TWO lazy cops have been jailed for dropping child sex abuse investigations so they could go on dates together.
DCs Lee Pollard, 47, and Sharon Patterson, 49, even went for a romantic Chinese meal after she axed a witness interview.
Old Bailey judge Nigel Lickley QC told the ex-Essex Police pair, of Colchester, cases may have been lost because they did not do the “work required”.
Showing ‘contempt’ for sex abuse victims, they forged documents to convince bosses to take no further action against suspects.
Pollard destroyed evidence about a man with ‘disturbing sexual traits’ accused of assaulting an eight-year-old boy.
Patterson cancelled an appointment to gather evidence from social services records so she could get a manicure and have a Chinese meal with Pollard.
The lovers worked for Essex Police’s Child Abuse Investigation Team, which faced a huge caseload in the wake of the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal.
Pollard got two years’ jail and Patterson 18 months after being convicted of misconduct.
