Sentencing delayed of ex-police inspector who pretended to represent force at Pride
Sentencing of a former police inspector who admitted fraud and perverting the course of justice has been delayed.
Former Staffordshire Police officer Darren Oakey, 51, of Sayers Road, Stafford, claimed expenses for representing Staffordshire Police at Gay Pride in London but did not even go.
Oakey should have been sentenced at Stafford Crown Court on Friday, but his defence and the prosecution could not agree over the pre-sentence report.
The judge also demanded the defence legal team turn up in person next time after representing remotely, saying: "Sentencing is the kind of hearing the defence should be here in person."
A hearing has now been arranged for December 20.
In September Oakey pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation, perverting the course of public justice, and breaching the Data Protection Act.
Staffordshire Police's Anti-Corruption Unit found he dishonestly claimed mileage to and from a London Pride pre-event in 2016 and the London Pride March, where he was to represent Staffordshire Police.
In May 2017, Oakey perverted the course of pubic justice by submitting four photographs to officers investigating his conduct which he claimed to have taken personally at London Pride when he knew he had not taken them.
Oakey was given bail again but with an added condition, that he has not contact with his former partner who he claimed "forbid" him from attending the Pride event.
