.
Sentencing was adjourned to May while reports are prepared.
Brookes, of Nursery Road, Godalming, who worked under her maiden name of Sillett, was suspended from duty after her arrest in January 2012.
She was later dismissed for misconduct.
Word police lanyard
The frauds involved household names including The White Company, Micro Scotters and Boots.
The court heard Brookes was not on duty when offences were committed, but wore her police ID on a lanyard round her neck.
Prosecutor Nicholas Tucker said she was a high flyer who joined Surrey Police as a university graduate and was married to another senior police officer.
"Despite the healthy salaries which she and her husband enjoyed Mrs Brookes expended an extraordinary amount of effort and her own time devising various scams," he said.
The frauds included buying items cheaply at outlet stores or on auction sites, then falsifying her bank statement and returning them to stores to claim refund for the full price.
She also forged discount vouchers.
After the hearing, Assistant Chief Constable Gavin Stephens said: "This kind of behaviour has no place in Surrey Police.
"The vast majority of our officers and staff are professional and hard-working and the public rightly trust them to act with integrity at all times."
Details of the previous trial could not be reported until all outstanding cases against Brookes had concluded.