By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:05 PM on 08th November 2009

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Peter Cokell

Peter Cokell was found guilty of theft after shoplifting two computer games

A police officer tasked with catching shoplifters at an HMV store was caught on camera stealing computer games by concealing them underneath his stab vest.

PC Peter Cokell, 34, was found guilty of theft after he was caught on CCTV shoplifting from the store he was being paid to protect.

The damning footage, which was shown to magistrates in his trial, shows him stealing two PlayStation 3 games and then taking them to the rear of the shop in his police hat.

He can then be seen slipping the games - Call of Duty and Kill Zone - worth only £74.98, inside his stab vest before walking from the shop without setting off the alarms.

However, a security guard who witnessed the crime contacted police and Cokell was arrested and charged with theft.

Cokell, from Bristol, denied the charge but was found guilty at Frome Magistrate's Court, Somerset.

He told the court he was looking at the games to 'help him relate to young people' and claimed he was 'rearranging his trousers', not shoplifting.

He said: 'I tried my best to be inconspicuous to the general members of the public so that they would not form the wrong impression of what I may or may not have been trying to do with my trousers.

'I had no reason to steal and no reason to steal PS3 games, as I don't have a PS3.'

During the trial District Judge David Parsons said the games 'certainly left the site' after watching the CCTV evidence.
Peter Cokell

Peter Cokell can be seen picking up computer games in the store

He said: 'I do know the games certainly left the site, having seen the evidence of the CCTV and the evidence of Mr Sutton.'

Gary Sutton, a security guard for HMV, told the court he saw the PC acting 'suspiciously' before he stole the games.

He said: 'He placed two games inside the cubby hole and just leaned on the edge of the desk.

'After a short while he did what appeared to be tucking the two items up his vest and inside his coat.
Cokell

Cokell then takes the games to the rear of the shop in his police hat

He straightened his front and made his way out of the store. I then asked him where the games were, the two he had selected in the store.

'I replied that I had seen him on CCTV and that I needed the games back.

'At this point he was leaning on the edge of a chair and he informed me that he had the games but could not get hold of them due to where they were now locked up.'

Cokell then exited the store, without activating any of the security alarms, and carried on walking his beat.

Mr Sutton who was 'shocked' by the crime, confronted Cokell, who offered to return the games two days later.

However, the following day Mr Sutton spoke to PC Shaun Oliver, Cokell's regional manager, and reported the incident.

The court heard Cokell, who joined the force in 2000, had a 'very good' arrest record and received a certificate of commendation last year from his district commander.

Following the trial a spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said: 'This is not behaviour we expect of a police officer.

'Mr Cokell resigned in June, when an investigation into this started, and the decision of the court shows how seriously the force views matters of this kind, particularly when it concerns a breach of trust.'

Cokell will be sentenced on November 27.