A Sussex Police detective has been jailed for 16 months for laundering more than £80,000.
PC Darren Graysmark, 44, was sent to prison for laundering drugs money for his boyfriend, Darren Simpson, 42, a manager at Brighton and Hove City Council.
Graysmark, a former Special Branch officer, resigned from the force last month after pleading guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to money laundering.
He had served as a police officer for 23 years, and worked at the Newhaven Ports Unit when he was arrested.
He now faces a confiscation hearing at the same court. The date has yet to be set.
Sentencing Graysmark, Judge Adele Williams told him: “For you to commit this offence while you were a serving police officer is a very serious matter.
“You closed your mind to the obvious.
“As a police officer you had a special duty to uphold the law.”
Simpson, who shared a home in Coney Furlong, Peacehaven, with Graysmark, is still awaiting sentence after he admitted having drugs with intent to supply.
The charges follow an investigation which led to Simpson being stopped on the A23 at Handcross as he drove Graysmark’s car on Wednesday 8 April last year.
Detectives found three blocks of cocaine weighing 3kg and with an estimated street value of £148,000.
They later found £12,000 cash and related correspondence when they searched the men’s home.
Pretence
Detective Chief Inspector Steve Paice, of the Sussex Police Serious and Organised Crime Unit, said: “To start with Graysmark tried to maintain that he had no knowledge of any criminal activity.
“Eventually it became clear to him that he could not continue with that pretence.
“He has now accepted that he knew money which was funding his comfortable lifestyle was the proceeds of crime.”
Giles York, Deputy Chief Constable of Sussex, said: “Darren Graysmark let himself, his colleagues and the public down in knowingly benefiting from organised crime.
“He took money which was the proceeds of crime and used to it support his own lifestyle.
“As soon as our detectives found out, immediate action was taken to arrest him and seize his assets.
“This sentence sends a clear message that there is no tolerance in the police service for criminal activity by anyone who works for us.
“The public must expect more of Sussex Police in serving Sussex.”
As a result of the Serious and Organised Crime Unit inquiry, three other men were charged with conspiracy to supply cocaine.
Like Simpson, James Parker McCue, 28, of Old School Place, Brighton, has pleaded guilty and is in custody awaiting sentence on a date yet to be set.
Shaun Clancy, 43, and Fergus Gilman, 42, both of The Lichfields, in Basildon, Essex, and formerly of St Margaret’s, Rottingdean, are on bail.
They are due to stand trial at Maidstone Crown Court on Tuesday 31 August.
