A suspect whose phone had been seized by police pretended to be an undercover cop in a “baffling” bid to get it back.
Sunil Mahay, 35, was arrested for allegedly groping a woman in January last year – an allegation which he is still under investigation for.
By October, he still hadn’t got his mobile back, and so he tried to get into Sussex Police’s custody suite in Crowhurst Road, Hollingbury.
He did eventually get inside – but only in handcuffs after being arrested for impersonating a police officer.
The court heard that he could have got through the doors he was standing outside simply by ringing the bell and saying he had an appointment.
Mahay, of The Birches, Crawley, still has not got his phone back.
Prosecuting, Charlotte Frost said: “PC Green was outside the custody area when she encountered a man now known to be Sunil Mahay.
“He approached her saying are you police and then told her that he’s an undercover police officer and came close to her in what she described as quite a concerning way.
“She told him to step away. He told her she shouldn’t be asking any questions and told her, ‘I’m your teacher and you are my student.’
“He went on to talk about another officer, PC Skinner, referring to him as her boss.
“PC Skinner – who is actually DS Skinner – had been in contact with Mahay previously and he was using his name to seem credible to PC Green.
“She asked him to step back again, however he didn’t and continued to insist that he needed to be let into the custody block.
“He wasn’t able to produce any sort of warrant card. He said he had left it at home. He was asked which police force he worked for and said he couldn’t tell her.
“She was concerned for her own safety as he seemed quite strange. He then walked off.”
Defending, Andrew Bishop said: “He wanted to get his mobile phone back because that was seized.
“Being released under investigation puts people under huge difficulties when these investigations take so long. It may well come to nothing.
“It was a pointless exercise because he would have been let in through the doors he was outside if he had just said he had an appointment – he would then have found himself in the reception area.
“He says he went there because he wanted to talk to someone about getting his mobile phone back. He had called 101 and tried to get hold of officers but hadn’t been able to.
“Of course he won’t get the phone back until the investigation is finished.
“He said he also wanted to talk about potentially getting employment.
“This was a rather stupid spur of the moment comment to try and get him to speak to someone face to face.”
District judge Amanda Kelly said: “This court takes it very seriously indeed when someone is pretending to be a police officer.
“It’s a sinister and creepy thing to do, particularly when you are approaching people – a female in this case.
“If you had persuaded someone else or someone else had believed you, they would trust you and take steps they wouldn’t if they knew you weren’t a police officer.
“It completely undermines trust in the police.
“In your case it’s simply baffling. I don’t think you have told the full truth to anyone because you have been so inconsistent. I simply don’t know what you were up to. I suspect you may be someone with disordered thinking, although I know that’s not something you accept.”
Mahay was given a 12 month community order and ordered to complete 12 appointments with probation and 150 hours of unpaid work.
He was also told to pay a court surcharge of £114 and costs of £85.
