Cop jailed for helping in £2.5m garage scam

Police manager faces two years after helping garage owner to win vehicle recovery contracts

Cop jailed for helping in £2.5m garage scam
Bridge Garage in Ossett, near Wakefeild. Image: Google Maps.

Samantha Cooper, 48, helped Michael Blamire when he tendered bids to her police force to secure contracts to recover seized, stolen or broken-down vehicles from West Yorkshire.

The pair were found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud by abuse of position, Blamire was jailed for 14 months.

Cooper helped Blamire, owner of Bridge Garage in Ossett, win the contracts by writing out documents and awarding them high marks in the selection process.

Mark Monaghan, prosecuting, said: “Cooper helped Bridge Garage to put in the most impressive bid from any garage, which enabled them to win three contracts, which resulted in a very substantial increase in their turnover and profits.

“She wrote out the tender documents for them and gave what she had prepared to Bridge Garage so they could prepare the documents they were sending to the force.”

Bridge Garage was awarded a score of 87 per cent during the tendering process, the next best score by any garage was 64 per cent.

Mr Monaghan said: “It was as if she set an exam and gave her friends the answers, so when they took the exam they appeared the cleverest boys in the class. Bridge Garage got an A-star and the next garage in the class got a B.”

Christopher Terani, QC, defending, told the court that Cooper had now suffered an “emotional collapse” and had resigned from her job, losing her pension and family home.

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