UK Cop jailed for lying on his CV

Wishiwasa Littlebitaller

Top police officer's 26-year career in tatters after he is jailed for lying on his CV to win string of promotions that made him £70,000 richer

A senior police officer's 26-year long career is over after he was jailed for lying on his CV to win a string of top jobs.

Mike Martin, 46, from Carlisle appeared at Preston Crown Court yesterday, after a four year inquiry into claims he exaggerated and fabricated his work achievements to clinch promotion to higher ranks with various forces across the UK.

The court heard heard how the Superintendent falsely claimed to have a university degree - a BSc in Risk and Security Management - and said he had taken part into the investigation into the tragedy of a young Indian woman who was found starved to death inside her car.

Police began investigating Martin, described as a 'capable and highly ambitious' officer after he was offered a transfer to the Metropolitan Police in 2009 - just five months after landing a job at the Merseyside force.

Human resources officials noticed that he had failed to seek the support of a senior officer for the application, which would be normal practice and sensed something was wrong with Martin's application.

Officers later checked the veracity of his degree which he claimed to have obtained from the University of Portsmouth in 1996.

The degree certificate was found to be a forgery and inquiries showed there was no record of him being on the course.

It emerged that Martin had lied about being involved in the investigation into the Indian woman's death to give potential employers the impression that he had relevant experience in dealing with race and diversity issues.

He also upgraded his Performance and Development Reviews in applications. It is thought he made £70,000 from his illicit promotions.

During his appearance at Preston Crown Court, Mr Martin, who has been suspended from his £60,000 a year job since September 2011 showed no emotion as he was found guilty of fraud and misconduct in a public office after a week long trial. He was jailed for 18 months.

Judge Anthony Russell QC told him: 'You were able to take advantage of the process to make untrue and misleading representations about your career and able to improve, thus gaining an advantage over candidates.

'In other words you cheated and your promotion resulted in a significant salary increase.

'This was a serious breach of trust that the public places in all police officers, particular senior officers.

'It undermines the integrity of the police. Your conduct fell fall below what the public requires.

'It is a tragedy, you were a highly regarded police officer. You may well have achieved promotion later without telling lies. Ambition got the better of you and you decided to cheat. You have effectively lost everything as a result of this case. You have let down the police and public confidence in the police.'

Earlier in the trial, Mr Martin had told how he joined the Met in 1988 and was promoted to sergeant eight yeas later.

He joined Devon and Cornwall in 2003 and was promoted to Inspector two years later.

In October 2007 he transferred to Essex Police and was promoted to Chief Inspector.

After a series of unsuccessful job applications he joined Merseyside as a Superintendent in February 2009 but just three months into the job he applied to rejoin the Met because he wanted to be involved in the policing of the London Olympics.

Trouble began two months later in September 2009 when he was notified that his application to the Met had been accepted and he told Merseyside Police he was leaving.

The jury was told an investigation began after it emerged Mr Martin's line manager at Merseyside had not made any recommendations in relation to the application and the move had been 'rather quick.'

In December 2009 Merseyside was provided with Mr Martin's application to the Met which wrongly gave the name of line manager as a Chief Superintendent from the Essex force.

I'm not so sure the chap should be jailed. Surely the fact that he will lose his job is enough punishment for lying. I mean, how many people have jobs now that which they would not have had if they had been 100% honest in their CVs. Should everyone who goes on to be successful in their jobs be jailed if it is later discovered that they lied?

I can understand the sentence if lives were put at risk because of lies told on a CV. Pretending you're a heart surgeon or something and lives are lost as a result, for example, but here I don't really see how his lies should equate to prison time. He did the work the job's entailed, otherwise he would have been sacked I presume and so, for me a suspended sentence would have sufficed here, what says you.

Oh and have you lied on a CV / would you?

B.A._Baracus

26 year career and it only comes out now?
I reckon the article is leaving out the fact he opened his mouth to someone and that's what brought this all on.


and yes. I do lie on my cv too :pac:

ancapailldorcha

I wish the Daily Mail would stop overusing the word "top". It's always "top scientists" or "top cops" or whatever.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Massively unfair. If he was 26 years in the service before anyone noticed then it's not like he was putting people at risk.

As Lisa Simpson said,."everyone expects you to lie on a CV."

My name is URL

'It is vital that we maintain the public’s trust and confidence and ensure that officers and staff throughout the police service realise the importance of maintaining standards and working with honesty and integrity.

'We cannot afford to have officers and staff working for us who do not uphold the highest levels of professionalism, honesty and integrity and will always be robust in dealing with officers, or staff, whose conduct is unacceptable.'

Can't really argue with that. If only the same standards were applied here!

Wishiwasa Littlebitaller

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I wish the Daily Mail would stop overusing the word "top". It's always "top scientists" or "top cops" or whatever.

Ah now that's hardly something only the DM are guilty of. More a Rag Top characteristic than anything else:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/5782419/Top-cop-jailed-for-lying-on-his-CV-to-get-promotions.html

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

My name is URL wrote: »

Can't really argue with that. If only the same standards were applied here!

