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Crooked ex-cop jailed after regional daily investigation

A crooked former police officer first exposed by a regional daily investigation has been jailed for more than four years for frauds totalling £1m.

Ex-Norfolk PC Ben Staff was jailed at Norwich Crown Court after being found guilty in two trials of fraud-related offences between 2009 and 2014.

The Eastern Daily Press first investigated Staff in 2013 after receiving a tip-off about waste being left at an abandoned pub.

The EDP found Staff owed thousands of pounds to contractors and construction firms in Norfolk after his building projects hit problems.

Staff's sentencing was carried on the front page of yesterday's EDP

Staff’s sentencing was carried on the front page of yesterday’s EDP

Staff, 35, was found guilty of eight allegations following a trial at King’s Lynn Crown Court in March last year and a second trial at Norwich Crown Court which ended last month.

Jailing him for four-and-a-half years on Tuesday afternoon, Judge Mark Dennis told Staff: “You were dealing with honest and hardworking individuals who were acting in the same difficult financial climate that you faced.”

Archant investigations editor Tom Bristow, who led the investigation, said: “We first published an investigation into Ben Staff in 2013 so it’s rewarding to see justice finally done.

“Our initially tip-off about Staff came from an everyday story about waste being left at an abandoned pub site in Norwich.

“Many of the victims we spoke to at the time were used in the police investigation and their lives and firms were severely impacted by Staff and his frauds.”

Just before Christmas, a 27-year-old man was arrested in Great Yarmouth in connection with a separate online property scam following an EDP investigation.