A POLICE evidence officer who stole over £14,000 from the force over a four year period has been jailed.

Lisa Arnold, whose address was given as Benlease Way in Swanage, appeared before Bournemouth Crown Court on Wednesday, January 25 for sentencing having admitted stashing thousands of pounds in cash in her wardrobe before depositing it into her bank account.

The 52-year-old had previously pleaded guilty to one count of ‘theft by employee’ - the charge relating to 17 incidents between October 14, 2018 and March 19, 2022.

During that time, and on 17 occasions, Arnold took a total £14,494.20 in seized cash from Dorset Police - which, in mitigation, was suggested was used to fuel her 'shopping addiction'.

Arnold had worked at Dorset Police since 2016 before being transferred to the exhibits department in 2018. Her role as a property researcher saw her responsible for logging exhibits of seized items - often involving cash in clear plastic envelopes.

Cash held within these envelopes was often ‘uncounted’ and marked as such.

In a police interview, Arnold said she would ‘look for uncounted exhibits of cash and open the envelope from the bottom’ she would then remove a quantity of cash and ‘reseal the envelope with sellotape’.

As many of the exhibits were uncounted, these incidents went unnoticed ‘for some time’.

Arnold, who was supported in court by members of her family, was caught after a 'complex investigation' that discovered Arnold had been paying 'large sums of money' into bank accounts.

On March 5 of last year she was arrested at her home address and nearly £15,000 of cash found stuffed in her wardrobe.

The court was told Arnold had been 'sucked in by a shopping addiction' at a time when she was going through "a dramatic reduction in self-esteem" with her marriage "in some sort of crisis".

Christopher Pix , mitigating, said Arnold had taken "proactive steps" to rehabilitate and had "undertaken to examine how to prevent reoffending".

In a statement read to court, Dorset Police's chief constable, Scott Chilton said: "Every offence by a member of the police force has a devastating impact on public confidence (in the police)."

He added that the offence was "not a victimless crime".

Her Honour Judge Evans told Arnold the offences were 'serious' and had 'additional harm' in creating a 'loss of confidence' in the police.

She said there was a "realistic prospect of rehabilitation” but that the only appropriate sentence would be an immediate jail term and sentenced Arnold to a period of 24 months in prison.

Dorset Police Deputy Chief Constable Sam de Reya said: “I hope that this investigation demonstrates that we will robustly investigate suspected wrongdoing by members of our organisation and undertake swift action.

“Our officers and members of staff are expected to execute their duties with integrity. On this occasion a staff member has fallen short of those standards and been found guilty of a criminal offence.

"We will pursue and deal with those who seek to undermine the trust that is placed in us by the public and let down colleagues and the police service.”

Sophie Stevens, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor, said: “The public rightly expects anyone working for the police to work with honesty and integrity. Whenever there is a breach of that trust, it is disappointing and damaging to public confidence.

“Whenever our legal test is met, we will ensure that anyone committing a criminal offence is brought to justice. The public can be confident that whether it be a member of police staff, or anyone else, we will make sure that cases are prosecuted, and offenders face the consequences of their actions.”