...there'd be no one left to prosecute, jail or watch over the jailed parties. Wed also need a SH1Tload more prisons.

Hotfail.com

Lying about having a college degree is a step too far imo, especially when he could be dealing with life-or-death situations. Definitely deserved to lose his job.

Jail is a ridiculous punishment though, especially 18 months. A £5000 fine or something would have been more apt imo.

B.A._Baracus

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

26 year career and it only comes out now?
I reckon the article is leaving out the fact he opened his mouth to someone and that's what brought this all on.


and yes. I do lie on my cv too :pac:

Yeah I'd be surprised if this is all down to a few fibs on a CV.



Also I wonder where the line about the investigation involving racial sensitivity comes from or if it's just the Daily Mail trolling.

mikemac1

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I wish the Daily Mail would stop overusing the word "top". It's always "top scientists" or "top cops" or whatever.

The DM don't use top scientists

It's top boffins

FloatingVoter

A college degree just means you're good at passing exams. As such, its a minor fib. He must have been up to more than creative CV building.

fermanagh_man

I was watching the panaroma documentary last week on bbc about dangerous driving in the uk, it had one guy found guilty of careless driving (not dangerous) having killed a man out for a cycle and given a 12month driving ban

Now compare that to this policeman lying on his cv

Crazy!!

My name is URL

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

...there'd be no one left to prosecute, jail or watch over the jailed parties. Wed also need a SH1Tload more prisons.

It's not like he was realistically jailed just for lying on a CV.. he was jailed for fraud. He forged a diploma.

Probably wouldn't have been jailed at all if it wasn't for his bestowed position.

I doubt they'll be jailing people for telling porkies when applying for jobs in Tesco and the like.

Maphisto

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

26 year career and it only comes out now?
I reckon the article is leaving out the fact he opened his mouth to someone and that's what brought this all on.


and yes. I do lie on my cv too :pac:

My name is URL wrote: »

It's not like he was realistically jailed just for lying on a CV.. he was jailed for fraud. He forged a diploma.

Probably wouldn't have been jailed at all if it wasn't for his bestowed position.

I doubt they'll be jailing people for telling porkies when applying for jobs in Tesco and the like.

Exactly. There's more to this I'm sure. He has upset someone high up. They want him out and a prosecution removes any possibility of a successful IT.

end of the road

Wishiwasa Littlebitaller wrote: »

I'm not so sure the chap should be jailed. Surely the fact that he will lose his job is enough punishment for lying. I mean, how many people have jobs now that which they would not have had if they had been 100% honest in their CVs. Should everyone who goes on to be successful in their jobs be jailed if it is later discovered that they lied?

I can understand the sentence if lives were put at risk because of lies told on a CV. Pretending you're a heart surgeon or something and lives are lost as a result, for example, but here I don't really see how his lies should equate to prison time. He did the work the job's entailed, otherwise he would have been sacked I presume and so, for me a suspended sentence would have sufficed here, what says you.

Oh and have you lied on a CV / would you?

apparently prosecutions and jailing of people who lie on a CV is the latest thing in the UK, i agree a suspended sentence and loss of job is enough in this case

I'm beginning to wonder if the UK is planning to privatise the prison service soon and they're bulking up the number of "customers" in advance!

Sulla Felix

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

...there'd be no one left to prosecute, jail or watch over the jailed parties. Wed also need a SH1Tload more prisons.

Automatic prisons to boot, cause all the prison guards would need to be locked up too.

Iwasfrozen

end of the road wrote: »

apparently prosecutions and jailing of people who lie on a CV is the latest thing in the UK, i agree a suspended sentence and loss of job is enough in this case

I'm glad to see someone who lied on their cv behind bars, hopefully that catches on here too.

Wishiwasa Littlebitaller

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

I'm glad to see someone who lied on their cv behind bars, hopefully that catches on here too.

Even for likkle lies? Like 'I was voted head of my year - and yet I don't even like blowjobs'.

Maphisto

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

I'm glad to see someone who lied on their cv behind bars, hopefully that catches on here too.

There's a difference though in out and out lies - I have a Masters in International Conflict Management.

To the usual exageration - This extremely difficult and complex project (dead easy and simple) was only brought in under budget (we overspent huge) because of my hard work (turned up for a couple of meetings and told jokes) and my own personal sacrifices (I bought the coffees one time).

Tarzana

FloatingVoter wrote: »

A college degree just means you're good at passing exams. As such, its a minor fib. He must have been up to more than creative CV building.

Not really minor, it could have given him a huge edge over other candidates.

Potential-Monke

Taking everything in, i think the sentence is good. He lied and cheated his way up through the ranks, stopping others more deserving from getting the positions. He forged official documents, and as a result got paid more. So not only did he lie and cheat and forge documents, he fraudulently obtained more money. I agree he must have pissed off someone, but what goes around comes around.

I've never actually lied on my CV. Don't see the point. If someone wants to hire me on my merits, grand. If not, well then the job isn't for me.