Disgraced policeman who sold guns handed in by the public to get £40,000 pension payout as judge rules force was WRONG to take it away

  • Maurice Allen was told he had to forfeit 65 per cent of his pension
  • But judge ruled this had will also get £15,000 a year

By
Charles Walford

Last updated at 2:54 PM on 2nd February 2012

A disgraced police officer who sold guns seized from the public will receive £40,000 next month after he had his pension increased.

Maurice Allen, who worked for Durham Constabulary, sold on weapons surrendered during an amnesty with fellow police officer Damian Cobain.

The pair sold guns – which fetched up to £500 each – that they has been entrusted to dispose of in a four-year racket.

After they were caught the police authority stripped Allen of 65 per cent of his pension, but a judge has now ruled this was wrong.

Maurice Allen, who sold firearms handed in by the public in amnesties, will receive a pension lump sum of almost £40,000 on his 50th birthday

Damien Cobain who along with Maurice Allen sold firearms handed in by the public in amnesties

Maurice Allen (left) and Damian Cobain (right) sold guns – which fetched up to £500 each – that they has been entrusted to dispose of. a judge has ruled that the police authority was unfair in slashing their pensions

Judge Peter Fox, sitting alongside two magistrates at Teesside Crown Court, reduced the amount he should forfeit to 25 per cent of what he would have been entitled to had he left the police service with an unblemished record.

Allen will now receive a lump sum of almost £40,000 on his 50th birthday next month and will begin picking up more than £15,000 a year.

Cobain, from Sunderland, succeeded in having his pension forfeiture reduced from 30 per cent to 10 per cent yesterday.

Allen, of Elemore View, East Rainton, Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham, was financially backed by his union, the Police Federation, in his appeal against the decision made by a Durham Police Authority panel last year.

Patrick Darby, representing Allen, said: ‘My client did not put the public at risk, he sold on the guns to registered licence holders. It was not as if he was selling on guns to criminals or selling on details of police informants.’

Allen, who served 29 years with Durham Constabulary, would have collected a lump sum of £52,440 and an annual pension of £20,936 on his 50th birthday next month had he not been convicted of misconduct in public office.

Had the order to forfeit 65 per cent of his pension stood, his entitlement would have been reduced to a lump sum of £18,536 and an annual pension reduced to £7,327 per annum.

Instead he will pick up a lump sum of £39,330 and an annual pension of £15,612.

Maurice Allen and Damian Cobain were entrusted with disposing of weapons handed in during a gun amnesty

Maurice Allen and Damian Cobain were entrusted with disposing of weapons handed in during a gun amnesty

Cobain, a married father-of-two, will receive a lump sum of £25,650 and an annual payment of £4,050. His barrister, Ian Skelt, argued that ‘innocents’ would be affected by his loss of money.

The barristers argued that the case was not as serious as some others, such as officers guilty of sex offences.

Mr Darby told the court the police authority had made a ‘totally unreasonable and unsubstantiated decision’.

Judge Fox said Allen had been guilty of ‘a serious lapse over four years which had tarnished his reputation’.

But he did say he had served more than 20 years ‘impeccably and indeed commendably’ before he began offending between 2003 and 2007.

He also took into account the fact neither disgraced officer had profited greatly by selling on the guns.

Last night Peter Thompson, chairman of the Durham Police Authority, said: ‘We have to respect and abide by the decision of the court.

‘But our decision was made partly to send a strong message to the public how seriously we regarded such gross breaches of trust.’

Allen and Cobain were firearm inquiry officers with Durham Constabulary when they staged the four-year racket.

Their job was to process weapons handed in during amnesties or those seized in operations.
But instead the pair took advantage of their department’s failings to run their own trade in shotguns and rifles.

Firearms were sold to licensed shooters and legitimate gun dealers without the original owners ever knowing.

Allen, who was more experienced than Cobain, forged letters and documents as part of a ‘bespoke’ service to complete the deals, an earlier court hearing was told.

The constables were finally caught when a farmer reported his shotgun stolen, and said he had ‘bought it from the police’.

In January 2010 Allen was given a 51-week jail term suspended for two years with a six-month curfew. Cobain received a 40-week sentence suspended for 18 months with a four-month curfew.

Both admitted misconduct in a public office and have since resigned from the force.

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
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The comments below have been moderated in advance.

He gets to keep his freedom and his pension for illegally selling guns . . I wonder what I would have got for doing the same thing..!!? . I doubt the authorities would be as generous.

Trouble is, all the Police forces are full of people like him!

No one is GIVING these two a pension. They’ve paid a lot of THEIR OWN money into THEIR pension scheme. They’ve earned it.

“i simply can’t beieve the size of their pensions. I’m sure there are many of us who have worked as long, and longer, who could only dream of the size of these lump sums and payouts. I accept that the police may have a special case given that their job is inherently more dangerous than most, but even so – do most public service jobs pay out on this sort of level?”- Chris, Herts…It’s part of the package offered when you join the police. I paid 11% contributions for 30-years to get my police pension, which is higher than theirs as I was a higher rank. When i joined, they were struggling to recruit new officers in spite of the pension! The scheme changed recently. Those who joined after 2006 have to work for 35-years and can’t retire before age 55.

“i simply can’t beieve the size of their pensions. I’m sure there are many of us who have worked as long, and longer, who could only dream of the size of these lump sums and payouts. I accept that the police may have a special case given that their job is inherently more dangerous than most, but even so – do most public service jobs pay out on this sort of level?”- Chris, Herts…It’s part of the package offered when you join the police. I paid 11% contributions for 30-years to get my police pension, which is higher than theirs as I was a higher rank. When i joined, they were struggling to recruit new officers in spite of the pension! The scheme changed recently. Those who joined after 2006 have to work for 35-years and can’t retire before age 55.

Constables retiring at 50 on £20,936? Yes 50? They might contribute a little more than some people but none more than self employed people. And how many others get to retire at 50. Oh yes, they retire early because it is a tough job. Like sitting in an office receiving people’s old guns.

One rule for them. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . !

The great British Justice system is full of incompetents, it’s no longer fit for purpose. The Judiciary especially needs a radical shake up, they are so out of touch with what most of the General Public feel is a fair decision they may as well not be there.

Sentance wise compare to the man that made a ” gun ” from a fence post that received 5 years in prison. These two obviously did not share the governments views on firearms control and they were frontline.

The police are bigger criminals than the criminals.

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