PC 'couldn't be bothered' to arrest thief

A POLICE officer failed to arrest a convicted thief because she "could not be bothered", a court has heard.

Constable Michele Selby confiscated tools from a man who claimed he was fixing the door of the Moon River Chinese restaurant in Kirkintilloch, Glasgow at 5:30am.

The court heard she told the suspected robber - who has six previous convictions, including one for a similar offence - that she knew he was trying to break in and if she did not have another call to go to he would have gone to jail.

But the job that Selby claimed she had to rush to was not a 999 call but delivering letters to another police station.

Selby, of Cumbernauld, Glasgow, then told her less experienced colleague, "If I could be bothered he would have got the jail" before throwing his tools in a bin at Kirkintilloch Police station and clocking off duty at 7am.

She said in court she believed the man was trying to fix the door at the request of the owner and that she believed no crime was being committed.

The 38-year-old was found guilty yesterday of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by failing to detain the man and of disposing his tools and failing investigate the incident, on 26 July last year. Selby was warned she now may face a jail term.