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Police Community Support Officer jailed for issuing fake cycling fines

Issued hundreds of bogus fixed penalty notices

An award winning police community support officer who created hundreds of bogus cycling offence penalty notices has been jailed for six months.

George McNaught, 48, used names and address details found on lost property to create the fines, most of which were for cycling on the pavement. He even sent a notice to a man who had not been able to cycle for more than ten years due to an accident.

Having won a commendation of the High Sheriff of London for wrestling a gun out of the hands of a woman at Victoria station in 2009, his eagerness for success in the role led to him creating at least 350 suspect tickets between February 2010 and September last year.

When police searched McNaught's home they also found a canister of CS gas which had been reported missing from a police locker room, the Independent reported.

Mcnaught pleaded guilty to misconduct in a public office and possession of a prohibited weapon, and heard about how his actions had affected his victims.

One woman had bailiffs come to her house after she was ordered to pay £320 in fines. She had to come to a court hearing, and in her own words felt embarrassed and humiliated due to Mr McNaught.

"Another man who paid a £45 fine later told police he had an accident in 1997, and had suffered nerve damage to his left arm and shoulder, and he said he could not use a bicycle if he wanted to."

Judge John Hillen told McNaught his actions were "crazy" and said: "You were serving the public but that trust placed in you, you abused."

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11 comments

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Campag_10 | 11 years ago
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Never had any problems with PCSOs. They do a good job round our patch and go the extra mile for older and vulnerable residents.

Sounds like this character lost the plot though - probably needs treating for mental illness rather than being banged up.

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Stumps | 11 years ago
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You pay peanuts you get monkeys.

Mind you i work with a few and they are better than some cops where i work, cant speak for all of them though.

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downfader replied to Stumps | 11 years ago
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stumps wrote:

You pay peanuts you get monkeys.

Mind you i work with a few and they are better than some cops where i work, cant speak for all of them though.

They're not paid peanuts. They get double what I take home for full time work (just over £10k)... and its incremental iirc.

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mad_scot_rider | 11 years ago
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In my (admittedly limited experience) PCSO's are generally a waste of space and many are puffed up with the feeling of power

Nothing in the article surprises me

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zanf replied to mad_scot_rider | 11 years ago
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mad_scot_rider wrote:

In my (admittedly limited experience) PCSO's are generally a waste of space and many are puffed up with the feeling of power

Nothing in the article surprises me

This documentary is a pretty good example of what theyre like  3

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drheaton | 11 years ago
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Oooh, he's going to have such a fun time in prison...

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nod | 11 years ago
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Ha! The police won't be compensating the victims. They're not like that.

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OldRidgeback | 11 years ago
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I'd be curious what measures have been taken to compensate his victims. If I was one of them, I'd consider legal action against him.

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Simon_MacMichael | 11 years ago
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Now with less ambiguous headline, thanks guys  1

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notfastenough | 11 years ago
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+1, maybe that should read PCSO.

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Some Fella | 11 years ago
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When i read the headline i thought the police were supporting this officer even though he had been banged up!
Imagine how i laughed when i read it again!  35

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