Corrupt Top Cop Dizaei Sent Back To Jail

Scotland Yard commander Ali Dizaei has been jailed for three years after being found guilty of corruption for the second time.

Southwark Crown Court returned a unanimous guilty verdict for the disgraced police commander, who was originally found guilty in February 2010 for threatening and falsely arresting a man in a row about money.

However, given he has already served 15 months of his original 4-year sentence, Dizaei could walk free in just three months.

Mr Justice Saunders said Dizaei used his position and power to arrest Waad al-Baghdadi because of a private dispute.

He told the policeman: "You are a very senior officer. The breach of trust that the public has placed in you is the more serious because of your senior appointment.

"You have been a role model to many other people as a result of your achievements as a police officer."

His appeal in May last year overturned the earlier verdict, and after being released he spoke of the abuse he had suffered in jail - abuse which meant he had to spend much of his sentence in solitary confinement.

He told a news conference afterwards that he had left prison "with my integrity completely intact".

At the retrial, Dizaei's lawyer presented new evidence relating to his client's immigration status, which came after the police officer's earlier claims at racial discrimination within the police service.

A second guilty verdict has effectively ended his police career, but Dizaei's lawyer said he was "extremely disappointed" at the decision, and will be appealing his conviction.

Gaon Hart, from the Crown Prosecution Service's special crime and counter-terrorism division, said: "Dizaei had no proper reason for making this arrest and there was no real evidence that this young man had committed any crime on that day.

"Dizaei's corruption, which would be deplorable in any police officer, was all the more so given his position as a highly ranked commander," she said.

"The public entrust the police with considerable powers and with that comes considerable responsibility. Dizaei abused that power and ignored that responsibility."

He added: "The public should have confidence that we will prosecute anyone regardless of their position or the difficulties encountered along the way, where there is evidence that they've committed serious offences of corruption."

Iranian-born Dizaei's 26-year police career has not been without controversy, and in 2001 he was investigated for making false expenses claims, using drugs and prostitutes and even spying for Iran, although he was never found guilty.

It was the most expensive inquiry into a single police officer ever made.

The controversial officer also had great success in the force, serving for a short time as a chief superintendent and president of the Metropolitan Black Police Association.

Dizaei will remain a senior police officer until the bureaucratic formal process of throwing him out of the force can be completed.

He will then be sacked for gross misconduct and could face losing all or part of his pension under further measures aimed at punishing corrupt officers.