'He had become hopelessly, irredeemably corrupted - he has paid a very, very heavy price'

A now-jailed former GMP detective who supplied cocaine he stole from a station evidence store to criminals had become 'hopelessly, irredeemably corrupted', the force's chief constable has said.

Stephen Watson, head of Greater Manchester Police, has spoken out for the first time after Andrew Talbot was jailed for 19 years earlier this month. Chief constable Watson called the case a 'dreadful, dreadful example of abject corruption' and said he personally sacked Talbot in secret before he went on trial.

Talbot's secret life as a drug dealer began to unravel when he accidentally dropped a bag of cocaine outside his daughter's primary school.

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From Leigh in Wigan, he worked in GMP's serious crime division and stole just under four kilos of cocaine from a property store, worth around £400,000, before then supplying it between February 2018 and January 2020.

Talbot, a cocaine-addicted former army officer, conspired with a convicted drug dealer and used his position as a police officer to give him confidential force information to help him to recover a drug debt worth more than £20,000. He also searched the force's confidential computer systems for known or suspected drug dealers to help him shift the drugs he stole and provide information to a friend who was under investigation for assault.

His crimes only began to unravel, however, when the primary school incident prompted a major investigation by GMP's anti-corruption unit.

During the trial at Liverpool Crown Court, the prosecution was able to prove Talbot supplied the drugs he stole, and that the cocaine was not just for personal use, as he claimed.

The detective, who was sacked by GMP, pleaded guilty in November last year to two counts of possession of cocaine, possession of ammunition without a firearm certificate, theft of cocaine, conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, a further count of misconduct in public office, and unauthorised access to computer material.

Following a trial in September, Talbot was found guilty of supplying a controlled drug of Class A, misconduct in public office and failing to comply with a notice under section 49 of the Regulation and Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

Chief Constable Watson, speaking to a BBC Radio Manchester phone-in hosted by Mike Sweeney, said he 'personally fired this individual before he went to prison'.

"He was always going to be fired," said Mr Watson. "I actually said to the individual that he had allowed himself to become hopelessly corrupted.

"We had an experienced officer here who had fallen well off the path who through various means had just become hopelessly, irredeemably corrupted. As a result he has paid a very, very heavy price and quite rightly too."

Mr Watson said he welcomed the fact a court had 'thrown the book at him'. "It's a dreadful example," he went on.

Asked about security around evidence stores, he said: "I am happy that our systems and processes have been tightened up such that this is entirely unlikely to happen in the future. There were always good levels of security.

"There were good levels of scrutiny. But at the heart of all of these processes you do have to have trust. We do have come through our hands great quantities of money, great quantities of drugs, firearms, all sorts of stuff.

"And for the most part our systems and processes have always been absolutely equal to our responsibilities. The weakness of course in this case was a character who could not be trusted.

"I am happy that our processes have now been tightened up to the point where it can't happen again."